2. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College An Introduction English 11

3. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College We begin, naturally, with the representation of a very simple sentence: Glaciers melt. We will place the subject-verb relationship on a straight horizontal line... Glaciers melt and separate the subject from its verb with a short vertical line extending through the horizontal line.

4. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College Modifiers (including articles) go under the words they modify on slanted lines. The glacier is melting slowly. glacier is melting The slowly

5. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College A direct object follows the verb on the horizontal line; it is separated from the verb by a vertical line that does not go through the horizontal line.direct object The glacier is slowly destroying the forest. glacier is destroying The slowly forest the

6. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College Predicate nouns and predicate adjectivesPredicate nouns and predicate adjectives follow the verb and are separated from the verb by a slanted line. The glacier is not really dangerous. glacier is The dangerous not really Josiah Budnick is professor a b r i l l i a n t Josiah Budnick is a brilliant professor.

7. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College With compound subjects and predicates, the sentence diagram begins to branch out.subjectspredicates The professor and her colleagues are studying glaciers and avalanches. professor T h e colleagues h e r are studying a n d glaciers avalanches a n d

8. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College Compound verbs are put on branches in a similar fashion. The professor and her colleagues are studying and classifying glaciers. professor T h e colleagues h e r a n d are studying classifying a n d glaciers

9. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College Indirect objectsIndirect objects are arranged under the main sentence line. Professor Higgins gave her students two projects. Professor Higgins gave projects t w o students h e r

10. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College Prepositional phrasesPrepositional phrases are arranged on branches below the words they modify. Professor Higgins studied glaciers in Antarctica during the 1950s. Professor Higgins studied glaciers Antarctica i n 1950s t h e d u r i n g

11. DIAGRAMMING SENTENCES © Capital Community College This PowerPoint presentation was created by Charles Darling, PhD Professor of English and Webmaster Capital Community College Hartford, Connecticut copyright November 1999