I do believe life is trying to tell us something.

I do believe life is trying to tell us something.

First clause: subject + auxiliary verb + main verb + direct object

Second clause: auxiliary verb + main verb + infinitive with to + pronoun + pronoun

I'm not very good at this.

I is the subject and everything else after is the predicate

Anyone know how to learn to diagram a sentence?

We used to have to do sentence diagramming in high school, like this:



I've since forgotten what a noun, verb, adverb, conjunction, expletive, proposition, etc. is. Are prepositioning something that street whores do, or is that a propositional phrase followed by an unlawful conjunction? It's all fucking confusion. And why are grammarians so interested in predicators anyway -- why they do not worry about the pray?

Disemboweling sentences won't help you write good, any day.

You can get "Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences on Amazon, but it isn't written by Sister Bernadette.

this looks similar to your method: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/diagrams2/one_pager1.htm

I want practice exercises though as I'm not sure about all the component parts

It is not clear what your objective is. Do you want to learn how to diagram sentences more effectively, or do you want to learn how to write more effectively?

If sentence analysis is your goal, then get one book on English grammar and a second book on sentence diagramming and have a ball. What sentence diagramming does for one's writing ability is teach you how to be critical of your sentence structure. Sentence analysis is useful, until it becomes "second nature".

If more effective writing is your goal, then get a book on writing style and practice, practice, practice. The Elements of Style by Strunk and White is an old standby (meaning, many writers stand by its usefulness). It's a small book with pithy content.

It's a bit difficult to assess your writing skill by using your consistently very short posts as samples.

Just got off the line with her. She mainly complained about having a failure of a son who still hasn't left home and spends all his time being a cocky twat on the philosophy forum whilst maintaining he has a 'business' and is trying to 'expand' said 'business'

yeah, sorry. I've got a few friends who listen to his stuff and I just quietly believe them to be morons because of it. Jon Oliver is pretty good agreed

Apologies, I didn't want to cause any inconvenience for the mods. It's just the easiest and aptest way to respond to the poster in question.

Thanks for the link, going to send it to a few Kool-aid drinking friends. Also, 'Ethereum' sounds like an element

well if he's in Exeter then that's a marginal seat

Your short posts are generally conversational in style which is fine when you are writing "casual text". The samples here does not pass muster for formal writing. For instance:

I think that "well if he's in Exeter then that's a marginal seat" conveys meaning quite clearly. Conversational style is often quite effective; but its informal sound is wrong for some purposes. "Exeter is a marginal seat, if that is where he is." comes closer. "If he wins in Exeter, he will win a marginal seat." is the best formal revision I could write.

two errors: "Well," should be capitalized and should be followed by a comma. Why should it be followed by a comma? I can't remember the rule, but there is one. I'll make one up here: "When you begin a sentence with purposeless words such as so, well, you know, or fuck. it should be followed by a comma."

Some individual rules apply to many situations. For instance, Avoid the passive voice. Passive voice example: The dinner will be cooked by the hotel staff. Active voice example: The hotel staff will cook the dinner.

So, [meaningless phrase followed by comma] you might try this site. Why this one? It's the first one that popped up in a Google search. There are lots of on-line grammar sites. English Grammar 101 is another site. That one also popped up first, and it happens to review all the basic grammar terms.

My personal advice: Write a lot more. Write a journal, or some such thing, as practice.

Thanks for your help, I want to learn to diagram sentences more effectively

Will try to find a sentence diagramming book, I have a few grammar books already

An obsession with sentence diagramming is a previously unseen disorder. Just out of curiosity, what is your interest? Most people won't study sentence diagramming, short of putting a gun to their heads.

If I could improve my sentence diagramming and knowledge of grammar, lexis and parts of speech it would be very useful for both my job and the qualification I am currently studying towards

OK, so some focused study should do the trick. Parts of speech and diagramming is the easiest part. Grammar might take a bit longer.

http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/sentences/free-diagramming-sentences-worksheet.html

http://teachingsquared.com/language-arts-worksheets/grammar-worksheets/sentence-diagramming-worksheets/

https://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/english-grammar-exercise.html

I've been looking for an old grammar textbook that I cannot find. Its idea is that nearly all sentences can be sorted, parsed, into ten basic forms. I'll keep looking. More generally, good writing is music-like. The test is in how it sounds. If the writing is good, then it sounds good. If it sounds good, then it will be good in transcription. Technical writers may scoff, but they're wrong if they do. It doesn't matter the content, good writing is aurally pleasing - just not-so-easy to achieve. Of course, as there are many kinds of music....

Best is to read good writing. I recommend the short stories of H. H. Munro, aka Saki. Also, Winston Churchill - or any good writer. You will absorb the best of it. But that means reading, instead of TV, surfing, games.

Being able to parse sentences is a good thing. From that you can, after a fashion, learn about playing the instrument. The goal, that you can approach, is learning to play the music!

Thanks. Look at this one:

yeeks! :worry:

All of that work.