Posted by Bruce Kahl on February 28, 2004
In Reply to: Diagraming sentence posted by sphinx on February 28, 2004
: Would you please explain this picture? (Several words are enough, please don't trouble yourself to write an abundant answer.)
At one time english grammar was taught in an almost mathematical sense.
Teachers would break a sentence into parts--subject, predicate or verb and object. These pieces were placed on a line with a "|" separating the pieces from each other.
The illustration, which I posted orginally, is not a good one since it it a bit complicated for esl.
The sentence above is "See spot run".
The you is understood so is put in parenthesis.
This is better:
I hit Jim.
The diagram is;
I | hit | Jim
Hope this explains it.