Hi Steve,

I think I'd do something like what Cecil Adams does with "See Spot Run"
here:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1275/how-do-you-diagram-the-sentence-see-spot-run

It's pretty close to your analysis, actually.

What I've wondered about RK diagrams is how one is supposed to represent
adjective complements, e.g., 

---I was certain that diagramming could be useful.

Any ideas welcome. :)

David Mulroy's _War Against Grammar_ has a pretty stirring defense of RK
diagrams.  I can see why these diagrams aren't popular with linguists
(as you said, the symbols aren't necessarily intuitive, plus they
obscure the original word order, among other things) but they are handy
for teaching.

Beth

Dr. Beth Rapp Young
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~byoung
CNH 307-G

University of Central Florida
Stands For Opportunity
>>> "Benton, Steve" <[log in to unmask]> 01/05/11 6:46 AM >>>
I find it hard to resist sentence diagramming (Reed Kellogg-style) when
I am teaching grammar and wish I were more aware of its flaws.  The most
obvious one is that it requires memorization of a number of symbols
(lines, dotted lines, "platforms," diagonal lines, etc.) in addition to
the memorization of the categories they represent.  I do not doubt that
when it comes to describing the complexity of the language, RK sentence
diagrams may occasionally prove to be crude instruments (are there any
other kind, though?).    With that in mind, I wonder if the following
two cases are representative of the flaws of sentence diagramming:
1) Make me smile.
2) Take me fishing.
It seems to me that in example number one, "me smile" could be a
nominative clause that functions as a direct object.  If I were
diagramming it, I would put "me" on a diagonal line in the subject
position (which seems counterintuitive since “me” is objective case) and
put the entire clause on a “platform” in the object position.  Is that
what RK would do with this sentence?  What would Reed Kellogg do with
the Star Trek command:  "Make it so"? 

I’m not sure what RK would do with example number two.

Thoughts?

Steve Benton
Assistant Professor
Department of English and Languages
East Central University




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