Diagramming

Notes on diagramming     Pictures of diagramming (what goes where)     Diagramming Practice   Diagramming Worksheet

Diagramming Notes:  (See "Pictures of Diagramming" for illustrations)

• You should always start by writing the parts of speech of each word in the sentence above the words and the parts of the sentence below the words
• If you draw a vertical line to separate the subject half of the sentence from the predicate half of the sentence, you can see which words should end up on which side of your diagram
• Usually there is only one word per line
• Nouns and pronouns go on horizontal lines
• Verbs go on horizontal lines
• Words that describe go under what they describe on diagonal lines (adj, adv, prep)
• Vertical lines separate nouns from verbs --
  • the main vertical line separates the subject side of the sentence from the predicate side of the sentence; all the words to the left of the main line are on the subject side of the sentence, and all the words to the right of the main line are on the predicate side of the sentence
• Direct objects go on the main line, after the predicate, separated by half a vertical line
• Indirect objects go under the main line, under the predicate, on a horizontal line attached by a diagonal line
• Appositives go in parentheses next to the subject
• Predicate adjectives and predicate nouns both go in the same place and use the same kind of line:
  • They go after the predicate, separated by a diagonal line ON TOP of the main line

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