SENTENCE DIAGRAMMINGEnglish 1

Sentence Diagramming

• Reed-Kellogg Method• Based on word relationships• Uses the logic of the sentence

instead of the physical order of the words

BasicsFirst, we establish the base

subject/verb relationship in the sentence. All diagrams start with this.

Example: It rained.

It rainedsubject predicate

BasicsThe verb phrase contains the complete

tense of the verb. It is raining.

Contractions will also appear in the diagram. For example:

It’s raining.

It is raining‘s raining

Direct ObjectsAs part of the predicate, separate this

from the verb phrase using a vertical line that ascends from the base line.

Alice crafts dolls. Alice crafts dolls

Direct Object

Noun Predicates and AdjectivesInstead of a vertical line, a left-slanting diagonal ascending line is used.Suika is drunk.

Marisa is a witch.

.

Suika is drunk

Marisa is witch

a

Note that this is only applied to adjectives that are used to complement the predicate’s verb phrase.

Adjectives, Adverbs and other Modifiers

Earlier we had this example:Marisa is a witch.

We use these to show which words modify which in the sentence. Adverbs, adjectives, determiners (the) are attached to the words they modify.

.

Marisa is witcha

Note the descending diagonal line with “a.”

Adjectives, Adverbs and other Modifiers

Suika is very drunk.

Suika is drunkvery

“very” in this case is an adverb that

modifies the adjective “drunk.”

Adjectives, Adverbs and other Modifiers

Alice stayed awake until midnight cramming.

Alice stayed

until

cramming midnight

awake

Participles like this modify the noun.

Participles are differentiated from adjectives by the L-

shaped symbol.

Adjectives, Adverbs and other Modifiers

Marisa stealthily stole Patchy’s precious books.

Marisa stole books

Patchy’sprecious

stealthily

All of the modifiers appear below the

words they are modifying.

Adjectives, Adverbs and other Modifiers

Sakuya eventually replaced her old, outdated costume.

Sakuya replaced costumeold

outdated

eventually

her

Nou

n Pr

edic

ates

, Pre

dica

te

Adje

ctive

s, a

nd D

irect

Obj

ects Everyone considers Cirno a complete idiot.

Everyone

considers Cirnoa

idiot

complete

Prep

ositi

ons

Patchy is practicing magic at the library.

Patchy

is practicing magic

at

library

thePrepositions are

shown by adding a descending diagonal

line with the preposition written

on it leading to a horizontal line that

indicates the complement.

Com

poun

d Su

bjec

tsRemilia and Sakuya are picking flowers at the

mansion’s conservatory.

Remiliaare picking flowers

at

conservatorytheSakuya

andm

ansion’sCompound subjects are indicated by

branches connected by a dotted line. The dotted line indicates

the conjunction.

Com

poun

d Su

bjec

tsRemilia and Sakuya are picking flowers at the

mansion’s conservatory.

Remiliaare picking flowers

at

conservatorytheSakuya

andm

ansion’sCompound subjects are indicated by

branches connected by a dotted line. The dotted line indicates

the conjunction.

Coor

dina

tion

and

Subo

rdin

ation Utsuho is going on a rampage again, so Marisa

must stop her immediately.

UtsuhoUtsuho is goingis goingonon rampagerampage

aa

MarisaMarisa

soso

again

must stopmust stop

herher

imm

ediatelyBoth coordination and subordination have the

component clauses diagrammed separately.

The verbs of the two diagrams are then linked by a vertical dotted line that indicates either the

coordinating or subordinating conjunction.

Rela

tive

Clau

ses

Youmu, who is Princess Yuyuko’s gardener, is also an accomplished swordfighter.

YoumuYoumu isisanan

whowho isis gardenergardener

swordfighterswordfighteraccom

plishe

daccom

plishe

dalsoalso

Yuyuko’s

Princess

Relative clauses modify words in a

sentence by adding additional information. They usually start with

“who,” “whom,” “where,” etc.

A relative clause is diagrammed like this. Since it is a

clause, it also has an SV relationship and is diagrammed with the base cross.

Note the branching modifiers. Princess modifies Yuyuko’s modifies gardener.

The dotted line attaches the relative pronoun “who” to its

antecedent Youmu.

Extr

eme

Exam

ple

The immortal vampire girl who lives in the dark, creepy mansion drinks her victims’ blood and enjoys it immensely.

girl drinks bloodtheim

mortal

vampire

victims’

her

she enjoys it

andim

mensely

who lives

in

mansion

thedark

creepy

Ove

rkill

Exa

mpl

e (T

ry it

Out

!)The defenders of Gensokyo, who are incredibly-

skilled warriors, are fighting tirelessly to protect the realm from invaders who wish to take their beloved land, but the mysterious enemy who is coming might be too strong for them to defeat.

Corrections

• The original “Suika is roaring drunk” sentence has been replaced with “Suika is very drunk.” Roaring is a participle and must be diagrammed with the L-symbol.

• Misplaced branches have been corrected.• Slide on Relative Clauses added.• Slide on uber diagram added.

Title

• Composed and animated by JRR Flores• All characters are from the Touhou series of

video games. http://touhou.wikia.com

• All Touhou characters are property of Shanghai Alice Gengakudan.

全ての東方キャラは上海アリス幻楽団の財物です。

• References: – Cobuild English Grammar (Harper-Collins)– E360K English Grammar: Diagrams http://www.utexas.edu/courses/langling/e360k/handouts/diagrams/index.html