diagramming sentences

[goldfish42]

I started teaching shoes_the_dog sentence diagrams the other night while trying to explain direct objects. I know they are almost never used anymore, but I found them amazingly helpful. It's applying visual thinking/teaching methods to language skills. The idea of teaching one type of thought to people who are better at another type of thought by using a

Comments

[caladri]

Eek. When did they stop being used? I struggled with them in school just 11 years ago! The discussions around them helped my understanding of syntax in general quite a bit, though the diagrams themselves never did anything much for me :)

[siog]

I was taught it in elemtary school, told it would be important int he rest of my school, and never did find it useful, and never actually used it anywhere else in my schooling.

[nabaztag_kitten]

Ooh, I loved diagramming sentences. For me also, it was the first time that the whole syntax thing started making sense. I've forgotten some of the finer details, but i still totally think in terms of diagrams, particularly when I write and when I'm trying to figure out if the word I want is "who" or "whom".