Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Draw me a sentence 

Erin O'Connor leads me to this essay on diagramming sentences. I went to public school and learned diagramming in seventh grade with Mrs. Holloran. I don't know that I could still do it, but I found this site for someone that shows you how (and will sell you a book if you want to know much more.)

I am reading student papers of our seniors in their capstone class, and many of them could use a lesson like that. It seems trite to say that because we all do, but I believe you can't make an essay until you can write a paragraph, and you can't write a paragraph until you know how to write a sentence, and you can't write a sentence until you know the elements of grammar. And if you can diagram the previous sentence, you can do it all.

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