Also, if you want to play this game, you’ll need the greatest coach ever, IMO.
Her name: Phyllis Davenport. Her playbook: Rex Barks.
Go forth and conquer, fellow subversives. I’d love to see some diagramming graffiti in small towns across America (fully washable, of course.) https://amzn.to/4ccnziP
I need, however, to avoid having your thesis drive me into the sadness of opportunities missed. I was a lazy high-school English student (1971-75). These skills and techniques were on offer, but I consciously ducked them.
As a 30-year old, I took a job transfer to Munich where I was forced to jump-start my HS German and work exclusively in the language. Oddly, learning German turned me into a fanatic for well-written English. But at 67 now I find myself kind of a savant. I don't have the formal, foundational knowledge, like diagramming. I'm a reasonably good writer, but find it an extremely difficult slog.
Realistically I don't expect that I will learn to diagram. Yet it was very enjoyable to wander through your reflections.
Nick, if you are interested in a breezy and fun read about that presents an overview of how and why to diagram, I recommend "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" by Kitty Burns Florey. Thanks for reading!
Hey Michael, what have I got to lose? Perhaps it'll make me even less tolerant of and more irritating to colleagues regarding the shortcomings in their own writing! "Throw the ball to Mary and I," anyone?
I enjoy reading more technically skilled and aware writers like yourself, in addition to enjoying the broader topic. I'm fortunate to have a son-in-law with a Masters in English Lit from Oxford. Keeps me on the straight and narrow.
A.J., thanks for reading. If you are interested in a breezy and fun read about that presents an overview of how and why to diagram, I recommend "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" by Kitty Burns Florey. But for, say, a student workbook, the Critical Thinking Company has a series of workbooks that teaches diagramming and has sentences for students to diagram. I'll be sure to follow up with another post about sentence diagramming, recommending some further resources.
This is providential. I woke up at 4:20am thinking about this very subject and how helpful it would be if I went back and implemented this a bit more. I was horrible at this back in school, and it probably shows in my writing. It's like a Harry Potter wand for the English language. I need to learn how to use it once again. Hopefully, there is an app out there to help me get started. I could practice diagramming sentences instead of playing solitaire. 😉
> Hopefully, there is an app out there to help me get started. I could practice diagramming sentences instead of playing solitaire. 😉
Great idea. Or a new addition to the crosswords page in the newspaper; one new complex sentence a week, perhaps taken from classic works of literature.
Is this still taught in grammar and middle schools? This was part of my public school curriculum in the late ‘60s. I struggled with it initially, but came to like it. I believe it was invaluable for my subsequent love of reading.
I love sentence diagramming. Always clarifies. And thro the clarity, helps with the content of what people are trying to say. I use it in my writing teaching, if mainly a private pleasure.
" And yet, sentence diagramming is more than just a skill; it is a philosophy. It teaches that order can be found amidst disorder, that complexity can yield to clarity. In an era where so much of education is focused on "outcomes" and "metrics," diagramming offers something far richer: a process, an engagement, an intellectual adventure. It is a practice that rewards patience and persistence, that challenges students to look beyond the surface and delve into the structure of things. "
I don't quite have the words to express how much I appreciated the philosophy in this article. I read this just after reading your article on beauty, and I realize now that I must find and buy any books you have written.
(Warning: Below is a tangent, to be ignored at will.)
APPLICATION TO MODERN LANGUAGE LEARNING
To take the general idea of the value of analyzing language structure and apply it to foreign language learning, I have long been disappointed by the foreign-language-learning schemes that produce (in my opinion) all the inane, kindergarten-level modern textbooks, schemes that assume that the only usefulness of language is surface social interaction -- "Hi, my name is ...," "Can you tell me how to get to the airport?", "I come from ...," "Do you have a pet?", etc. The new philosophy -- promulgated largely through the teachers' colleges, I imagine -- are that teaching grammar is bad, learning rules is tyranny, the pursuit of perfection is unimportant. Just listen and repeat and listen and repeat and if you get close enough, that's great!
OLD GRAMMARS
Whenever I've found myself abroad, one of my favorite places to visit has been the antique bookshops, looking for that country's language learning books from yesteryear, old books from a distant, forgotten time when principle and order and hierarchy were employed to implant real understanding in the students -- even at early grades. Trivial social interaction has no business being treated as the highest aim of foreign language learning. If instead you teach the deepest principles of the language, from bedrock up, more students will relatively quickly become capable of delving into the authentic texts of a culture: stories, poetry, and even essays, literature, novels, history, biography.
This is not to mention the collateral, intellectual benefits of the older ways of teaching any subject, including language -- the example they give of the operation and usefulness of principles and of reason; the benefits of focus and study; etc.
AGENDA
The usefulness of the older ways of teaching compared to the childishness of the modern "methods" is so stark that I can't help concluding that it's all been part of a long-term agenda to render new generations less and less capable of thought, imagination, and independence.
ADVICE TO PARENTS
If you want your children to learn a foreign language and learn it well, I recommend that you ignore any kind of textbook that's even remotely modern. Go find grammars and readers from the late 19th or early 20th centuries and base your customized lesson plans on those structured presentations. Even a textbook written in the foreign language itself and intended for children growing up in that language could be an excellent base on which to construct a course outline by the parent or homeschool teacher who's already familiar with the language.
THIS WAS A TANGENT
I very frequently go off on tangents when replying to articles. I can't help it, but I do realize I'm doing it.
Also, if you want to play this game, you’ll need the greatest coach ever, IMO.
Her name: Phyllis Davenport. Her playbook: Rex Barks.
Go forth and conquer, fellow subversives. I’d love to see some diagramming graffiti in small towns across America (fully washable, of course.) https://amzn.to/4ccnziP
This made me subscribe. Well done.
Thanks Michael, a fun read and a point well made.
I need, however, to avoid having your thesis drive me into the sadness of opportunities missed. I was a lazy high-school English student (1971-75). These skills and techniques were on offer, but I consciously ducked them.
As a 30-year old, I took a job transfer to Munich where I was forced to jump-start my HS German and work exclusively in the language. Oddly, learning German turned me into a fanatic for well-written English. But at 67 now I find myself kind of a savant. I don't have the formal, foundational knowledge, like diagramming. I'm a reasonably good writer, but find it an extremely difficult slog.
Realistically I don't expect that I will learn to diagram. Yet it was very enjoyable to wander through your reflections.
Nick, if you are interested in a breezy and fun read about that presents an overview of how and why to diagram, I recommend "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" by Kitty Burns Florey. Thanks for reading!
Hey Michael, what have I got to lose? Perhaps it'll make me even less tolerant of and more irritating to colleagues regarding the shortcomings in their own writing! "Throw the ball to Mary and I," anyone?
I enjoy reading more technically skilled and aware writers like yourself, in addition to enjoying the broader topic. I'm fortunate to have a son-in-law with a Masters in English Lit from Oxford. Keeps me on the straight and narrow.
LOL.
Great post! I'm actually launching into my first sentence diagramming lesson today. Decided mid-year to shift approaches.
I'm pairing sentence diagramming with sentence combining.
Good decision. Good luck!
This is so great. Do you have any recommendations for textbooks/workbooks/treatises/reference books to use to get proficient in sentence diagramming?
A.J., thanks for reading. If you are interested in a breezy and fun read about that presents an overview of how and why to diagram, I recommend "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" by Kitty Burns Florey. But for, say, a student workbook, the Critical Thinking Company has a series of workbooks that teaches diagramming and has sentences for students to diagram. I'll be sure to follow up with another post about sentence diagramming, recommending some further resources.
Diagram "when, in the course of human events..." And be inspired!
This is providential. I woke up at 4:20am thinking about this very subject and how helpful it would be if I went back and implemented this a bit more. I was horrible at this back in school, and it probably shows in my writing. It's like a Harry Potter wand for the English language. I need to learn how to use it once again. Hopefully, there is an app out there to help me get started. I could practice diagramming sentences instead of playing solitaire. 😉
> Hopefully, there is an app out there to help me get started. I could practice diagramming sentences instead of playing solitaire. 😉
Great idea. Or a new addition to the crosswords page in the newspaper; one new complex sentence a week, perhaps taken from classic works of literature.
Yes! Love that idea!
Is this still taught in grammar and middle schools? This was part of my public school curriculum in the late ‘60s. I struggled with it initially, but came to like it. I believe it was invaluable for my subsequent love of reading.
I love sentence diagramming. Always clarifies. And thro the clarity, helps with the content of what people are trying to say. I use it in my writing teaching, if mainly a private pleasure.
" And yet, sentence diagramming is more than just a skill; it is a philosophy. It teaches that order can be found amidst disorder, that complexity can yield to clarity. In an era where so much of education is focused on "outcomes" and "metrics," diagramming offers something far richer: a process, an engagement, an intellectual adventure. It is a practice that rewards patience and persistence, that challenges students to look beyond the surface and delve into the structure of things. "
I don't quite have the words to express how much I appreciated the philosophy in this article. I read this just after reading your article on beauty, and I realize now that I must find and buy any books you have written.
(Warning: Below is a tangent, to be ignored at will.)
APPLICATION TO MODERN LANGUAGE LEARNING
To take the general idea of the value of analyzing language structure and apply it to foreign language learning, I have long been disappointed by the foreign-language-learning schemes that produce (in my opinion) all the inane, kindergarten-level modern textbooks, schemes that assume that the only usefulness of language is surface social interaction -- "Hi, my name is ...," "Can you tell me how to get to the airport?", "I come from ...," "Do you have a pet?", etc. The new philosophy -- promulgated largely through the teachers' colleges, I imagine -- are that teaching grammar is bad, learning rules is tyranny, the pursuit of perfection is unimportant. Just listen and repeat and listen and repeat and if you get close enough, that's great!
OLD GRAMMARS
Whenever I've found myself abroad, one of my favorite places to visit has been the antique bookshops, looking for that country's language learning books from yesteryear, old books from a distant, forgotten time when principle and order and hierarchy were employed to implant real understanding in the students -- even at early grades. Trivial social interaction has no business being treated as the highest aim of foreign language learning. If instead you teach the deepest principles of the language, from bedrock up, more students will relatively quickly become capable of delving into the authentic texts of a culture: stories, poetry, and even essays, literature, novels, history, biography.
This is not to mention the collateral, intellectual benefits of the older ways of teaching any subject, including language -- the example they give of the operation and usefulness of principles and of reason; the benefits of focus and study; etc.
AGENDA
The usefulness of the older ways of teaching compared to the childishness of the modern "methods" is so stark that I can't help concluding that it's all been part of a long-term agenda to render new generations less and less capable of thought, imagination, and independence.
ADVICE TO PARENTS
If you want your children to learn a foreign language and learn it well, I recommend that you ignore any kind of textbook that's even remotely modern. Go find grammars and readers from the late 19th or early 20th centuries and base your customized lesson plans on those structured presentations. Even a textbook written in the foreign language itself and intended for children growing up in that language could be an excellent base on which to construct a course outline by the parent or homeschool teacher who's already familiar with the language.
THIS WAS A TANGENT
I very frequently go off on tangents when replying to articles. I can't help it, but I do realize I'm doing it.
Subversive? Maybe. The kids love it though. 😉
Just saw the “diagram”!…Haven’t even read the post yet, Thank you.
And a belated thank you to Mrs. Elder, my 7th & 8th grade English teacher circa 1957.
My sixth grade teacher was a fiend for diagraming sentences. Constant homework.
Now, it is a very profound memory....