Diagramming Sentences

Prof. G. Dalgish

Baruch College, CUNY

Gerard_Dalgish@baruch.cuny.edu

This program allows students to manipulate parts of a sentence into a standard Kellogg-Reed (or Reed-Kellogg) 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. The teacher or the student can print, copy, 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 student can click on the Sentence Type options for Simple Sentences, Compound/Complex Sentences, ‘For/To or That’ Type Sentences, or ‘Draw, Color and Print Diagrams. The student could exit the program by clicking on the yellow down arrow at the bottom left. The teacher has access to the ‘Teacher Creates..’ options.

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 top of the screen contains menu items; currently only File.. and Help are enabled. There is a long row of shortcut buttons, and certain of these are enabled. The important buttons are at the left: a left arrow button which takes the student back to the starting page; a button with a red N that stands for ‘new sentence’, which will produce a new sentence; and one with the word ‘Auto’ on it, which stands for ‘Auto-Move.’ These will be described below.

A randomly selected simple sentence is presented first: the words are at the bottom and the structure is already painted. The screen contains a yellow instructional box that advises the student to drag the words at the bottom of the screen into the appropriate locations in the diagram. Clicking on the yellow box causes it to disappear. Since the program uses a random generator, the first time your student clicks on the New sentence choice his/her sentence may be different from the one above and below:

After eliminating 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 very happy dog belong together and are in the subject area; the constituent wagged is the verb, and the constituents his tail 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 has begun to drag the constituents to their places:

A careful look at this image shows that when the student dropped the constituent happy under the noun, the cursor was close to the corner where the diagonal modifier line intersected the horizontal line. (Sometimes this method of dropping is more successful than planting the cursor in the middle of the region).

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:

Other Features. In the following sections I describe some of the additional features the program provides. These include Auto-move, Color-coding, and “branch construction.”

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 user may type anything in the Username box, but must type tatunne in the Password box; then s/he should click on OK. From then on, the user will be able to use the Auto-Move feature.

Color Coding. The program default is to signal grammar categories (Subject, Verb, Object) by coloring the constituents to match: red for Subject categories, blue for verb, and green for objects. The user can change this by clicking on the menu item Colors.. and then toggling Color-code related parts: on to the same item, but for off. When color-code is off, the user sees all constituents colored black:

Highlight Categories. The program allows the user to choose to highlight the constituents by color. When the Colors.. menu is clicked, another choice Highlight is available; from there the user can choose to highlight the Subject, the Verb, or the Object if present. The resulting screen would look like the following:

Construct Branches. The user can decide whether or not to see the branches of the structure at the start, or construct the structure, by clicking on the menu item Branches and choosing from the options there. The program is set to show the branches and the structure at the outset by default.

Branches: Hide Branches at Start: Click to show. The student can click on the menu item Branches.. then on Hide Branches at Start and then on Click to show. In this case, the student will get a new sentence but see no structure; he or she will have to click on the menu buttons at the top of the screen to assemble the branches of the diagram as needed.

Now the student must choose from the buttons the appropriate tree structures to add to this space to make the diagram. In this sentence, the student must know that this is a transitive sentence, so s/he must click on the “transitive verb” button

found across the top (immediately beneath the menu); in this case, it is the eighth button across. After the student clicks this button, the screen paints that structure:

The student then needs to build the rest of the structure by clicking on additional buttons: the button for the subject modifier (article) the (in this example); the second subject modifier tall; the prepositional phrase in the dress; the adverb gently, etc.

If the wrong button is clicked, nothing happens; the incorrect branch simply does not appear.

Eventually the correct tree is “constructed” and the student is ready to begin dragging and dropping the constituents into the structure:

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.

Teacher-Prepared File. The teacher can create a file containing individualized sentences to use instead of the ones loaded by default. Further in this description is a discussion of the process of creating such a file, but for here, let us assume the teacher has already created a file and wants it available for his/her students. The user clicks on the menu item File.. and then on Open Teacher Prepared File and sees something similar to the following figure:

The selected file is then loaded and the program uses the sentences in that file as the basis for the exercises.

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 a few structures in passing.

New Sentences. The student encounters a screen with structures but no words on starting up. After s/he clicks on the red N button or on the menu item File.. New Sentence, s/he will see a screen similar to the next one:

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: Auto-Move, Color-coding and Highlighting.

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 File.. 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 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 File.. 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 the screen the student sees next. There is a large yellow instructional box that urges the student to click on it to proceed. A randomly chosen prepared sentence has been put on screen:

After the student clears the yellow box, s/he 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) opens a series of small boxes in which each word is featured, together with its grammatical role (the teacher who prepared the sentence includes that information beforehand). One example looks like this:

Each word is encircled, and an explanation of its grammatical role is given in the smaller box. To go on, the student clicks on the Go On button.

The student can, of course, print, copy, or save the image at any time. The menu item Image Captures.. presents each of those choices.

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 Prepares Miscellaneous File 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, Draw, Color and Print Your Own Diagrams’ option.

The next screen looks something like the following.

It contains three “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’ 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, 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 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 diagram above.

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.

Editing a Line Length. Editing a line can be done, but it is tricky. The line occupies a very small area on the computer screen, and to edit the line you must first use the mouse to locate and select it. This is a very exacting procedure, so I have created an alternative, but let me describe the first one here because it sometimes can be accomplished.

One way to edit a line length is to hold down the Alt key (for “alter”) and click on the line you want to adjust. The cursor will change into a “crosshair” shape when you do this. As I said, the line is very “thin” despite its appearance, so you have to hit it just right.

If and when you hit the line you want to edit, a message appears on the screen asking you if this is indeed the line you want to edit. You answer ‘Yes’ and then the line is marked with an ‘A’ at one end and a ‘B’ at the other. You drag either the ‘A’ or ‘B’ ends to edit the length.

When you release the ‘A’ or ‘B’, the computer will prompt you to confirm the new length:

When you click on ‘Yes’ the program will return you to the screen and the line will now have the new length, which, as you can guess, will now be sufficient to hold the object word, sentences, in a pleasing display.

There is a second way to edit the length of a line. The shortcut button that has a picture of two rulers corresponds to a menu choice EZ-Line Drawing.. and Adjust Length of Line by Searching for Each Line. When the user invokes these commands, the program goes through each line that has been drawn, causes it to flash with the “A” and “B” handles on its end points, and queries the user if that is the line to be edited. If the user wishes that line to be edited, s/he clicks on the Yes button and follows the same procedures as described above: drag the “A” or “B” handle until the desired length is achieved.

Clicking on the button with the eraser image erases the last line drawn.

Moving Words in the Diagram. The next step is to move the words into their proper positions in the diagram structure. The student moves the mouse onto a word to move, holds down the left button, drags the mouse and the word to the new location, and releases the button (this is called ‘dragging and dropping.’) In the following image, the major items students, like, diagram, and sentences have been dragged and dropped into their correct places:

The words My and to have yet to be positioned; because they will appear “slanted” we will pay special attention to them. Let’s refer to words that typically appear slanted as “modifier” words (even though not all words that appear slanted are modifier words).

The first step is to drag the modifier word to a position “close” to where it should be. A good guideline is to drag the word so that its left corner is at the intersection of the slanted, modifier line and the horizontal line above it. The next image with “My” shows this:

Even though the modifier line seems slightly obscured by the word, this is Ok for the moment; we hope to rectify that shortly when the word “rotates.” It is possible that different screen settings on different computers will display differently; some practice may be necessary to achieve the best results.

The next step is to put the cursor on the word to be slanted and to use the RIGHT-mouse button (“RIGHT” is for “rotate”?) to change the slant of the word. As the accompanying image demonstrates, the result is usually the desirable one, but some fine-tuning may be necessary. If the user continues to right-click on the word, the word will rotate to a 90-degree angle (suitable for conjunctions like ‘and’ between two subjects), then to a 35-degree angle (suitable for gerunds), then back to the “upright” position.

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.

Adding Color. The student 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 (I chose ‘Bold’) and the Font Size (I switched to ‘10'). After the student clicks on the OK button, s/he will see the word students appear in red, bold, 10 pt. size:

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 File.. and then on Print Screen. 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.

Another option in the printing process allows you to choose how much you would like to print. The last example prints much of the screen, including the buttons at the top.

If you wish, you can print the area on the screen from the white sentence box down to and including the diagram. From the File.. menu select Print.. and then Print Sentence Box and Diagram Portion of Screen.

Another choice is to print part of the screen, perhaps just the diagram. You do this by first selecting the portion of the screen you want printed. 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 printed (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 File.. then Print.. and then Print the Circled Area You Specify. (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 printer should go to work. (Note: if the first image does not work properly, please repeat this entire process before giving up. Windows is flakey at times. I have had it work perfectly one day then oddly the next; it’s kind of like starting a tempermental car on a rainy day). As always, best results come with a good 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 File.. and then Copy Diagram to Clipboard.. and then 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. Just as you did with printing, 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 File.. then Copy Diagram to Clipboard.. and then Copy the Circled Area You Specify. (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. The image below was captured in exactly this way:

If the “first pass” of this process does not give you what you expected, please repeat all the steps and it should work. Sometimes the computer captures the Windows main screen (!) and not your diagram. And it is best to try this with recent Windows software (Windows 98 at a minimum; Word Perfect 7 or 9, Microsoft Word 2000 or Word 97).

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 File.. then on Save Diagram as Bitmap File.. 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 File.. then Save Diagram as Bitmap File... and then Save the Circled Area You Specify. (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, the student may wish to work on another. To clear the screen, select the File menu, then click on New Sentence and Clear Drawing. You could also click on the shortcut button that has a 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 Starting Screen.

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, the teacher can choose from the last four teacher options: Teacher Prepares Simple Sentences, Teacher Prepares Compound/Complex Sentences, Teacher Prepares For-To ~ That -Type Sentences, and Teacher Prepares Miscellaneous, Free-drawn Diagrams.

Teacher Prepares Miscellaneous, Free-Drawn Sentences. We begin with this choice even though it is the last one on the list, because in many ways it is the easiest of the three. In this section, the teacher prepares a file that directs the drawing of a diagram that the student will manipulate. The teacher manipulates the diagram fairly at will (hence the “free-drawn” nomenclature for this choice), the program takes note of the positions of the lines, the correct “drop zone” regions, the colors of the boxes, and so on, all fairly transparently. The teacher must know how to “draw” the diagrams as described in the sections above for students: Create, Draw, Color and Print Your Own Diagrams.

The teacher must type in the password on encountering this page – it is tatunne. 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 “draw 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 OK button. The program distributes the words in invisible boxes below; it is now time to draw the lines for the diagram (as outlined in the second grey box that begins “Use the mouse to draw..”).

The teacher draws lines exactly as described in box (2), and in the earlier description of Create, Draw, Color and Print Your Own Diagrams. The teacher should use the shortcut buttons to create common diagram structures; in this case, the transitive verb structure would be chosen, with a modifier line under the subject. That structure looks like this:

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 bottom captioned Click Here When Diagram Drawing and Coloring Are Complete. The screen looks like this:

The word dog is encircled 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. 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 Prepared Sentences portion of the program can then be directed to load that file at the appropriate time.

Loading 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.

Teacher Prepares Simple Sentences. After the teacher selects the choice Teacher Prepares Simple Sentences, s/he will be prompted with the password screen we saw above in the discussion of Auto-Move. As then, the Username is anything or nothing; the Password must again be tatunne :

After typing the correct password, the teacher will see a screen like the one below:

The tabs across the upper portion of the screen are guides to follow in sequence. The first tab Type Your Simple Sentence is chosen by default; it prompts the teacher for the simple sentence he or she would like to use in the diagram program. The instructions ask that the teacher not add punctuation marks, and that every word be separated by one space. Imagine that the teacher’s sentence is: The quick fox jumped over the dog. The teacher types that in the box and then clicks the Go On button. The next screen will look like the figure below:

(This screen looks more complicated than it really is). The instructions in the yellow box ask the teacher to click on each word of the sentence, one by one, from the list near the Word from your sentence: area. The teacher can examine some samples to see what some examples are, but again, the structure of the chosen sentence is readily accessible. Here is a screen capture of the opened list:

In this example, let us assume that the teacher first selects the first word, The from the open list. After this selection, the word The will “jump” into the yellow box now captioned “Word to Drag” and the teacher will drag that box to its correct position on the diagram:

The yellow box with The in it should now be dragged to its position in the diagram. That position is under the subject, on the first slanting line (after and to the right of the “double subject” or “rocket-ship” area at the extreme left):

When the teacher has dragged the box to the correct location, the check mark will be checked for that choice, as you can see in the diagram.

The teacher should then click on the button Confirm Last Check to make sure that this is where the word should appear in the diagram.

The resulting screen looks like this:

In the box labelled Result you can see that the word The now has the annotated tag {Subject Modifier 1}. These sorts of annotations will be what the regular program uses to decipher the locations for each of the constituents.

The next word from the list is quick. After selecting it from the list, the teacher will see it appear in the yellow “Word to Drag” box. This goes in the slanted line area after The, so the teacher drags it to that location. When the box is released, the check mark will be in that box, and after clicking on Confirm Last Check, the teacher will see this :

When all the words have been selected from the list, dragged to their locations, and confirmed by clicking on Confirm Last Check, the teacher will be prompted to go on to the next screen by clicking on the Go on button at the bottom right of the screen:

(A useful feature of this check-box system is that as the teacher passes the cursor over a particular check box, the “annotation tag” for that box will appear as a tool-tip. This lets the teacher know what annotation will be associated with that box).

The teacher would then click on the Go on button to continue to the next tab, View Resulting Diagram. This appears as below:

This diagram represents what the student will see when s/he is ready to work on the structure; it is not a representation of the “finished” tree.

The teacher would then click on Go on to move to the next tab.

List Sentences. This screen, represented by the figure below, shows a list of the sentences constructed by the teacher so far in this session:

If a typo has crept in, the teacher can correct it now. Otherwise, the teacher can continue by clicking on the button Start New Sentence; from then on the process begins again.

Save File of Sentences. When a number of sentences have been completed, the teacher would click on the menu item File..and then on Save to save the file. The teacher should take note of that filename and use it when starting the Simple Sentences part of the program (see Teacher Prepared File earlier in this description).

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.