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Diagramming sentences
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Would anyone be willing to share with me the benefits of learning to diagram sentences? Do you believe there a direct correlation between diagramming sentences and becoming a better writer? And if so, have you actually seen this play out in your writing or your children’s writing?
I had once read that the great writers of this world do not become great writers by diagramming sentences, but rather by reading good books, using their writing tools and practicing their writing. That sounds very compelling so I was wondering why we place such a great emphasis on diagramming. I remember it being a great source of frustration for me in school. And I don’t want to pass that on to my children.
I need to understand the “whys” behind diagramming before my girls and I dive into it in the fall. I listened to all the video clips on the Analytical Grammar website, but never really got an answer to my question.
I’m going to be very transparent here and say that even in writing these posts I find myself writing and rewriting them because I think my grammar is so bad. If I learn to diagram sentences, will my brain eventually begin to naturally produce better sentences? 🙄
This is just my humble opinion, but having been forced to diagram sentences in my own high school and hating every minute of it – and not finding it particularly helpful to me – I decided that I would avoid it at all costs with my children. My daughters did do the basic Winston Grammar Course in about 8th grade (we don’t do grades) and I have to say that it was beneficial to them, in understanding the order of words etc. After they finished the basic course I saw no need to go on to the advanced course. A good friend is a Professor of Language Arts and Literature in the UK and he said their grammar was great – he actually said it must have come from all the good classic literature they had read and the copywork. He believes that some grammar can be important to learn, however he said there is no substitute for just writing and being well read. My daughters are 17 now and the last time he saw a piece of their writing he was very impressed. So from my own point of view I would not worry too much. He said the notion of doing grammar every year is a mistake, that it just wastes time and usually does not end up with a better result. Good writing does not happen just because you were put through years of grammar. I must say at the start of their highschool years, I was concerned, but he told me not to worry – that the Winston had been enough, and to continue with lots of interesting writing, copywork and to read, read, read. I guess it has paid off because writing is their strongest subject now, and they love it. I am sure others have different opinions and there are many grammar courses out there, however I would avoid doing it year after year, that just turns kids off in my mind. Blessings, Linda
Well, I’d be the last person to argue that one cannot write unless one can diagram. That said, though, I think that diagramming can be an extremely useful tool, especially for visual learners (I readily confess that I am one!)
I agree that it is critical for writing success to write a lot and read a lot, but there can be an important place for really understanding our language and how the parts work together. This knowledge can be gained in other ways, for example intensive foreign language study. But even there, I see a real value in diagramming. If you want to take a complicated sentence and put it into Latin, it can be really useful to be able to visually mark out what goes where–how are the parts related? What can I put in nominative case, what will need objective, or genitive, or ablative . . . and I can personally “see” and identify this much more quickly if I sketch out a quick diagram first. Also, if I am writing and having trouble with a sentence, one of the first tools I turn to to diagnose my problem is a diagram. I can often see at a glance why I am having a difficulty, and can then correct that.
But I really miss something in a lot of current writing today. There is just something missing in many of today’s writers, when one compares writers with C.S. Lewis, or Auden, or Orwell . . . . IMO slapdash English just doesn’t come across as well as disciplined English. Perhaps it’s just an aesthetic bias I have, but there is just a class of writing that is set apart . . . and without fail, one finds that THOSE types of writers knew their stuff–they were well read, they wrote a lot, but they also parsed and diagrammed and translated Latin poetry and tried to write their own . . . and I think it shows. Now, I’m not sure I’m raising any professional writers, but I still thought it was a tool worth learning. And my children, none of whom can be accused of an irrational fondness for grammar, LOVED diagramming. It is not difficult to learn and has a real intellectual challenge–like a puzzle. We diagram things for fun sometimes at dinner. OK, maybe we’re just weird. (Maybe???)
One other note–when I was in graduate school and grading college freshman papers, I decided to run my own little (decidedly unscientific) experiment. I held aside those papers and exams I got that were really special–super writing, writing that just stood above the rest. I made it a point to ask all those kids a few questions. And the results? Almost without exception, all those kids had seriously studied a foreign language (at least 3+ years of the same one), all of them had had to write essays often in high school (like several a WEEK) AND all of them had had significant grammar instruction, often including diagramming. Just something I found very interesting and that I have tried to keep in mind in preparing my own kids for college. Can you become a very decent writer without diagramming? Absolutely. Does it still make sense to dedicate a small space of time to learning as useful a tool as diagramming? Again, IMO, absolutely.
I, personally think diagramming sentences seems fun, but I am a self proclaimed nerd when it comes to things like that 🙂 However, I have absolutely no recollection of doing it in school, especially in younger grades. I did attend public school and do remember having grammar instruction, but not specifically diagramming sentences. I always did very well in writing and scored high enough on a college placement test to skip freshman English comp. In college, writing was very easy for me, always one of my strongest skills. (My children are young and haven’t gotten to that stage yet, so I only have my experience to go off of). I would tend to agree with others that reading good literature is a bigger help in learning to write well. I can see some benefit in that type of grammar instruction and with some children it may help them understand grammar concepts better. But all in all, I would agree with the others that I would not put it at the top of my priority list.
Thank you all for your input. It has helped me to put things in better perspective. I will continue to pray about how to “dedicate a small space of time in learning it”.
I have a suggestion to share that has been working really well for us. We have been using DGP Grammar and I really like it. It is a bit expensive, BUT it actually gets done and the kids can do it independently–well, sort of, but we are getting there :). Each week you analyze ONE sentence, a little bit each day. On Friday you diagram that sentence. It doesn’t teach grammar right out, but does include all the definitions and terms you would need for the year in the teacher’s guide. As I see things pop up in the weekly sentence I go over the definition and cue them to look for that as they study it.
The best part is doing the week’s work each day takes far less time than to read this entry and yet they are still learning and remembering. It has levels from grades 1 to college, but diagramming doesn’t start until the 5th grade level (which is where we started this year).
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