Things You'll Need:
- pencil
- lined paper or ruler
- sentence
- basic knowledge of parts of speech
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Step 1
Find the two main words of the sentence: the subject and the verb. The verb usually shows action, and the subject is "doing" the action. Write the subject and verb on the horizontal line and separate them with a short vertical line. (See picture.)
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Step 2
Any descriptive words go beneath what is being described.
"The" and "angry" describe man, so they are placed on slanted lines below "man".
"Furiously" describes how the man stomped, so it goes beneath "stomped". -
Step 3
Prepositional phrases--(in this sentence--" across the wood floor")-- are describers, so they go below the word being described. The main word of the phrase (noun) goes on a horizontal line with the preposition connecting to it with a slanted line. (See picture). Any words that describe the noun (object of the preposition) go beneath that noun.
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Step 4
When your diagram is finished, someone else should be able to write the original sentence just by looking at your diagram. Any words capitalized in the sentence will be capitalized on your diagram. The descriptive words will be in the order in which they appear in the sentence.
Comments
turtledove said
on 8/4/2009 I remember diagramming sentences. now I have to do it with my kids. 5*
godfather25 said
on 8/2/2009 EDIT: *simple sentence*
godfather25 said
on 8/2/2009 Excellent tips on diagramming a perfect sentence.
jamiekucharski said
on 7/30/2009 Great English/Writing tips. Thanks for showing us how to do this. :-)
joycetmann said
on 7/29/2009 I LOVED this as a kid. Thanks for how to diagram a sentence. 5*