Diagramming Sentences
Prof. G.
Dalgish
Gerard.Dalgish@baruch.cuny.edu
This
program allows students to manipulate parts of a sentence into a standard
Kellog-Reed sentence diagram. There are four levels: Simple
sentences, compound/complex sentences, infinitival/that-clause
sentences, and miscellaneous
sentences. The student uses a mouse to drag sentence elements into their
places in the diagrams. The program comes with sentences for each level, or the
teacher can create a file with sentences
that are specific to and suitable for his/her class and level, and manipulate
the program so that those sentences become the ones the students see. Related
sentence parts are color-coded (the subject and its elements are red, the verb
and adverbials are blue, etc.) and attractively presented. A special drawing tool allows students and teachers to draw,
color, and print original sentences, and to create files of a number of
sentences. The program has an additional tool for teachers to correct or edit a
student file of diagrams. The teacher or the student can print, copy to the
clipboard, or save a diagram at any point in the program.
Paper-and-pencil
versions of sentence diagramming may once have been thought of as a tedious
chore, but this program could actually make the exploration of sentence
structure more entertaining and, hopefully, just as instructive.
Opening
Screen. The figure above shows the opening screen.
The list box opens to numerous choices: Simple Sentences, Compound/Complex
Sentences, ‘For/To or That’ Type
Sentences, Miscellaneous Sentences, ‘Create Your Own Sentences,' 'Teacher
Creates Sentences' and 'Teacher Edits/Corrects Student Sentences.' The last two
options require the teacher's password.
Simple Sentences. Let
us assume the student has clicked on the Simple
Sentences option. The next screen s/he sees will look something like the
following:
The yellow instructional box explains
to the student that he or she will see the words of a sentence and must drag
the words into the correct places in the diagram. This "introductory
instructional box" is dismissed when the student clicks on it.
The top of the
screen contains menu items and shortcut buttons, and certain of these are
enabled. Their functions are as follows:
·
the left arrow button takes the student back to the starting
page;
·
the button with a red N stands for ‘new
sentence’ and will produce and display a new sentence;
·
the button with the number sign allows the
student to select a particular numbered sentence. It toggles between displaying
numbers and hiding numbers (the latter is equivalent to randomly selecting a
sentence);
·
the file folder button opens a file dialog box
and the student can open or load a file that contains other sentences;
·
the printer button prints the student diagram or
screen (color printer works best);
·
the copy
button copies an image of the diagram or the screen to the clipboard;
·
the disk button prompts the student to save the
image or screen of the diagram;
·
the “F” button allows the student to change the
font of a word;
·
the “i” for “informational” button displays
information about each word in the diagram, such as “The word <girl>
functions as the subject of the sentence” or “The word <petted> functions
as the Main Verb of the sentence.”
·
if the “{C}” or “Commentary” button is enabled,
the student can read a comment about the whole sentence, such as “The sentence has
a transitive verb;”
·
the “Auto” button automatically moves the words
into their correct places in the diagram. The student is prompted for a
password to do this, and the teacher may decide whether or not to release the
password;
·
the “redo” arrow is one that refreshes the
screen in case some of the words appear indistinct or faded;
·
the question mark button displays some help
information.
When
the student passes the cursor over any of these buttons, the “tool-tip” text
describes the function of the button. Many of the functions on the buttons are
repeated in the menu items.
Once the student dismisses the yellow instructional box,
the student then drags the words one by one and “drops” them into their correct
places in the diagram. Notice the color coding: it is there to suggest to the
student that the constituents the girl belong
together and are in the subject area; the constituent petted is the verb, and the constituents the dog are the object elements.
If the student drops the constituent into the correct
area, the constituent will attach itself to that area and stay there. If the
student drags and drops the constituent into the wrong area, the constituent
will simply return to its original place at the bottom. Sometimes a less-than-perfect
“drop” is tolerated by the program, and sometimes not; the students have to be
careful. Also, the program will “center” the dropped constituent in the
diagram, and will align it at a 45 degree angle if appropriate.
In the figure below, the student sees the screen with a
“blank” diagram:
The completed sentence looks like this:
When the student clicks on the New sentence button or menu choice, s/he will see another randomly
selected sentence to be manipulated in the same way. Here is a quick sampling
of some simple sentence types:
Simple Intransitive
Sentence:
Compound Objects in a
Simple Sentence:
Auto-Move. This
feature is primarily for the teacher to view the expected results for each
completed sentence. After clicking on New
sentence, the teacher (or student) could click on Auto-move to have the program automatically move the constituents
into their correct slots. The first time
the user clicks on Auto-Move (from
the menu or from the button), s/he will see a password screen like the
following:
The Username box should be
left blank; the Password is currently set at password. Once it is
entered, and the OK button is
clicked, the words will be moved automatically into their correct places. This
function should probably be used sparingly; teachers would probably want the
students to work a little rather than simply choosing Auto-Move to whip through the sentences.
Selecting a Type of Sentence. The
student can choose among sentence types (Transitive, Intransitive, Linking,
etc.) and see only those sentences of that type. The student clicks on the menu
item File.. and then Choose Sentence Type… A list box then
appears with the choices of sentences available in this file (Transitive,
Intransitive, Verb Particle, Linking, There, etc..):
Once the student selects
one of these choices, he/she will see only those sentences with that
characteristic. A plus sign appears on the “N” button to indicate that the
choice is “on.”
Printing the Screen. The user can click on the menu item File.. and then Print
Screen.. to receive a printout of the current screen. Note: color printers
work best for this function.
Loading another Teacher-Prepared File. The program contains a few files of
diagrams that have already been created by the author and can be loaded to
replace the ones that start the program by default. (Later in this description
is a discussion of how the teacher can create his or her own file containing
individualized sentences to use instead of the ones loaded by default). To obtain
a new file with different sentences, the student clicks on the menu item File.. and then on Open Teacher Prepared File and sees something similar to the
following figure:
The selected file, Chapter5Sentences.tdf is then loaded and the program uses the
sentences in that file as the basis for the exercises. This is a file of
sentences that were adapted from Chapter 5 of the book Grammar by Diagram
(Workbook) by Cindy L. Vitto (Broadview Press, 2009). Once this file is loaded
into the program, the student will only see the sentences from that file:
In the diagram above, the
student would drag the words to the correct places. In the diagram below, we
see a different, finished sentence from the same source.
When the student has
completed this diagram, she/he can click on the {C} commentary button to read a
note about this sentence. In this case, the author of the book distinguishes
between Simple Sentences with Compound elements inside it and Compound
Sentences (with two clauses). The Commentary information picks up on this:
Return to Start. The student returns to the startup page by clicking on the
left-arrow button, or on the menu item File..
and Return to Start.
Compound/Complex
Sentences. From the startup screen,
the student can select the second option, Compound/Complex
Sentences. Since the activities for this portion are similar to those of
the Simple Sentences piece, we shall
examine just a few structures in passing.
New Sentences. The student will see a randomly selected sentence on starting up
this portion of the program:
As with the simple sentences, in these more complicated
examples the student must drag the constituents from the bottom of the screen
and drop them into their correct locations in the diagram. As before, dropping
the constituent in the wrong area simply means that the item won’t “stick.”
The other options are similar to the choices under Simple Sentences.
‘For-to’ or ‘That’
Sentences. From the starting screen, the user can
select the third option, the infinitival and clausal sentences. As in the
previous two choices, the student would then click on the red N button or on the menu item
File.. New Sentence. The screen that appears looks like the figure
below:
As before, the student drags the constituents to the correct location on the
diagram. When an incorrect “drag and drop” operation takes place, the
constituent simply returns to its place at the bottom of the screen.
The student has many of the same options available as were
present in the preceding portions of the program.
Copying Diagrams to
the Clipboard. The
program also allows the user to copy the diagram to the Windows Clipboard, from
where it can be pasted into a word processor like Word or Word Perfect. Whether
working in “Simple Sentences,” “Compound/Complex Sentences” or “For/To
Sentences,” the user first clicks on the menu item Image Captures.. and then on Copy
Diagram to Clipboard. Then, s/he would switch into the relevant word
processor and select the “paste” function (or type Ctrl-V, a Windows-universal
shortcut key for pasting). The diagram below (from Chaucer’s Canterbury
Tales) was obtained this way:
Printing the Diagram. The user can also send the sentence and
diagram to the printer. Whether working in “Simple Sentences,”
“Compound/Complex Sentences,” or “For/To Sentences, the user would first select
the menu item File.. and then Print Screen. The user will be prompted
for some printer settings, and then the printer should produce the diagram. Of
course, color printers work best.
Saving an Image of
the Diagram as a Bitmap File. The user can save an image of the diagram as a picture file,
specifically, a Windows Bitmap-type file (other tools would have to be used to
convert the bitmap to other file types). Whether working in “Simple Sentences,”
“Compound/Complex Sentences,” or “For/To Sentences,” the user would first
select the menu item Image Captures..
and then Save Image of Diagram as Bitmap
File.. The user will be prompted for a valid file name and the image will
be saved with that name (plus the .bmp file extension suffix).
Miscellaneous Prepared Sentences.
The program also comes with some “miscellaneous” sentences that
have been prepared ahead of time by the author. The teacher can create similar
“free-style” diagrams that will surface in the program when asked for. The
student begins this section from the opening screen, clicking on “Miscellaneous
Prepared Sentences.”
The image below illustrates
a screen from this page. A randomly chosen prepared sentence has been put on
screen:
The student begins to drag
the words one by one into the correct places in the diagram. Just as in the
previous cases, the word will stay in the position if the student drops it
close to what the teacher intended; it will bounce back to its original
position if incorrectly dropped.
The student can obtain
information on each of the words that has been successfully dropped into
position. When clicked, the button with a blue “i” (for information) depicts a grey
frame with a reading box and a slider under it. The student clicks the slider
and then a “tick” for the number of the word in the sentence.
When the student selects a
“tick,” the explanation for the word corresponding to the number of the tick appears
in the dark box:
To dismiss the grey frame,
the student double-clicks on it.
The student would click on
the red N button for a new sentence, and repeat the procedures above.
To return to the starting
screen, the student clicks on File.. then Return, or on the leftward, black arrow button.
Loading a New File of
Prepared Sentences. The
teacher can create a file of specially prepared, miscellaneous sentences (see: Teacher Preparation of Sentences for
details) and can instruct his/her students to open or load them into the
program (when the program starts, the author’s file of such prepared sentences
is loaded by default). The process for the student is simple: The student
clicks on the menu item File.. then on Open a Different File..,
whereupon s/he is prompted for the new file name. The teacher will have created
such a file and will have told the students its name, so the student will have
to navigate to it. After the file is loaded, the sentences in that file become
the raw material of the program, and appear randomly when the student clicks on
the N button (for New Sentences).
Draw,
Color and Print Diagrams. This
section describes the drawing tool that allows the student or the teacher to
create a diagram “from scratch,” color the parts, and print the result. The
program cannot “judge” the accuracy of the diagram; it is the responsibility of
the user to create the correct structure for the sentence. Nevertheless, this
is a useful tool for teachers who would like to create completed or partially
completed diagrams for homework, and for students and teachers who want to
“create their own” sentences beyond the strictures of the existing program.
From
the starting screen, the user clicks on the ‘Create Your Own Diagrams’ option:
The next screen looks
something like the following.
It contains two
“instructional” boxes that describe the steps in making a diagram, a white area
in which to type the text of the sentence, a series of shortcut buttons to
simplify the drawing process, and a wide grey area to draw in.
The first step is to type the words of the sentence.
Suppose we decide our sentence will be: My students like to diagram
sentences. That is the text we type into the white box. After that, the
user clicks the ‘Sentence OK; Begin Diagram’ button; the screen will look like
this:
The next step is to draw
the diagram structure. To draw any line, the user must
(a) first move the mouse to
the starting position for that line;
(b) hold down the SHIFT
key;
(c) hold down the left
button of the mouse;
(d) drag the mouse to the
ending position for that line;
(e) release the SHIFT key
and the mouse button.
The line should appear.
Shortcut Buttons. It is very difficult to draw perfectly straight lines because the
computer is working on a system of “twips” and the positioning is very
exacting. For this reason I urge you to use the shortcut buttons to draw lines;
these buttons cover most of the basic structures you will need to draw.
The shortcut buttons work just like drawing:
(a) click on the button
with the structure you want (in our original sentence – My students like to
diagram sentences– the structure is that of a transitive sentence. So, you
first click on that button
and you will then be able to draw a perfect structure.
(b) Move the mouse to the
starting position for that line;
(c) hold down the SHIFT
key;
(d) hold down the left
button of the mouse;
(e) drag the mouse to the
ending position for that line;
(f) release the SHIFT key
and the mouse button. The structure should appear:
The next step would be to
add the other lines needed in the structure. The word My is a subject modifier, and should appear printed slanted, on a
slanted line below the subject (students). You could attempt to draw a perfect slanted
line, at just the right angle for the slanted word My, or you could use the shortcut button instead. The modifier
button looks like this;
(as with any button, when you put the mouse over the button a short description
of that button’s function appears). You click on the button, move the cursor to
a position on the subject line and somewhat to the left of the center of the
subject “area,” then proceed as above (use SHIFT key, left button, drag mouse,
release). With some practice, you will get the line to appear where you want
it, something like this:
The next structure is the
“infinitive to” structure that functions as the object of the verb like. The form for this structure is a pedestal,
with slanty lines for the word to,
etc. Again, you could do this freestyle, but the shortcut buttons are easier to
use. A button for “‘To’ Infinitives” is available; you click on that button,
move to the line where you want the “pedestal” to rest on, hold SHIFT, the left
button, and drag upward and release. The diagram should look like this:
The ‘To Infinitive’
structure needs an additional vertical direct object line; you can use the
shortcut button for that to produce the correct diagram below:
We can now begin to drag
the words to their positions in the diagram. The main constituents are moved in
the image below:
The modifying word My
should be slanted in the diagram. To accomplish this, the user right-clicks on
the word to rotate and stops clicking when the desired slant is achieved. The
same step is used to rotate to:
If the word doesn’t fit
right, you may have to move it and then re-position it. Note: to move the word, it must be in an
“upright” position. This is an unfortunate restriction forced on me by the
limitations of the rotating text tool. I also suggest dragging the word “out
into space” away from the diagram, then bringing it back in; tiny movements
will go unnoticed by the computer.
Editing a Line Length. You may notice that there is not a lot of room on the
horizontal line after the vertical object line to hold the word sentences, the direct object of the
infinitive verb to diagram. It would
be nice to make the horizontal line longer to accommodate this. The program has
a line editing function that allows you to do this.
The
shortcut button that has a picture of two rulers (this corresponds to a menu
choice Edit..Line Editing.. ) is the one you will want.
When you click on the ruler button, the program provides you with a slider to
use to search for each line to edit. You move the slider through the numbers
until you find the line to edit. As you choose each number, the line appears
with “A” and “B” handles on its end points, and the program queries you if that
is the line to be edited. The screen below shows what happens after the user
finds the line to be edited:
If the user wishes that
line to be edited, s/he clicks on the That Line OK button. S/he is then
prompted if the s/he user wants to delete this line (in this case, “No” would
be the correct response), and then is instructed to ‘Drag one of the handles A
or B to adjust the line.’ In this case, s/he would drag the handle ‘B’ to the
right to lengthen the line. The program then displays this screen:
The program then asks if
this new line is acceptable. The user answers ‘Yes’ and after a few more
questions about the characteristics of this line, the line is adjusted to the
desired length:
Notice that the line that separates the word diagram
from the word sentences is too close to the word diagram. In this
case we would want to delete the line.
Clicking on the button with the eraser image erases the last line drawn;
in this case, that line was in fact the last line drawn. The line would be
erased, and then you would insert a new one closer to sentences.
Adding Color. You
can change the color of the elements in the diagram. I have used red for
subject constituents, blue for verb constituents, and green for object
constituents; you can change these, of course. And you may adjust the size and
format of the fonts, so that “major” constituents are bigger than minor ones,
or change to bold or italics. Whatever your computer can display and print is
available for you to adjust.
The first step is to select a constituent to “colorize.”
You move to the constituent you want, hold down the Ctrl key (“Ctrl” for
“color”) and click on the word.
In this example, I clicked on the word students and the following image
appeared:
You can change the font
name (I stayed with ‘Arial’), the Color (I switched to ‘Red’), the Font Style
and the Font Size. After you click on
the OK button, you will see the word students appear in red:
You can continue with the
other constituents, changing colors and fonts.
Printing the Diagram. The diagram can be printed when you are finished with it.
Click on the menu item Image Captures..
and then on Print Sentence Box and the
Diagram. You will be prompted for your name. The screen, with your sentence
at the top, the diagram below, and your name in a frame, will appear on the
printed version. You get best results if you have a color printer. Caution:
This does not work on a networked printer.
Copying a Diagram to the Clipboard. You can copy part or all of the Diagram
screen to the Windows clipboard (and from there you can paste the image into a
word processor. One method is to copy the sentence box and the diagram. You
click on Image Captures.. and then Copy Image.. and then on Copy Sentence Box and Diagram Area. If
you were also running Microsoft Word or some other word processor that accepts
images, you could then switch tasks and enter that word processor, and paste
the image. Similarly, you could select only a portion of the screen and send
that to the clipboard. The first step is to select the portion of the screen
you would like to copy. Hold down the SHIFT and CTRL keys, and then use the
mouse (hold down the left button) to drag and trace an outline of the area you
want to be copied (this is called a “selection” area). A dashed box appears
around that area. Let go of the mouse and keys and select the menu item Image Captures.. then Copy Image.. and then Copy Specified to Clipboard. (If you
have not specified an area, the computer will warn you). The computer asks you to click on OK while it gathers its strength, and
then the copy should work
Saving the Image of the Diagram as a Bitmap File. You can save the image of the diagram as a
Windows graphic file, specifically, a Windows Bitmap-type file. Click on Image Capture.. then on Save Image.. As with Copying and
Printing described above, one choice is to save the sentence box and the
diagram; do this by then clicking on Save
Sentence Box and Diagram Area. You will be prompted for a valid file name,
and the image will be saved. The other choice is to specify the region of the
diagram you want to be saved. Just as you did with printing, the first step is
to select the portion of the screen you would like to save. Hold down the SHIFT
and CTRL keys, and then use the mouse (hold down the left button) to drag and
trace an outline of the area you want to be copied (this is called a
“selection” area). A dashed box appears around that area. Let go of the mouse
and keys and select the menu item Image
Captures.. then Save Image.. then
Save Specified Area as a Bitmap File....
(If you have not specified an area, the computer will warn you). The computer asks you to specify a valid file
name, and then the image is saved.
New Sentences and Diagrams. Now that the sentence has been properly
diagrammed, colored, printed, copied, or saved, you may wish to work on
another. To clear the screen, select the File
menu, then click on New Sentence. Or,
you could also click on the shortcut button that has the red N for New Sentence.. You will then have a blank screen, and a new blank
typing area for the sentence. You proceed as before: type the sentence, click
on ‘Sentence OK,’ move the
constituents around, etc.
To exit, click on File..
then on Return to Start.
Teacher
Preparation of Sentences
The teacher can create a file of annotated sentences that
the program can “understand” and display for the students to manipulate. The
teacher can vary the level of sentences, and alter the content to whatever
seems suitable. From the Starting
screen, select the item “Teacher Prepares Diagrams” and click on Go.
Teacher Prepares Sentences. In this section, the teacher prepares a file that dictates the drawing of
a diagram that the student will manipulate. The teacher manipulates the diagram
at will and the program will take note of the words, the positions of the
lines, the correct “drop zone” regions, the colors, fonts and “slant” of the
words/boxes. The teacher should know how to “draw” the diagrams as described in
the sections above for students: Create Your Own Diagrams.
The
teacher must type in the password on encountering this page – it is password. No user name is
required.
The
teacher then sees a screen like the image below:
The
instructions in the yellow box are self-explanatory. They ask the teacher to
follow the instructions in the gray boxes, which are very similar to the
“Create Your Own” portion of the program. The yellow box itself is cleared by
clicking on it.
The
first step is of course to type in the text of the sentence in the first white
box. Assume that the teacher has done so; the screen looks like this:
The
teacher has typed in the sentence My dog has fleas, and clicked the Sentence OK button. The program
distributes the words in invisible boxes below; it is now time to draw the
lines for the diagram.
The
teacher draws lines exactly as described in
The
teacher then drags the words to the appropriate places on the diagram structure,
colors the constituents as s/he pleases, and right-clicks on the box with My
in it to rotate it 45 degrees. The next step is to click on the large button at
the right captioned Keep Completed Diagram. The screen looks like this:
The
next screen shows what happens after that button is clicked:
The
word dog is circled and there is an input box requesting the teacher to
type in the grammatical category for that word. In this case, the teacher would
probably type in Subject and click OK. The program then goes on
to the each of the remaining words, prompting for the category. When the words
are exhausted, the program will ask the teacher to keep the sentence (click on Yes),
revise it (click on No), or discard it (click on Cancel). If the
teacher clicks on Yes, the program will ask for the “type of sentence”
category: in this case, it might be Transitive, or maybe Simple
Transitive, or Non-passive Transitive, or whatever. Then the program
will prompt the teacher for any special commentary about this sentence that
he/she would like to be available to the student, perhaps something like: “The
verb has looks transitive, but does not have all the features of a real
transitive verb.” Then the teacher clicks on OK to close that dialog. The program will then “remember” this
diagram, the lines, the words, the colors and the categories.
The
teacher would then click on the red N button (or on File…New sentence) to clear
the screen and begin a new sentence.
Saving the Sentences. When the teacher has constructed enough
sentences, s/he would probably wish to save them in a file for student use in
the program. The teacher should click on the menu item File…Save All
Sentences in a File for Student Use. S/he will be prompted for a file name
in the usual manner; the file will then be saved. Students who then use the Miscellaneous
Sentences portion of the program can then be directed to open or load that
file at the appropriate time.
Loading/Opening an Existing File. The teacher
can bring back a file that s/he had previously worked on and wishes to continue
with. The teacher clicks on File...Open and Add to an Existing File of
Sentences. S/he will be prompted for the file name, and then those
sentences will become part of the “session.”
By going through the steps above, the teacher then adds the new
sentences s/he creates to that already existing list of sentences, to create a
larger number of them for his/her students. Again, before leaving, the teacher
would probably wish to save the sentences for his/her students.
Download the Setup or Installation. Click on this link to download the newest version of the Diagramming
Program.This will be the entire Setup package in a .zip file. You will need
to unzip the downloaded file, then run the 'Setup' program to install Diagramming
Sentences to your computer.