Diagramming Sentences

Sentence Diagrams

by Eugene R. Moutoux

~ One Way of Learning English Grammar ~

                             Abraham Lincoln's                                           

Gettysburg Address

* * * * * Click to see the diagrams. * * * * *

Sentence 2: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."

Sentence 3: "We are met on a great battleground of that war."

Sentence 4: "We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live."

Sentence 5: "It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this."

Sentence 6: "But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate--we can not consecrate--we can not hallow--this ground."

Sentence 7: "The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far beyond our poor power to add or detract."

Sentence 8: "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here."

Sentence 9: "It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced."

Sentence 10: "It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

For information about grammar and composition: 

http://www.grammarnow.com.

For information about the early history of sentence diagramming: 

Kitty Burns Florey's delightful book about sentence diagramming, Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog, won't teach you how to diagram; but if you like diagramming, you'll love this book with its happy combination of scholarship and reminiscence. Visit Florey's website at http://www.kittyburnsflorey.com/. To get a taste of her style, read her essay entitled "Boring Things," which is anything but boring. It's on the third page of her website.

http://www.polysyllabic.com/?q=olddiagrams.

For thoughts about the importance of learning grammar and about the ancillary role of diagramming:

http://www.redshift.com/~bonajo/diagram.htm#links.