Community Chat

[Yardlie]

When I was in school, we began diagramming sentences sometime in elementary school, all through junior high, and even into high school. I always enjoyed English, so I didn't complain. I used to think of it almost like a jigsaw puzzle.

My niece was recently here from California. Her mom and I were talking about diagramming sentences in school. We asked my niece if she had to diagram sentences in school. She said, "When I was in fifth grade!"

Don't they do that anymore? One thing that is clear to me is that my niece struggles with her writing skills. She doesn't seem to understand the parts of speech. She is a freshman in college now.

Is diagramming sentences one of those things that were bumped out of the curriculum like cursive writing because they no longer seem to serve a purpose today?

[meglet]

Responding from the northeast here.  I've been teaching high school for 33 years now and the parochial schools were the last holdout in teaching grammar.  The only way it seems students learn basic grammar now is by taking a language.  I teach Latin and my students have heard the words "tense, part of speech, case," but they can't really define them or know what their significance is in terms of writing in English.

[depglass]

I sure do.  Of course I can't remember what all that stuff is called at present.  I know how to construct a proper sentence but I find myself taking shortcuts. I also find myself proof reading everything unconsciously, especially subject-verb agreement and spelling.  Auto correct has pointed out spelling mistakes I've been making for years, so this is a two way street. 

[Yardlie]

@meglet ... That is really too bad. It must be difficult to learn a foreign language when they don't know the parts of speech.

[bakergirl]

Yes, I do! Loved doing that - attended Catholic school from grades 4 to 12 and English grammar, literature, etc. was very important. I believe discontinuing English is one of the main reasons people speak so poorly, for example, "him and me" instead of he and I....

also when did "the both of us" replace just "both of us"..........

[Yardlie]

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@depglass wrote:

I sure do.  Of course I can't remember what all that stuff is called at present.  I know how to construct a proper sentence but I find myself taking shortcuts. I also find myself proof reading everything unconsciously, especially subject-verb agreement and spelling.  Auto correct has pointed out spelling mistakes I've been making for years, so this is a two way street. 

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@depglass ... I know what you are saying. I proofread things also. I'm not perfect...was not an English major. However, I always liked the subject and always enjoyed writing. I don't know how I would have ever learned Spanish if I didn't know the parts of speech.

[Yardlie]

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@bakergirl wrote:

Yes, I do! Loved doing that - attended Catholic school from grades 4 to 12 and English grammar, literature, etc. was very important. I believe discontinuing English is one of the main reasons people speak so poorly, for example, "him and me" instead of he and I....

also when did "the both of us" replace just "both of us"..........

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@bakergirl ... LOL ... I always pick up on things like "the both of us" also. I noticed in an email my niece sent to me that she confuses "accepted" with "excepted." She took AP classes in high school. How could she not know that?

[pianobabe159]

Yes, I do remember diagramming.....the longer, the better.  I believe it really helped with word usage and also when studying foreing languages.  Now cursive writing and parts of speech(diagramming) are going by the wayside.  Think these are good things??????

[2blonde]

Yes, I sure do!  I always liked English, grammar and spelling (maybe because they were easier for me than math!).

I work at a college, and it's very sad to see how potential students write and make phone calls (don't even get me started on that).  They don't even know how to ask a simple question.  The vast majority of high school graduates don't test into college level English or math.  They have to take remedial classes in those subjects.

[Q4u]

Yes, absolutely remember.  I also remember a boy in class who could ace every one of the tests yet couldn't write well at all... he said that picking the words apart and diagramming came naturally to him and he did it remarkably well, but then couldn't apply what he learned to his actual writing.  

I thought it was interesting even back then because apparently diagramming appealed to the map analysis side of his brain but even knowing where and what everything was didn't help his application of words when actually writing..

Still find it interesting....