Structure of a Sentence

The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals:

21st Century Skills—You will use critical-thinking skills and effectively communicate your ideas.

Directions

Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. ______

Self-Checked Activities

Write a response for each of the following activities. At the end of the lesson, click the link on the Summary screen to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the sample answers to evaluate your own work.

  1. Diagramming Sentences
  1. You’ve seen how todiagram sentences. Nowexplain in your own wordshow to diagram a sentence.

Sample answer:

Answers will vary but should include directions on drawing lines for the diagram and minimally explain placement of the subject, verb, and modifiers in the diagram.

  1. Explore thesesentence diagrams to learn more about sentence diagramming. For your own reference and understanding, find each of these sentences and write the part(s) of speech modeled by the given diagram.

Sample answer:

Sentence / Part or Parts of Speech Modeled
People have been laughing. / present-perfect verb tense
The smartest people will be laughing. / definite article; future tense
He is extremely courteous. / adverb
The teacher seems tired. / linking verb
Most children like candy. / linking verb
We have several good friends. / modifiers
Show us the pictures. / indirect object
She spoke with confidence. / prepositional phrase
Drive carefully. / imperative sentence
Each year we give our next-door neighbors some cookies. / adverbial objective
  1. In this task, you will diagram different types of sentences. Read the sample sentences given for these configurations, and study the diagrams. Then create a sentence of your own for each configuration listed below and diagram it. Before beginning this task, read these tips on using drawing tools in Word to diagram sentences:
  • From the View menu, select Toolbars, and then select the Drawing toolbar. In newer versions of Word, you will find the tools you need on the Insert ribbon and on the Format ribbons that appear when you click inside a text box or click on a line you’ve drawn.
  • Use line (B) to draw straight lines. Use dash style (E) to draw dotted lines. Usea text box (C) or word art (D) to add text for each part of yoursentence. Click Draw (A), select Rotate or Flip, andchoose the angle for your text or line or select “free rotate” manually,as needed, to change the rotation angle of the text or line.
  1. Configuration: questions

Sample sentence: What were you reading this morning?

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: three subjects

Sample sentence: Juanita, Federica, and Celso are working.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: direct object

Sample sentence: Tashonda sent e-mail.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: indirect object

Sample sentence: Mrs. Doubtfire gave the children homework.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: compound adverbs

Sample sentence: Dr. Turveydrop waited patiently and quietly at the door.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: prepositional phrase

Sample sentence: Charles is working in the garden.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: participle

Sample sentence: The crumbling bridge must be repaired.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Configuration: passive verb

Sample sentence: The burglar was shot.

Sample answer:

Sentences and diagrams will vary but should mirror the construction of the sample sentence.

  1. Read the quotes from I, Claudiusand the Preamble to theConstitution and study their diagrams. What can you conclude about sentence construction by comparing these two examples with the other diagrams you have seen?

Sample answer:

Answers will vary. No matter how complex the sentence is, you can still analyze its structure and represent it in a diagram because sentences are made of various interrelated grammatical components.

  1. Locate a comparable quote of a similar length and construction (a single sentence of at least 25 words) from a familiar document or piece of literature. Write down the quote and work with a partner or small group to diagram the sentence.

As an extra challenge, deliver the quote to your English teacher to diagram. Then correct it yourself!

Sample answer:

Answers will vary depending on the quote selected. Sentences quoted should be at least 25 words long. All words in the sentence must be included in the diagram and diagrams must conform to the diagramming rules taught in the activity.

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