1. Sentence Diagramming Every sentence, no matter what, has a verb phrase (VP) and noun phrase (NP). – Ex: Sam jumped. Sam (NP) jumped (VP). As sentences become more complicated, more parts are added. For example: – Elloise likes pink ponies. – Elloise (NP-N) likes (VP-V) pink ponies (VP-NP-det-adj, NP-N-ponies). Please see the next two slides for examples. The last slide is a glossary.

2. Diagramming simple sentences: A sentence will always have a NP and a VP. A VP will consist of a V + NP, V+Adj. or Adv Phrase, V+PP, V, or a V+S. A NP will consist of a N, N+A, NP+S, N + PP, PP

3. Diagramming sentences with clauses. Clauses are merely independent and dependent clauses. When you have a sentence with a clause, then that clause will have a “mini” sentence inside of it (refer to the right side of the diagram). A NP can have a PP, N, A + N, S, etc. inside of it. You have to determine which sentence parts are modifying what and where.

4. Glossary S=sentence NP=noun phrase VP=verb phrase PP=prepositional phrase Adj.P=adjective phrase Adv.P=adverb phrase Adj= adjective, adv=adverb, det.=determiner, a=article, n=noun, v=verb, p=preposition, pro=pronoun, d.o.=direct object, ind.o.=indirect object., etc.