Has diagramming sentences changed since 1936?

[Hallie]

My dh found an old pamphlet/book that teaches sentence diagramming - he says his mom used it to teach him. It is by Charles E Merrill Co, 1936 and says 28 cents on the cover. It's called "Sentence Structure Visualized". I love it, it breaks everything down, has examples, the kids are having no trouble with it.

I just want to make sure that this is not outdated enough that I am teaching something that they won't be able to use later on and have to relearn. You wouldn't think diagramming would have been revamped recently... I never learned it at all, so it's all new - and fun - for me too.

[Tracy Gustilo]

Hi Hallie,

Sounds like a great find. No, not outdated. We like old stuff. The older the better! LOL

"Sentence structure visualized" is definitely one of the goals we're after in learning grammar. Diagramming is one of the best tools to use towards that end. It is possible some of the conventions for drawing or labeling the diagrams themselves may have changed, but they change from author to author, anyway. The key is to learn to "see" the component parts of sentences and to be able to identify them and understand how they work.

Tracy