Language Learning

A Sentence Diagram is a pictorial representation of the grammatical structure of a natural-language sentence.
Diagramming sentences is a way to visualize how the different parts of a sentence fit together: the subject of a clause goes in one slot, the verb in another, and so on. Words that modify another word are attached to the word they modify. Understanding the functions of parts of the speech in a sentence and their relationship to one another can be very helpful in learning to construct good sentences.
The diagram of a sentence begins with a horizontal line called the base. The subject is written on the left, the predicate on the right, separated by a vertical bar which extends through the base. The predicate must contain a verb, and the verb either requires other sentence elements to complete the predicate, permits them to do so, or precludes them from doing so. The verb and its object, when present, are separated by a line that ends at the baseline.
For example, let's consider the following sentence: James bought a new book and gave it to his little sister. So, we see such parts of a sentence:
- James is the subject;
- bought a book and gave it are the compound predicate with direct objects (book, it);
- his sister is the indirect object;
- new, little are adjectives.
[Sentence diagram. Wikipedia]
This sentence diagram template for the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software is included in the Language Learning solution from the Science and Education area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

"Most methods of diagramming in pedagogy are based on the work of Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg in their book Higher Lessons in English, first published in 1877, though the method has been updated with recent understanding of grammar. ...
Some schoolteachers continue to use the Reed-Kellogg system in teaching grammar, but others have discouraged it in favor of more modern tree diagrams. However, these modern tree structures draw on techniques that were already present in Reed-Kellogg diagrams. Reed and Kellogg defend their system in the preface to their grammar:
The Objections to the Diagram.--The fact that the pictorial diagram groups the parts of a sentence according to their offices and relations, and not in the order of speech, has been spoken of as a fault. It is, on the contrary, a merit, for it teaches the pupil to look through the literary order and discover the logical order. He thus learns what the literary order really is, and sees that this may be varied indefinitely, so long as the logical relations are kept clear.
The assertion that correct diagrams can be made mechanically is not borne out by the facts. It is easier to avoid precision in oral analysis than in written. The diagram drives the pupil to a most searching examination of the sentence, brings him face to face with every difficulty, and compels a decision on every point.
... Reed-Kellogg diagrams abstract away from actual word order in order to focus more intently on how words in sentences function and relate to each other.
The Reed-Kellogg System. Simple sentences in the Reed-Kellogg system are diagrammed in accordance with the ... basic schemata" shown in this diagram example. [Sentence diagram. Wikipedia]
The example "The Reed-Kellogg system - Basic schemata" was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Language Learning solution from the Science and Education area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.

This sentence diagram example was redesigned from the Wikipedia file: Examples of Reed-Kellogg diagrams.jpg.
[en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ File:Examples_ of_ Reed-Kellogg_ diagrams.jpg]
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. [creativecommons.org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3.0/ deed.en]
"Most methods of diagramming in pedagogy are based on the work of Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg in their book Higher Lessons in English, first published in 1877, though the method has been updated with recent understanding of grammar. Reed and Kellogg were preceded, and their work probably informed, by W. S. Clark, who published his "balloon" method of depicting grammar in his 1847 book A Practical Grammar: In Which Words, Phrases & Sentences are Classified According to Their Offices and Their Various Relationships to Each Another.
Some schoolteachers continue to use the Reed-Kellogg system in teaching grammar, but others have discouraged it in favor of more modern tree diagrams. However, these modern tree structures draw on techniques that were already present in Reed-Kellogg diagrams. Reed and Kellogg defend their system in the preface to their grammar:
The Objections to the Diagram. - The fact that the pictorial diagram groups the parts of a sentence according to their offices and relations, and not in the order of speech, has been spoken of as a fault. It is, on the contrary, a merit, for it teaches the pupil to look through the literary order and discover the logical order. He thus learns what the literary order really is, and sees that this may be varied indefinitely, so long as the logical relations are kept clear.
The assertion that correct diagrams can be made mechanically is not borne out by the facts. It is easier to avoid precision in oral analysis than in written. The diagram drives the pupil to a most searching examination of the sentence, brings him face to face with every difficulty, and compels a decision on every point.
These statements bear witness to the fact that Reed-Kellogg diagrams abstract away from actual word order in order to focus more intently on how words in sentences function and relate to each other." [Sentence diagram. Wikipedia]
The examples of Reed-Kellogg diagrams was created using the ConceptDraw PRO diagramming and vector drawing software extended with the Language Learning solution from the Science and Education area of ConceptDraw Solution Park.