[PW] Diagramming

[Dayle Irwin]

J. M. Green wrote:
I'd like to get a idea of how common the teaching of sentence 
diagraming is in US Elementary/Middle/High Schools. And how many of 
the teachers in those schools know how to diagram.

Does anyone here have a opinion?

Where might one apropriately ask these questions? A list??

J


Boy, do I have an opinion! 
Not on where to get those stats, but on the lack of the teaching of diagramming.
I found it to be the very best way to learn grammar.  I loved it, and I was not a big
fan of "busy work."  But tonight on TV, on the Medium, to be exact, a character said
"of him and I".  Basically.  with other modifiers in between.  I cringe every time.
Then there's the use of "there's" followed by a plural.
AARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH.
Do they teach diagramming in the schools here?  NO.
We finally found a book on it to put in the library because parents would ask for
it to help their children with grammar.
Do teachers know how?  I would be very surprised, just considering the lack
of grammatical "talent" on papers sent home from school secretaries, teachers,
and principals.  
My brother is a carpenter, and does not think he is very "smart" because he did not
go to college like the rest of his siblings.  He's wrong, of course, but his point is that 
even he wants to blue pencil papers sent home from school by administrators and
teachers. 
So,
that's my opinion.
fwiw.


Dayle Irwin
decatur68 at earthlink.net