Can you or your children diagram a sentence?

[elaine amj]

I guess it depends on each person and how they learn. I wouldn't have a problem with teachers using it as another learning technique to teach grammar.

I was a complete bookworm growing up and learned grammar that way. I never learned how to take sentences apart and don't know grammar rules. My first college level English class was an eye opener as I had to study some grammar rules. By that time, my grasp of grammar was solid and learning the rules and terms did not help me at all. I proofread as part of my work and can tell you when something is not written correctly.

Lots of ways to skin a cat.

 

[indygirl99]

Another catholic school kid.

I'm not sure how I learned sentence diagraming as I spent a good portion of that class time in Mother Superior's office.

My diagrams looked more like horses, dogs and cats. The teacher said they were doodles not diagrams. I though he was stifling my artistic abilities. My dad said he wished I would go back to that shy, quiet kid.

All our kids were taught in public school.

 

[Freeda]

No I cann't. I think it's difficult for an elementary school. Although it is need. My nephew could not even write a good essay, I had to order in the writers' center here. I think it's too bad that he could not write an essay, but on the other hand he is a supporter of the exact sciences.

 

[aprilgail]

I always thought diagramming sentences was stupid and I have never once needed that skill. My kids haven't been taught and I hope no teacher ever feels the need to waste their time changing that fact.

I agree.

In addition to no sentence diagraming in our district, cursive has also been eliminated.

They stopped cursive many years ago here. My daughter is in 11th grade and never learned it. I taught her enough to sign her name but she can neither read nor write it.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

The ability to diagram a sentence drilled into me at my school. My child has been doing this at home since the 2nd grade as it is not taught in school any longer.

http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014...guage-the-fading-art-of-diagramming-sentences

My kids were taught how to diagram sentences in public school and they are 25 and almost 20.

My 20yo is in college as a creative writing & communications double major. English is her thing. She was able to take college level English classes in HS starting as a Freshman, which is why we picked that district. (We have moved several times and my kids had been in many different public schools.)

It REALLY depends on the school district what is offered. We always looked at the MS/HS offerings every time we moved.

 

[mom2rtk]

In addition to no sentence diagraming in our district, cursive has also been eliminated.

Some districts around here have eliminated cursive as well. I'm very glad my kids were taught in grade school. It seems quite odd that when I'm gone they would otherwise need a translator to read through any of my old journals and letters.

 

[DopeyDame]

I am a diagramming expert. (19 years of Catholic school)

My oldest is seven, so obviously he can't, but sadly his school doesn't teach it even to the older kids.
I think direct, explicit grammar instruction is really critical and I'm so sad most schools don't do it anymore. Diagramming sentences is so useful to really understand how sentence structure works and how you should use words. Sure, a lot of people will pick up on proper grammar just by reading and writing a lot. But some kids really do need the explicit instruction of how to use each word. If diagramming sentences were more popular, a lot more people would be comfortable with using the correct pronoun, avoiding misplaced modifiers, using the correct verb form, etc.

I think of it sort of along the same lines as the phonics/whole language debates. Sure, most kids will pick up on phonics naturally by reading a lot. But not all kids. Some really need to be taught explicitly. Likewise, some really need to be taught how to construct a sentence explicitly.

I definitely plan to teach my kids how to diagram since the school won't be doing it.

 

[jahber]

I didn't learn how in school, but I taught myself when I started teaching English. I was an English major in college (but we don't diagram sentences much in medieval lit, which is what I studied). When I taught a language/grammar class I had to learn and now I can't believe all kids don't at least touch on it. It's really a useful tool when you know there's something wrong with a sentence, but you can't figure it out. Diagram it and it becomes obvious if you're using the wrong case or you lost the antecedent or have a dangling participle. But we don't seem to care much about grammar anymore, it would seem. I guess communicating clearly has gone the way of cursive. Alas.
Anyway, when my kids are in 7th grade, I'll teach them (we homeschool) because it's part of the curriculum I've chosen.

 

[GreatLakes]

Yep, we spent a lot of time diagramming sentences. No idea if my son will be but they don't at preschool in Infant 1.

I found it a valuable way to learn sentence structure and have no doubt it made me a better writer.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Learned it, hated it, and promptly forgot it. My 10th grader hasn't done any that I can remember. I'm way more upset over the fact that he has never learned to write in cursive. They did a little bit in 3rd grade, enough to learn how to sign their names and that was it.

 

[DopeyDame]

LOL!
Zombie thread. Turns out I posted when my kid was 7, with the intention of teaching him shortly. I haven't done it yet, but now maybe we have one of our summer tasks!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I’ve never even heard of this.

Also, no can structure sentences proper as result of.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

I know it’s a zombie thread, but still interesting. I’ve never heard of sentence diagramming as shown in the linked article. We learned grammar and how to identify varying parts of speech differently.

Funny enough about cursive, I’m a millennial, but in that cusp group that grew up analog and then adopted technology as it became mainstream (the Oregon Trail folks). I learned cursive in school, but outside of that and signatures have rarely been exposed to it. I grew up when email was first becoming main stream so I’ve never really corresponded via writing. I can write in cursive, though I don’t when jotting things down so I haven’t written it in probably 20+ years. A few days ago, I was going through some paperwork for my family and realized I couldn’t really read some letters we found. Penmanship plays such a big roll in how cursive looks and I haven’t had any need to read in years that I was pretty much illiterate with it.

I can read fancy cursive that was very precise like on historical documents, but everyday joe’s handwriting might as well be in Cyrillic. I get why they don’t teach it anymore. While it anchors us to some historical texts and documents, it’s really unnecessary and likely a skill that would fall away from lack of practice anyway.

 

[barb969]

I loved diagraming, parts of speech and grammar, probably because I loved math. This was back in the 50’s.

 

[clori]

I had sentence diagramming in school at some point. I remember a noun is underlined once and a verb twice. That is about it. I learned a lot of grammar in my Latin class. I don't think my kids did more than possibly a brief overview of diagramming if they ever did it. They also learned some cursive but never had to write in it. They only use it when required to sign something and it doesn't look pretty.

The schools have started to use some program called writing with colors. No idea is that is a modern way of teaching the same thing. I just know there are posters all over the schools.

 

[MickeyPretzels]

So many geniuses on this thread!

I did sentence diagrams in 7th grade. I didn't find it useful and I don't remember how to do it. I don't think my daughter has ever done it.

I, too, was in Honors English. Sadly, I was not a genius. My poor mother never got any phone calls from outraged adults who were both incensed and amazed at my extraordinary intelligence.

My high school had Honors, A, B, C classes for English.

Being in Honors English meant that I could spell words correctly (most of the time) and that I didn't use punctuation either as decoration or to signal the arrival of the letter S. The qualifications/expectations lowered progressively until C level, at which point it was assumed that you would grow up to ask about "dinning plans" on an internet message board.

I am sure that most of us went on to lead fulfilling live's regardless of high school English level.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Yes, they teach it in Montessori elementary.

 

[Cubbiecakes]

Yup, I used to do it on my own, too. It's a useful visualization concept tool. It's probably why I don't talk/write like an American.

 

[amberpi]

Learned how to diagram and still sometimes use it when I'm writing business cases and white papers.

My handwriting is atrocious though. Cursive and printed. I think it's because I've been typing everything since high school. Seriously, it's horrible.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

OOOOO A ZOMBIE THREAD.

4 out of 10 zombies thought it important to diagram a human before eating them.
4 out of 10 zombies thought it not important.
2 zombies instructed the others to diagram each one of us. So we ended he survey and sped off in the car.