Diagramming Sentences
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Basic Sentence
Parts and Patterns
- Simple subject and predicate
Samson slept.
- Understood subject (for commands,
directives)
Sit!
- Questions
| Where are you going?
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What were you reading
this morning?
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| Whose bike were you
using?
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May I postpone this assignment?
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- Compound predicate
The cat howled and scratched ferociously.
- Compound subject and compound predicate
Juanita and Celso worked hard and
then rested.
- Three subjects
Juanita,
Federica, and Celso are working.
- Direct object
Tashonda sent e-mail.
- Compound direct objects
Tashonda sent cards and letters.
- Three direct objects
Tashonda sent e-mail, cards, and letters.
- Compound predicate with direct objects
Joselyn cooked breakfast and
ate it.
- Compound predicate with one direct object
Samantha proofreads and edits her essays.
- Indirect object
Mrs. Doubtfire gave the children homework.
- Compound indirect objects
Mrs. Doubtfire
gave Tabitha and Samantha quizzes.
- Predicate noun
John Calhoun is a coach.
- Objective complement
Johnny painted his old
jalopy purple.
The club elected Tashonda [as its] president.
- Reflexive Pronouns
[as direct object] José
cut himself.
[as indirect object] Mr. Edwards gave
himself a raise.
[as object of a preposition] She
cared only for herself .
- Intensive Pronoun
I myself prefer basketball.
[or] I prefer basketball myself.
- Appositive
John Calhoun, the
coach, yelled at the referees.
- Direct address
Heitor, address the class now.
- Interjection
Man,
that hurt!
- Adjective
Athletic
moves excite the crowd.
- Compound adjectives
The
little old lady hit the tall and distinguished
gentleman.
- Predicate adjective
Samson was powerful.
- Compound predicate adjectives
Samson was
powerful but gullible.
- Comparative adjective
Joanna is considerably
taller than her brother [is].
- Adverb
Dogsbreath works quickly.
- Adverbs modifying other adverbs
A very friendly dog wags its tail quite often.
- Compound adverbs
Dr. Turveydrop waited patiently and quietly at the door.
- Prepositional phrase
Charles is working
in the garden.
- Prepositional phrase modifying another prepositional
phrase
Charles is working in
the garden by the river.
- Preposition with compound objects
The
thought of getting up and working is alarming.
- Prepositional phrase modifying an adverb
Tashonda does her best work early during the
semester.
- Prepositional phrase as subjective
complement
She felt under the
weather.
- Participle
The crumbling bridge must be repaired.
- Participial phrase
The screaming crowd
watched the bridge falling into the river.
- Gerund
Working hard
can be profitable.
- Gerund phrase acting as object
Terminata
hates eating broccoli.
- Gerund phrase as object of a preposition
Wolfson wrote a book about playing basketball.
- Infinitive as noun (subject & predicate)
To know him is to love him.
- Infinitive acting as adjective
His decision
to leave early was unfortunate.
- Infinitive acting as adverb
He is determined
to work hard.
- Infinitive as direct object
The Eagles
slowly began to climb the national rankings.
- Infinitive phrase as object of preposition
Pedrito had no choice except to run away.
- Infinitive phrase as objective complement
Mom wanted me to do the dishes.
- Infinitive phrase as appositive
It was a
mistake to elect William president.
- Causative Verb
Professor Villa made her
students read four novels.
- Expletive Construction
There
are never enough hot dogs at the annual picnic.
There is no one working with Albert.
- Absolute Construction
To
tell the truth, I do not remember meeting her.
- Correlative Conjunction
Either we wash the walls, or we
paint them.
- Passive Verbs
The burglar was shot.
Mary was awarded the Smith Case.
Turveydrop was named chairman while he was out of
the room.
Guide to Grammar and Writing