Sentence Diagramming 1: Verbs, Subjects, Adverbs. English Grammar Lesson

[crazymountaingirl1]

wow thanks this has helped alot

[1966gopackgo]

dude your fat i cant hear you shitface

[jerryptong]

I don't get this if you use passive voice and add a "THE" to the beggining. So, I pretty much don't get The big bright rainbow appears.

[saintoccasionally]

Best youtube channel ever. Ever.

[MsMusicaddict96]

O_0 I now understand the ways of diagramming!!! Thank you oh Wise One, Thank You!!!

[coolio12187]

This video is so helpful. Thanks.

[7964103]

im so confused i have to diagram (Government is the foundation of democracy) and i just dont get it =(

[mrthoth]

@7964103 It might help to be really sure you know what a verb is (I have a video called "What a Verb Is, and What Verbs Aren't"). To diagram this sentence you also need to understand what a subjective complement is (I have a video on that, too), and what a prepositional phrase is. Good luck!

[770buddyboy]

think i got a A on my test

[saraandhearts]

This saved my life.

[edi1088]

i'd like to know what rule governs; Ricky did not caught any fish? we all know 'catch' should be used but why? thanks...

[JesusChrist337]

i hate diagraming..... im so bad at it

[lniles59]

You capitalization on the diagram was not clear/correct after you added the initial adjectives. "Rainbows" should no longer be capitalizaed, but "big" should.

[scubes10]

How would one diagram a sentence in which a possessive noun (functioning as an adjective) is modified by an adjective. For example, "The fox jumped over the lazy dog's head." Would lazy branch off of dog's in the same way that "very" branches off from the adverb or adjective it modifies?

[beggarsall]

Thanks. I'll continue to watch videos and ponder this question.

[beggarsall]

I agree that the simple subject and simple predicate is the best place to start, but what question would you tell a student to ask in order to find the subject?

I can look at "Thinking about home" and intuitively note that it is a participle phrase set off with a comma, but many students just assume that it is the simple subject because it comes first. What would you tell a student who was struggling with finding the subject?

I am evaluating my practice of starting with the predicate.

[mrthoth]

@beggarsall My video "What a Verb Is, and What Verbs Aren't" is my attempt to deal with this question. Since the most straightforward definition of verb is "something with a subject," subjects and verbs must be identified as pairs. The way you get students to avoid the mistake you mention is to show them that "I thinking" cannot be a subject-verb pair; it's not English.

[beggarsall]

Why don't you begin with the simple predicate and THEN identify the subject? I usually have students parse the sentence first, so they think it through before attempting to diagramming it. I have them ask these questions:

1. What is the verb? (Always the first question!)

2. What kind of verb or verbs are in the sentence? (helping, action, form of be, linking)

3. And then, depending on the type of verb, we ask a question to identify the simple subject.

Just curious.

[mrthoth]

@beggarsall The only thing that every sentence has is a subject-verb combination (even commands have "you" as the understood subject). Since the subject-verb combination is the only thing that one is absolutely sure to find, I think it makes a good starting point. If one starts with the verb and only looks for subjects later, one may be more likely to suppose, e.g., that in "Thinking about home, I grew happy," "thinking" is a verb (which of course it isn't).

[CONSTITUTIONART1]

This is a Channel that deals with a level (the Parst of Sentences) after studies of Parts of Speech--like Jennifer's Channel.

[guitar151141]

OMG THANK YOU THIS HELPS ALOT SINCE I HAVE FINALS TOMORROW ABOUT THAT SERIOUSLY THANK YOU!!!

[jesus77755]

Your lesson on sentence diagramming is excellent! That's very good teaching!

My son and I learned a lot today.

[TheSonyVaio94]

lol I like how you say "often"

[scarproductions93]

wooww this actually helped lol i might actually pass my test thank

[yannickulich]

I started to do videos like that too... I did one on the difference between afterwards and after.... yannickulich

[Hula666hoop]

Thank you! Being home schooled with a mom that has no clue about anything school wise is hard and this helped me a lot!

[BrookeAllTheTime]

thanks this helped a lot. i have a test on diagramming sentences tomorrow and this really helped me understand more:)

[TheMsHazzardous]

Great video. Would you consider adding it to TeacherTube since so many schools have blocked YouTube?

[Erniel1812l]

Thanks for posting this. It really does help.

[petertsewangok]

Hi, I am tutor of young children and I also make flashcards for selling to them. Since I find your grammer video very good for my students, would you mind if i would like to incorporate your grammer video into my flashcard pack. If you allow me to do that, I would of course acknowledge the video source on the flashcard package and cite this youtube link too.

[dsmbear]

OMIGawd...I haven't done this since Freshman English class at Waterloo Columbus High in 1976---Mr. McGeough was our teacher, and this was one of my favorite exercises! Not to brag, but I was very good at it, too!

[AskScottwhy]

Hi Mr. Thoth. - Your videos are great for my friend who's working on her ESL skills.

CAN YOU HELP us with this Sentence Example?

"I was supposed to deposit money in my account."

We're trying to use this sentence for diagramming practice. I believe the WAS is a verb, though I am confused about what the word DEPOSIT would be? Are there 2 verbs? - Thanks for Helping.

Your content is great for help with Language Mechanics. We like Mister Duncan too, for Accent Reduction.

[bbbizzarro]

Thank you so much for sharing this knowledge with us!

[ian1401]

best gift from youtube. (im studying for my Lit final and all of these videos are soooooo helpful, thank you so much!)

[MsAizhan]

thanks a lot!

[IM12356]

This diagramming approach is very helpful. When I read a legal statement that has a very complicated structure, this diagramming approach helps me identify the most important part of the statement- the subject and the key action, and all the functions and places of the adj. & adverbs in it.

[Ashilikia]

I'm studying sentence diagramming for English class and found this video very helpful. Thank you!

[bboy9955]

Cool i have a test tomorow on this to the extreme. how do you diagram, I AM SCREWED UP THE BUTT!!!

[vikapavl]

@lordargos1

are you sick or are you just a churl who doesn't know how to talk to ladies?

[lordargos1]

Yes, im sick, im sick with people like you who cant appreciate to be taught.

[jayspoonia]

This was wonderful, thanks. Could you suggest a book on the subject.

[shahafroz]

Thanks for posting, it is seriously good.

It would be wonderful, if you have your own channel, where all your posts are available .

Thanks again

[spinoza1111]

Very good. I will use this in my classes. Consider explaining what it means for a word to "modify" a word by saying that "when the modified word is taken out the modifier has no place" such taking "tiger" from "big hungry tiger" giving "big hungry". Then you can pretend you're "the big Hungry" and make the kids laugh.

[MasterOutdoors]

This helped SO much! I have final testing and diagramming sentences is on it, and your videos realy help me study! THANKS!

[Scorinitron]

You too mines on friday

[vikapavl]

what do we need it for? I didn't get the point actually.

[mrthoth]

Thanks for your question. Some people feel that diagramming helps them understand grammar. Good luck!

[vikapavl]

drawing lines gonna help? You can't be serious. I bet when you are writing or speaking, you don't think about which word should be put here or there, which is a noun and which is a verb. Reading a lot is helpful, practicing a lot is helpful, writing a lot may help, and your lessons won't help, IMHO.

[mrthoth]

Thanks for your comment!

[dina179r]

my first language is spanish so i'm learning english and at the university we're using this... it's a little bit complicated but thanks to this i'm understanding

[chiliandcandy]

@vikapavl OMg, me too, and I always have to do for tests which my mom also hates! XD

[QuestionsAThousand]

This method is gonna be SO helpful!! Ever since ive switched to diagrams, reading my school material as been a breeze

[aldwayne003]

this is one of the most helpful, thank you!

[stencil1]

I need a sentence diagrammed for an art piece. It's odd but I need it, can I email someone the sentence to diagram?

[shaikhcons]

thanks this is very helpfull

[GuyTM]

this guy is the american version of me!

[TrainOrPain]

Just the ticket. Thank You Very Much Mr. T.Hoth You're making it all so easily conceivable for me. I did not even attend most classes as a child; I blame my 2-bit parents and whats in tap water.

Haha his hand writing is worse than mine. And I too am a lefty ;)

[youuuuuuuuuuutube]

Now I'd love to see a very complex sentence

[troywebers]

Very well done. This was quite helpful in prompting my memory back to my early grammar years. It's been a long time since I've diagrammed sentences but I feel that it might be something we need to revisit.

[mjrfmpaul123]

sad to note that the handwriting on the board was too awkward.

[mjrfmpaul123]

this is very helpful in the audio-visual teaching of english as a second language. i used this as supplemental teaching device. nice instuctional aids.

[chaospoet]

I've been watching these and now want to go back in time and kick the crap out of every english teacher I ever had in grade school. I pretty much had to unlearn everything I was taught when I graduated, but until now I never fully understood why.

[thisismynames]

You should of said off ten, not offen. Still I find this sentence diagram very innovative and helpful.

[hoytchristmas]

You should have said "you should have said". What is it with people, they can't spell anymore nowadays.

[persondude911]

thanks. now i wont fail my english midterm tomoro

[Dreamzxforever]

i always thought it was spelled diagraming o-o not diagramming with two m's.

[beagracious]

You must capitalize the first word of a sentence when diagramming. This sentence was easy but when a sentence begins with an adverb prepositional phrase like "In the morning" which would describe the verb, there is no way to reconstruct the sentence without capitalizing "In".

[molsono]

thank you

[lilnick113]

ha ha he is a nerd teaching shit i understand

[John316Acts238]

WOW~~ you are making my life so much easier, I feel like a retard trying to help my daughter , and this is so helpful,its been so long for me, ignore all the real retard who are talking trash on here, this is a great idea~~~

[43nrocknit]

ty hoth im in homeschool and we watch u every day but could u please make a video about retained objects (thats what were working on now) ty mr hoth!!!! :D

[DoubleorNthn08]

And you guys are retards! he didn't spell it rainbais, his "W" is just wrote stupid!

[DoubleorNthn08]

ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..­.................

[lelik1081989]

I'm sorry. WHAT is rainbais? :)

[1392778]

its rainbow stupid

[lelik1081989]

Excuse me, that is rainbais? Cannot find in the dictionary.

[rogerdogeris1]

this is a great way of learning diagraming

[swaingles]

Your explanation, though good as it is, seems to me rather awkward and blur. Besides, could you speak about transitive verbs of complete and incomplete predication (TVCP AND IVIP)? I study translation in English in Argentina.

[orsiorsi186]

I've been trying to find something on diagramming.They taught it when I was

in grade school,but it seems to have

eliminated from all recent text books.

[lizajane54]

Diagramming rocks!

[actiscenei]

When you changed the sentence by adding "Bright" and "Big," you neglected to capitalize them in the diagram, and to de-capitalize (or change to lower-case) the word "Rainbows."

[actiscenei]

When you changed the sentence by adding "Bright" and "Big," you neglected to capitalize them in the diagram, and to de-capitalize (or change to lower-case) the word "Rainbows."