Sentence Diagrams

On a professional listserv, someone recently recommended this essay that lyrically extols the virtues of sentence diagramming (complete with diagrams). These diagrams (called Reed-Kellogg diagrams because they were popularized by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg in 1877) have supposedly fallen out of fashion, yet they retain an almost cult following. Iconoclast teachers still teach them; my own beloved 8th and 9th grade English teacher, Mrs. Long, taught us to create them, but I don't think many of her colleagues did. (Mrs. Long didn't seem to like them that much, but iirc, we students sure did. At least I did.) For awhile, there was a yahoo group that focused on diagrams. I teach my advanced grammar students to create Reed Kellogg diagrams. Students either love them or hate them, but all students respect them; they respect the idea of participating in the long tradition, I guess.

Here's the toughest RK diagram I ever created (from the U.S. Declaration of Independence):

I was interviewed by a New York Times reporter, Kate Zernike, last week about sentence diagramming and grammar instruction--don't know if she has written her article yet, or if she will quote me, or how she found me, for that matter. (If you come across her article, please let me know.) She seemed to expect me to agree that teachers avoid diagramming in order to preserve their students "self-esteem." I explained that teachers have always embraced those pedagogies that work, and when research indicated that grammar drills don't work to improve student writing, teachers stopped teaching grammar.

Of course, many students are far too ignorant of how language works, and they should be taught much more grammar and linguistics. Grammar and writing are different disciplines nonetheless, related in the same way that physiology is related to athletics.

A brief web search unearthed some websites I'll want to tell my students about:

This site shows other 19th century diagramming systems.

Here is the book that started it all , Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (rev. ed.), in ASCII text, courtesy of Project Gutenberg.

Here is software you can download free to create diagrams with.

Bruce D. Despain has created an extremely useful precis of and commentary on the original Reed Kellogg diagrams.

This site and this one were created by teachers to help students learn basic diagramming.

Here's another teacher site, this one with quicktime video demonstrations.

Jay Leno's Headlines might be fun to diagram in class. I wonder how often the diagram would reveal the joke?

This teaching site, sponsored by an educational foundation, includes diagrams of the pledge of allegiance and the preamble to the US Constitution. It also includes this hilarious quote from David Barry:

ASK MR. LANGUAGE PERSON Q. Please explain how to diagram a sentence.

A. First spread the sentence out on a clean, flat surface, such as an ironing board. Then, using a sharp pencil or X-Acto knife, locate the "predicate," which indicates where the action has taken place and is usually located directly behind the gills. For example, in the sentence: "LaMont never would of bit a forest ranger," the action probably took place in a forest. Thus your diagram would be shaped like a little tree with branches sticking out of it to indicate the locations of the various particles of speech, such as your gerunds, proverbs, adjutants, etc.

— Dave Barry

Yes, we know. "Would of bit" is an unacceptable spelling of "would have bitten," but Mr. Language Person is not very bright and to change his spelling would be just plain sic.

You wouldn't laugh if you were completely ignorant of diagramming. More of us must be keeping the flame alive than anyone knows.

Comments

[Domingo T. Arong]

Hi,

The sentence is: All persons born or naturalized in
the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction
thereof, are citizens of the United States.

Is phrase [1] "All persons born or naturalized in the
United States" modified by phrase [2] "and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof"?

But a comma is inserted before the conjunction "and"
and another comma after the adverb "thereof" in phrase
[2], enclosing it.

So, my question is: Are the phrases [1] "All
persons born or naturalized in the United States" and
[2] "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof" the two
components of a compound subject with the main subject
"all persons" in phrase [2] understood rather than
stated as "and all persons subject to the jurisdiction
there"?

Thank you.

Domingo T. Arong

[Grumps]

Thank you for collecting such a wide variety of information and resources on sentence diagramming, and making it available. I only encountered the system a short time ago and desired to learn more about what is a fascinating subject. You have given me access to much food for thought.
Thank you once again.
Regards,
Grumps. ;-) (A writer in progress.)