Susan Wise Bauer - The Diagramming Dictionary: A Complete Reference Tool for Young Writers, Aspiring Rhetoricians, and Anyone Else Who Needs to Understand How English Works

Examples and exercises are drawn from great works of literature, as well as from well-written nonfiction texts in science, mathematics, and the social sciences. Regular review is built into each year of work. Purple Workbook (2017) Red Workbook (2018) Blue Workbook (2019) Yellow Workbook (2021) Keys to Student Workbooks Each Key to the workbooks provides not only answers, but also explanations for the parent/teacher. Key to Purple Workbook (2017) Key to Red Workbook (2018) Key to Blue Workbook (2019) Key to Yellow Workbook (2021) The Grammar Guidebook Capable of accompanying the Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind program or standing on its own as a lifelong reference companion, The Grammar Guidebook assembles into one handy reference work all of the principles that govern the English languagefrom basic definitions (A noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea) through advanced sentence structure and analysis. Each rule is illustrated with examples drawn from great literature, along with classic and contemporary works of science, history, and mathematics. THE DIAGRAMMING DICTIONARY B Y J ESSICA O TTO AND S USAN W ISE B AUER D IAGRAMS BY P ATTY R EBNE Copyright 2019 Well-Trained Mind Press Photocopying and Distribution Policy
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For families: You may make as many photocopies from this book as you need for use WITHIN YOUR OWN FAMILY. Schools and co-ops MAY NOT PHOTOCOPY any portion of this book. Publishers Cataloging-In-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donahue Group, Inc.) Names: Otto, Jessica, author. | Bauer, Susan Wise, author. | Rebne, Patty, illustrator. Title: The diagramming dictionary / by Jessica Otto and Susan Wise Bauer ; diagrams by Patty Rebne.

Description: [Charles City, Virginia] : Well-Trained Mind Press, [2019] | A Complete Reference Guide for Young Writers, Aspiring Rhetoricians, and Anyone Else Who Needs to Understand How to Diagram English Sentences. | Designed in conjunction with the Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind series. | Includes index. | Interest age level: 11 and up. | Audience: Middle and high school instructors. | English language--Sentences--Dictionaries--Juvenile literature. | English language--Rhetoric--Dictionaries--Juvenile literature. | CYAC: English language--Grammar--Dictionaries. | English language--Sentences--Dictionaries. | English language--Rhetoric--Dictionaries. | English language--Rhetoric--Dictionaries.

Classification: LCC LB1631 .O88 2019 (print) | LCC LB1631 (ebook) | DDC 428.00712--dc23 No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without prior written permission of the copyright owner unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal copyright law or unless it complies with the Photocopying and Distribution Policy above. For a list of corrections, please visit www.welltrainedmind.com/corrections Cover design by Mike Fretto TABLE OF CONTENTS Once you learn how to diagram sentences, youll really understand how English works. To diagram a sentence, you have to know more than just memorized definitions of parts of speech. You have to know how those parts of speech work together to produce meaning. And that makes you a better writer. Think of it this way: Anyone can walk into a building and point out the bathroom, hallway, stairs, or kitchen.

But that doesnt explain how and why the building functions. Only a blueprint will reveal the true underlying structurethe structure that makes the building functional. You can wander through a building without ever looking at the blueprint, and you can be a contented reader without ever sketching out a sentence diagram. But to design a useful building, or to put together an effective sentence, you need a deeper knowledge. You need to know how the parts all fit together. Diagramming doesnt just deepen your understanding of the English language; it also gives you a diagnostic tool to figure out whether your own sentences are weak or strong, and why.

Consider the following balanced and beautiful sentence, from nineteenth-century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins: Our prayer and Gods grace are like two buckets in a well; while the one ascends, the other descends. Read it out loud, and then read the following student sentence out loud. Listen to the difference. In Pride and Prejudice, her mothers bad manners and wishing to get married made Elizabeth discontent. The second sentence makes sensebut it isnt a pretty sentence. Its weak and clunky. Why? Time to diagram! In the Hopkins sentence, the subject and verb of the first independent clause are diagrammed like this: The second sentence also has a compound subject and single verb: But in the second sentence, the two subjects are two different kinds of words. Manners is a noun, while wishing is a gerunda verb form used as a noun.

Words which occupy parallel places on a diagram should take the same formas in the Hopkins sentence, where prayer and grace are both nouns. Now you know why the first sentence soars, and the second one thuds. Heres another example. Without diagramming, can you figure out why the following sentence doesnt work? In addition to the city, Theodore Dreisers society is depicted in its people. Its an awkward, ugly sentence. Diagramming it shows why. But where should In addition to the city go? It doesnt seem to fit anywhere.