mathematics

Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram

Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram is a mathematics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram rather than just read about it. In short: A sentence diagram is a pictorial representation of the grammatical structure of a sentence. The term "sentence diagram" is used more when teaching written language, where sentences are diagrammed.

Key takeaways

Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram belongs to mathematics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A sentence diagram is a pictorial representation of the grammatical structure of a sentence. The term "sentence diagram" is used more when teaching written language, where sentences are diagrammed. The model shows the relations between words and the nature of sentence structure and can be used as a tool to help recognize which potential sentences are actual sentences.

History An early attempt at creating "a complete system of diagrams" for syntax analysis was made by grammarian S. W. Clark in his 1860 volume A Practical Grammar: in which Words, Phrases, and Sentences Are Classified According to their Offices and Their Various Relations to One Another. The system, which involves linking together "balloons" of words, failed to catch on. Educators Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg would soon create what was to become the definitive system for traditional sentence diagramming in their 1877 work Higher Lessons in English. This "Reed–Kellogg system" was developed to teach grammar to students through clear visualization. It lost some support in the 1970s in the US, and it is not widely used in Europe. It is considered "traditional" in comparison to the parse trees of academic linguists.

Reed-Kellogg system Simple sentences in the Reed–Kellogg system are diagrammed according to these forms:

The diagram of a simple sentence begins with a horizontal line called the base. The subject is written on the left, the copula or predicate on the right, separated by a vertical bar that extends through the base. The predicate must contain a verb, and the verb either requires other sentence elements to complete the predicate, permits them to do so, or precludes them from doing so. The verb and its object, when present, are separated by a line that ends at the baseline. If the object is a direct object, the line is vertical. If the object is a predicate noun or adjective, the line looks like a backslash, \, sloping toward the subject. Modifiers of the subject, predicate, or object are placed below the baseline:

Modifiers, such as adjectives (including articles) and adverbs, are placed on slanted lines below the word they modify. Prepositional phrases are also placed beneath the word they modify; the preposition goes on a slanted line and the slanted line leads to a horizontal line on which the object of the preposition is placed. These basic diagramming conventions are augmented for other types of sentence structures, e.g. for coordination and subordinate clauses.

Constituency and dependency Reed–Kellogg diagrams reflect, to some degree, concepts underlying modern parse trees. Those concepts are the constituency relation of phrase structure grammars and the dependency relation of dependency grammars. These two relations are illustrated here adjacent to each other for comparison, where D means Determiner, N means Noun, NP means Noun Phrase, S means Sentence, V means Verb, VP means Verb Phrase and IP means Inflectional Phrase.

Constituency is a one-to-one-or-more relation; every word in the sentence corresponds to one or more nodes in the tree diagram. Dependency, in contrast, is a one-to-one relation; every word in the sentence corresponds to exactly one node in the tree diagram. Both parse trees employ the convention where the category acronyms (e.g. N, NP, V, VP) are used as the labels on the nodes in the tree. The one-to-one-or-more constituency relation is capable of increasing the amount of sentence structure to the upper limits of what is possible. The result can be very "tall" trees, such as those associated with X-bar theory. Both constituency-based and dependency-based theories of grammar have established traditions. Reed–Kellogg diagrams employ both of these modern tree generating relations. The constituency relation is present in the Reed–Kellogg diagrams insofar as subject, verb, object, and/or predicate are placed equi-level on the horizontal base line of the sentence and divided by a vertical or slanted line. In a Reed–Kellogg diagram, the vertical dividing line that crosses the base line corresponds to the binary division in the constituency-based tree (S → NP + VP), and the second vertical dividing line that does not cross the baseline (between verb and object) corresponds to the binary division of VP into verb and direct object (VP → V + NP). Thus the vertical and slanting lines that cross or rest on the baseline correspond to the constituency relation. The dependency relation, in contrast, is present insofar as modifiers dangle off of or appear below the words that they modify.

Functional breakdown A sentence may also be broken down by functional parts: subject, object, adverbial, verb (predicator). The subject is the owner of an action, the verb represents the action, the object represents the recipient of the action, and the adverbial qualifies the action. The various parts can be phrases rather than individual words.

Illustrations

Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In mathematics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram

In research: Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram appears in mathematics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Diagrams, English grammar, Generative syntax, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram in simple terms?

A sentence diagram is a pictorial representation of the grammatical structure of a sentence. The term "sentence diagram" is used more when teaching written language, where sentences are diagrammed.

Why does Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram matter?

Because it connects several mathematics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Reed–Kellogg sentence diagram.