Diagramming Sentences

Some of us learn better if we see not only words but also pictures or diagrams.  Thus, perhaps, the old practice of diagramming sentences may return.

If you want to see how people diagram sentences, you can go to Capital Community College's writing website.  If you click the correct icon, a PowerPoint presentation will open on your screen. Every time you click your mouse, the slide adds an element. 

One click forecasts what kind of sentence is coming.
The next click prints the sentence; the next one begins drawing the diagram.
Subsequent clicks fill in the diagram with words.

All diagrams have a horizontal line that locates the clause's essentials: subject, verb, and completer.  These essentials may sprout a descending oblique line that locates their modifiers.

Your high-school teacher may have said, "If you can't diagram it, it's not a clear sentence."  On the other hand, if you can diagram a sentence, you have glimpsed a miracle.  It's the miracle of language: a template inside our brains that morphs a mere strip of words into the blooming, buzzing reality that is a thought.