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Paul E. Doniger wrote:

> Bob,
>
> I thought I made it clear that I was not "expecting" that the diagramming
> was a means to improve writing, but to encourage thought.  My students are
> inner-city kids who have spent little or no time thinking about language -
> and have done precious little work in any school subjects.  My first goal
> was to find something that they would hook on to.  Sentence diagramming was
> only one of many experiments; some worked better than others.  This one did
> not work well - but it may have been my error in HOW I taught it, rather
> than in the idea that it may actually attract some students to learning.
>
> I'm sorry if I was not clear in my previous posting.
>
> ----------
> > From: Bob Yates <[log in to unmask]>
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: College student doing research on the grammar debate
> > Date: Sunday, December 13, 1998 2:27 PM
> >
> > "Paul E. Doniger" wrote:
> >
> > > For the record, last year, when I tried to teach my students the basics
> of
> > > diagramming sentences, I learned that most of them hated it, but a few
> of
> > > them learned something from it.  I did NOT try to make it affect their
> > > writing directly - this is one area where I suspect the research is
> > > acurate.  I simply wanted them to understand how sentences were put
> > > together, and to THINK about it.  But my attempt was, I think,
> unsuccessful
> > > for most of my students.
> >
> > Whenever I read a comment like this I wonder what the person is defining
> > by influencing their writing.  What did you expect the diagramming of
> sentences
> > to improve in your students writing?
> >
> > Bob Yates