Sentence diagramming is the long division of English. It involves a bewildering array of lines and diagonal branches. It is loathed as an elementary school chore. And it is presumed to be obsolete.

Stop fidgeting. Sit up straight, eyes forward, all eyes on the blackboard. Today we're going to diagram sentences. "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog" is the title of a new book on sentence diagramming.

But an NCTE advisory against diagramming and other overt forms of grammar instruction early in the 1970s had a powerful effect, said Edward Cannon, head of the English Department at T.C. Williams ...

Sentence diagramming was once a widespread technique for teaching kids how to analyze the structure of a sentence. If you had to do it in school, you either loved it or you hated it.

This one shows the opening of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis. When you think about a sentence, you usually think about words — not lines. But sentence diagramming brings geometry into grammar.

“The sentence diagram was the thing that started me off because it changes the format of words that you usually encounter. “For me, the diagram made words visual in a very literal way.

Harrisonburg, Va. * Hooray to Robyn Jackson for teaching sentence diagramming. I learned to diagram sentences way back when. It helped me learn English grammar and also helped when I studied French.

According to the letter by Carl W. Lehne of Florissant, "Meaning gets lost in cartoon about sentence diagramming" (Jan. 29), the art of correct English and grammar as well as ...

"Diagramming sentences ... teaches nothing beyond the ability to diagram," declared the 1960 Encyclopedia of Educational Research. In 1985, the National Council of Teachers of English declared that ...

In 1985, the National Council of Teachers of English declared that "repetitive grammar drills and exercises" — like diagramming sentences — are "a deterrent to the improvement of students ...