Wednesday, April 2, 2014

To Diagram or Not to Diagram

Nothing halts my typing fingers faster than the words "sentence diagram." Sure, I diagrammed sentences ages ago when I was in school, but as an adult? Never.



Combing through my manuscript for the seventh time unearthed poor grammar choices, so when I came across the term "sentence diagram" in a magazine article, I figured I'd Google it.

Guess what showed up in a search? "Famous Novels' First Sentences Mapped: Infographic" created by Pop Chart Lab, shared by Colin Lecher via popsci.com. I loved reading the first lines of several famous novels in diagram form. Some are short, others long, but all made me smile.

Then I checked out the Basics of Reed-Kellogg diagrams via the University of Texas at Austin's website. Clear instructions. Straightforward. I decided I could handle diagramming a few sentences on my own.

But then I got lazy and wrote this blog post instead. Maybe I'll diagram a sentence or two of my novel, but I probably won't!

Do you shy away from exercises like diagramming sentences? Or do you jump right on the challenge?

Happy Wednesday!


12 comments:

  1. UGh, I don't think I diagrammed a sentence since college. (And I think I'll keep it that way!) LOL

    Love the pretty yellow here!

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer! I thought I'd freshen up the look! And I don't see myself actually diagramming a sentence either!

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  2. LOL... I just tweeted about this yesterday. I kinda like diagramming sentences...we have a curriculum that is ALL about diagramming and I spent the afternoon giving sentences to my girls and working right along with them. It does teach you all those parts of speech, not that I don't break those rules in my writing;)

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    1. That's awesome! Great minds think alike, right? Ha!

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  3. So fun, Jill. I don't think I've diagrammed a sentence since seventh grade. I do enjoy some of these kinds of exercises.....just not this particular one. :) But these sorts of exercises get my brain thinking in new ways. So that's good, right?

    Kudos to you if you diagram your sentences!

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    1. Yeah, I'm sure I won't do it, Jeanne! Keeping it real! :)

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  4. I got lazy and wrote this post...ROFL! Um, no, no I do not diagram. I make my crit partners tell me "this sentence is all wrong." lol

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  5. Ha, ha!! Same here--and you know it!!

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  6. Grammar nerd alert! I LOVE diagramming. :D

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  7. Sentences I diagram not. Waste of time it is.

    http://blessed-are-the-pure-of-heart.blogspot.com/2014/04/do-you-know-what-your-husband-is-doing.html

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