Diagraming sentencing

[italiancookies]

We are using WWE for the third year. I must say I love it. I just dont understand why we need to learn diagramming sentences. I ask my fellow HSers and they all say skip it. But they dont use the curriculum so Even though I value their opinion, there may be a reason for all this in the end and i dont want to skip what may be a beginning for future work like how last year we memorized all these lists and definition and now we are really utilizing them and i am so glad we know them.

[Mrs Mungo]

Have you listened to Susan's lectures? They are fairly inexpensive on the Peace Hill Press part of the site. She explains why. I can sum it up by saying, diagramming is how we learn why some sentences are good and why some are bad (or are not really full sentences). Diagramming is a tool, just like parsing or outlines or any other writing tool.

The long term result of learning how to diagram sentences is not to be descriptive, but to be constructive. That is, once English grammar is fully understood and internalized, a writer can use it to generate better, clearer and more forceful writing. Learning grammar by diagramming is one of the best ways to do this.

[Myra]

I found it extremely useful when studying a foregn language as you already can analzye English sentences so you understand the grammar/syntax/etc when the foreign language is being studied.

 

I also find it useful when my kids are older and writing essays. As we revise and edit the essays, we can do it with the correct vocabulary. For example, this sentence needs a subject-verb agreement or....this pronoun's antecedent isn't clear....the indirect clause is.....etc.

 

Myra