How to diagram two verbs in a sentence
Sentence Diagramming - Part 1
Timecodes:
hello my name is Ellen joven and and
today we are gonna talk about the basics
of sentence diagramming sentence ty
gramming is a method that was once used
in many US schools to teach grammar has
fallen out of favor although there are
still pockets of it around the country I
loved it beyond all reason and it's
probably the main thing when I was in
school that attracted me to grammar and
made me interested in pursuing it even
into adulthood so we're gonna start with
the basics and then move on to
increasingly more advanced elements with
more sessions to follow to cover the
really advanced stuff alright here we go
the very first thing we're going to talk
about is the sentence this is this is
one of the shorter sentences that you
can have so your job when you're
diagramming is to decide first of all
what the subject is and what the
predicate is you do not have a lot of
choices here if you're thinking to
yourself Turtles is the subject you are
correct and the first task of a sentence
diagram or is to draw a line now you can
draw it you have to decide what kind of
line draw you are are you going to be a
free-form line draw as I just as I am
and draw a line that may or may not be
totally straight or are you going to be
a ruler user kind of person and do this
kind of line I personally prefer the
Messier approach but this is entirely a
matter of personal taste so I will leave
that up to you in sentence diagramming
on the horizontal line the main elements
that you must get on this line are the
subject which is turtles here and then
you decide what the predicate is and you
look specifically for the verb here the
verb is travel so then your next task is
to draw a big line going right through
your horizontal line and then on the
other side you put the verb and since
there are only two words in the sentence
we have now diagrammed our first
sentence and we are ready for something
more advanced so let us move along to
this now for word sentence much longer
what is the subject of the sentence if
you're thinking rabbit you are correct
so let's draw the line again you put the
rabbit on the horizontal line on the
left
and then the question is what is the
verb in this case as in many sentences
there's more than one bourbon or rope in
a row you have here is eating so you
just stick that whole thing on the
horizontal line and the only thing that
we have left to decide now is what to do
with my anything that points to
describes modifies the noun which is
rabbit in this case it's a noun and it's
also the grammatical subject of the
sentence anything that falls into a
general bucket of adjectives or that is
an article such as a northa or that is a
possessive adjective such as my her your
etc that always goes on a nice tidy died
in the line below the subject and then
you keep you preserved the
capitalization and that helps the person
looking at the diagram tell what the
first word in the sentence was so I
always like to keep the capitalization
just as it was in the sentence and now
we are ready for a new element here we
have the turtles traveled
enthusiastically that word
enthusiastically is an element we
haven't talked about yet perhaps you
will remember that a lot of words that
end in ly are adverbs and so we have a
different system for that we take the
subject again which in this case is
Turtles stick it on the left and then
the verb is traveled and then that
adverb enthusiastically tells you how
the Turtles traveled so that goes
underneath just as the adjective did
under the noun in the last screen you
stick it on here enthusiastic collie one
of the challenges of a sentence diagram
is not to run out of space
I didn't plan far enough ahead so I
should have done the horizontal line a
little bit higher but this is okay I
squeezed it in and then we have left the
article the which is all about the
turtle so that goes there and now we
have completed our
next diagram so let's see what else we
can add here okay here we have the young
tree grew quickly so what is the
grammatical subject and what is the verb
tree is the subject grew is the verb and
now things are starting to get more
exciting quickly because we have
multiple things to stick under the tree
this was very exciting to me as a kid
because I just like seeing that there
was more I don't know it the more
complicated the diagram got the fancier
I felt and the more sophisticated so we
are up to a full five word sentence now
the young tree grew and then quickly is
another adverb so that goes under grew
and we have our first I think this is
our first five word diagram anyway it's
the first one with multiple accomplice
many complicated elements we are ready
for something new now we are ready for
be direct object so let's start with
just the stuff we already know about
mouse is the subject and then greeted is
the verb now what are we going to do
with that second mouse that Mouse is
what you call the direct object it
receives the action of the verb and
there is a system for this you do
another vertical line you end very
tightly at the horizontal line instead
of going through it and it's very
important to distinguish when you're
diagramming between these two types of
lines the big one separates the subject
in the verb the little one goes between
a verb and in cases where they there are
direct objects between the verb and the
direct object and now the article goes
below Mouse as always and we have left
one element which is yet another that
one thing you realize when you diagram a
lot of sentences is that many sentences
have does in them multiple that is often
so the mouse greeted the mouse we are
zipping right along and we are ready for
one more element okay so now phone is
the subject fell is the verb and you may
not be surprised to see me place the her
that is what people often refer to as
possessive adjectives her refers to the
phone it goes under there and then we
have to decide what to do without the
window you may remember the part of
speech known as the preposition in this
case out is functioning as a preposition
and out the window is a prepositional
phrase so a prepositional phrase
consists of the preposition in this case
out and then the object of the
preposition is is the noun or in some
cases a pronoun that is the object of
that proposition in this case window
that goes on a horizontal line I was
very excited in eighth grade when I
learned this because doesn't this look
very fancy the prepositional phrase it
looks you know kind of makes it look
more complicated so now is that it her
phone fell out the window yes that is it
prepositional phrases can show up in all
kinds of places when you're diagramming
a sentence so here I have down the hall
that's the prepositional phrase here and
you have to decide where to put it in
the last sentence the prepositional
phrase went under the verb but here it
tells you about the neighbor so put the
neighbor first that's the subject and
what is the verb here made so you put
made and then we'll put the possessive
on your neighbor and we are ready for
what are we ready for ah we have to do
something with down the hall now so down
the hall describes the neighborhood so
we move it over here down and then the
hall is the object and then see my line
there is a little messy you want to be a
little tighter than that but I'm trying
to write quickly and talk at the same
time my neighbor down the hall made and
then what is cake do you see how cake
receives the action of the verb it is
the direct object and let's just double
check that we haven't missed any
elements often students would lose
points because they would diagram the
sentence then they were forget some key
word or group of words so my I'm going
through the diagram my neighbor down the
hall made cake we're good
here's another prepositional phrase
let's see where this one goes
so what is the subject and what is the
verb here we're going to put dog as the
subject ran is the verb and now we know
the my is going to go there let's it's
always nice to do the easy things first
and now we have to decide what to do
with the prepositional phrase okay so we
have down the hall we have a second
prepositional phrase of the 13th floor
so let's do the first one where it
belongs which is clearly under the verb
because it tells you where so that's an
adverbial kind of roll down the hall and
then of the 13th floor so sometimes you
will see prepositional phrases bunch up
like this it's of the 13th floor
describes the hall it doesn't describe
brand so we're gonna put it under Hall
of now look how fancy this is of the
13th Oh see I did not plan far enough
ahead so I'm gonna have to squish now
the they're gonna have to do the number
form of this instead of writing up the
full word so now we have my dog ran down
the hall of the 13th floor this is
getting good okay let's see what we have
left one important thing to remember is
that adverbs can have a bunch of rules
they can modify verbs what else can they
modify if you're thinking adjectives you
are right if you're thinking they can
modify other adverbs you are right about
that as well so adverbs can modify verbs
adjectives or other
verbs what is the adverb in the sentence
the adverb is really it has that that
sign of the adverb that common sign of
the adverb ly so let's see how Delia
does with her coffee Delia is the
subject likes is the verb coffee is the
direct object and now we have to figure
out what do we have left really strong
strong is what part of speech if you
recognize that as an adjective you are
right and now the question is what to do
with really so that tells you how strong
so it is an adverb modifying the
adjective strong and now we have a new
structure we're getting closer to the
end we have a few more things to do here
the dish ran away with the spoon what
goes first dish what's the verb ran and
then the question is what do we do with
away with the spoon there are a couple
of different types of elements colliding
there away we can treat we can put it
below as an adverb and then we have the
prepositional phrase with the spoon with
spoon and then goes below let's just
make sure we have all the words so the
dish big line ran and then away is the
adverb with the spoon okay we are ready
for a new an exciting element this is
called what we have here is called the
subject complement so I'm looking at
that word helpful and I'm and it comes
right after the verb is which is a verb
a being our other verbs have been filled
with actions but now we have a verb of
being and after a verb of being you
often will see an adjective or a noun
could also be a pronoun probably
common an adjective or a noun that
referred back to tell you something
about the subject in this case the
toilet paper is helpful the way you
treat now this may look like to two
nouns colliding with each other toilet
is a noun papers and noun typically the
way you do this you use you can you
treat toilet as an adjective it is
telling you what kind of paper so you
put that on the line below rather than
sticking them together as the subject so
what kind of paper toilet paper then you
do is and then the difference between a
direct object and the subject complement
is that you draw a little line to the
left so we now have a new a new element
to add to our repertoire
I still remember also being very excited
about this one it just made me feel like
I really knew more about what was going
on with the sentences so have I done
have I finished yes toilet paper is
helpful you know helpful is an adjective
but you can see the same kind of
construction with a noun as in this
sentence
my parents are grammar nerds so parents
is the subject and what is the verb here
are and then you have I'll put the my
down that's always the easy part I feel
like a lot of these sentences have the
word my in it my parents are and then
you do that same diagonal line towards
the subject and then you take nerds see
in this case it is a noun nerds and you
put grammar below okay my parents are
grammar nerds we've now diagrammed this
very important sentence and we are at
the concluding slide we're not actually
going to diagram this one I'm starting
with the diagram here because I wanted
to give you a sense of how you treat you
often see compound constructions treated
so I'm gonna give you a second to look
at this and see if you can figure out
what the sent the original sentence that
was diagram does
the bird that's the subject and then you
have a compound verb so the bird stole
and hid and then the direct object is
the direct object for both of those
verbs so it's the bird stole and hid my
car keys and see that nice dotted line
that also is pretty cool for me as a kid
because it makes more line variety and
the more line variety you have in your
diagram I the more exciting it is so
we'll work more on that in future
sessions just practice this stuff and
we'll meet again soon bye bye
Related queries:
how to use two verbs in a sentence
