Learn grammar by diagramming sentences! Basic sentences, prepositional phrases, adjective clauses, adverbial clauses, and more.
Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to set up a private individual or group class.
Sentence diagramming helps us master sentence construction, which helps us write better, read better, and think better.
In tutoring many high school students (even junior and senior level — and college level), I find that most students unfortunately cannot pick out the noun and verb in a sentence, never mind say what an adjective or adverb is. They can “get” a sentence, but they lack a conceptual understanding of it.
Just as builders need to know the nature of their tools — hammer, saw, screwdriver, wrench, etc. — and how they work, so also we who communicate and think need to know what our tools of communication and thought are and how they work.
Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to set up a private individual or group class.
Hence, in this class — through lecture, interactive discussion, and interactive work — we will identify and define the parts of speech and we will learn how to diagram sentences containing them.
Come prepared to listen, take notes, answer some questions, ask some questions, do some work, and start to make a life-long habit of clear communication, writing, and thinking. We will lay down the basic foundation for sentence diagramming; we will start the journey to better thinking and better living through better grammar.
Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to set up a private individual or group class.
Tentative schedule:
Week 1
Day 1
Intro; what sentence diagramming is; why it is important
Define noun, verb, pronoun, adjective, adverb, and preposition
How to diagram sentences with a combination of nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions
Day 2
Review
How to diagram implicit “you,” interjections, and adverbs modifying adjectives or adverbs
Practice diagramming sentences with a combination of nouns, verbs, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositions
Week 2
Day 3
Review prepositions and prepositional phrases
Identify prepositions, prepositional phrases, and the part of speech the phrase has
Day 4
Define compound element (compound noun, compound verb, compound sentence, etc.)
Define transitive verb, linking verb, direct object, indirect object
How to diagram sentences containing compound elements, transitive verbs, and linking verbs (as well as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases)
Week 3
Day 5
Review
Practice diagramming sentences containing compound elements, transitive verbs, and linking verbs (as well as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases)
Day 6
Review
Identify adverbs and adverbial clauses
How to diagram sentences containing adverbial clauses (and sentences containing what we have learned to this point)
Week 4
Day 7
Review
Practice diagramming sentences containing adverbial clauses (and sentences containing what we have learned to this point)
Day 8
Review
Identify adjectives and adjective clauses
How to diagram sentences containing adjective clauses (and sentences containing what we have learned to this point)
Week 5
Day 9
Review
Practice diagramming sentences containing adjective clauses (and sentences containing what we have learned to this point)
Day 10
Review
Practice diagramming everything we have learned
Enroll on Outschool, or contact me to set up a private individual or group class.