Grammar by Diagram, second edition is a book designed for anyone who wishes to improve grammatical understanding and skill. Using traditional sentence diagramming as a visual tool, the book explains how to expand simple sentences into compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, and how to employ verbals (infinitives, gerunds, and participles) and other structures for additional variety.

The text addresses the most frequent usage errors by explaining how to distinguish between adjectives and adverbs; how to avoid problems of pronoun case, agreement, and consistency; how to ensure that verbs will agree with their subjects and will be appropriate in terms of tense, aspect, voice, and mood; and how to phrase sentences to avoid errors in parallelism or placement of modifiers. Six appendices incorporate further exercises, a summary of key basics from the text, and supplemental material not included in the body of the text but useful for quick reference. This new edition includes additional exercises and has been revised and updated throughout.

There is also an accompanying Grammar by Diagram Workbook which provides summaries of each chapter, extra exercises, and a "final exam". Grammar by Diagram and the Workbook can be purchased together for the special package price of US/CDN $67.95. To place an order for the discounted package, please click here. If you require any assistance, you may contact Customer Service at customerservice@broadviewpress.com or (705) 743-8990.

Comments: 

"Rejoice! After years of neglect, sentence diagraming can unapologetically return to college courses. Cindy Vitto's Grammar By Diagram makes this a fruitful return by using diagraming first to lay bare the structural bones of English and then to demonstrate ways in which writers use these components to create effective sentences. Through diagraming, students see that a strong sentence is a purposefully structured unit and not a set of words aimlessly strung together. Thus Grammar By Diagram not only gives students skills for crafting better sentences but also tools for examining language with greater care." - Candace Barrington, Central Connecticut State University  

“Grammar by Diagram is a dream come true for me. I grew up academically on diagraming, and I have always thought it was one of the best ways for students to visualize the structure of the language.” - George Edward Stanley, Cameron University

"I will be offering [a professional development] grammar class this summer and am delighted to find both the Grammar by Diagram text and workbook by Cindy L. Vitto. Her approach will resonate well with Joint Commission employees because they like two things: systems and proof! Her text supplies both. Her clear, systematic chapters will walk them through each concept and then they will see the evidence by diagramming the sentences." - Dr. Kate Ranft, Professional Development Center, The Joint Commission

Cindy L. Vitto is Professor of English at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey.

Table of Contents: [Back to Top]

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Eight Parts of Speech
2. Basic Sentence Patterns for Be and Linking Verbs
3. Basic Sentence Patterns for Intransitive and Transitive Verbs
4. Usage Problems Associated with Adjectives and Adverbs
5. Combining and Expanding Patterns: Compound Structures
6. Combining and Expanding Patterns: Complex Sentences with Noun Clauses
7. Combining and Expanding Patterns: Complex Sentences with Adverb and Relative Clauses, and the Compound-Complex Sentence
8. Usage Problems of Case, Agreement, and Consistency
9. Verbs
10. Verbals
11. Usage Problems Associated with Verbs and Verbals
12. Punctuation and Capitalization
13. Sentence Transformations

Appendix 1. Additional Exercises (no answers provided)
Appendix 2. Verb Conjugations (See and Be)
Appendix 3. Irregular and Troublesome Verb Forms
Appendix 4. Summary of Clauses and Verbals
Appendix 5. Diagraming Summary
Appendix 6. Commonly Confused Words

Answer Key

Index