Diagramming Sentences

Sentence Diagrams

~ One Way of Learning English Grammar ~

The Basics of Sentence Diagramming

~ Sentences 16-20 ~
 
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Sentence 16: He is getting old.
The verb get (in the sense of become) is also a linking verb; thus, old is a predicate adjective. Note: is getting could be replaced by is becoming in this sentence.

 Sentence 17: Most children like candy.
In a sentence diagram, a direct object (the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb directly) is preceded by a vertical line resting on the horizontal line. Direct objects are easily recognized by asking whom? (not to whom?) or what? right after a non-linking verb.

Sentence 18: What do you see?
The word what itself can be a direct object, as it is here. It can also be a subject, as in What is leaking? or a predicate nominative, as in What is that?

Sentence 19: We have several good friends.
Of course, like a subject or a predicate nominative, a direct object can have modifiers. Here the adjectives several and good modify the direct object friends.

Sentence 20: Whom did they accuse?
When who is used as an object, the correct form is whom. Who did they accuse? is incorrect.
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