You then divide it with a short vertical line. In a Reed-Kellogg diagram, you always start by drawing a horizontal line. To start things off, here is a sample sentence that is simple in structure, as represented by Reed-Kellogg. For those who have no background in grammar or who are learning English as a second language, the Reed-Kellogg diagram is a great way to jump into sentence diagramming. You do not have to know every single grammatical term in order to diagram a sentence using the Reed-Kellogg method, nor do you have to focus on retaining a sentence’s original word order. Because it is intended for students, the method is simple and uses a minimal amount of symbols or jargon. The Reed-Kellogg system’s primary purpose is to break a sentence down into easily identifiable parts. These grammarians believed that students would benefit from discovering the logical order of words in a sentence, allowing them to understand how to write effectively.

The Reed-Kellogg system offered an alternative, foregoing traditional word order in order to highlight the function of each word in a sentence. Previous methods of diagramming focused solely on teaching proper word order to students. The system was introduced in the 1870s by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg. The Reed-Kellogg system is a method for diagramming sentences that was commonly taught in grammar classrooms in the past.

Sentence diagramming app