Question

how do I diagram this sentence?

Practice good driving skillsevery day for about four months before taking the test.

Answer 1

The most basic sentence contains a subject and a verb. We begin to diagram a sentence by drawing a base line beneath the subject and the verb. We separate the two by a vertical line that extends through the base line.

Answer 2

Here is an excellent website that explains how to diagram sentences:

http://members.cox.net/teachro/grammar/diagramming.htm

In your sentence, here are the major parts:

Subject = the understood "you" since the verb is a command and there is no written subject.

Verb = "practice"

Direct object = "skills" (modified by "good driving")

Adverb = "every day"

Prepositional phrases that modify the verb = "for about four months" and "before taking the test." (In that last prepositional phrase the object of the preposition is a gerund ["taking"], and since it's a verb form, it also has its own direct object ["test"].

Very complicated sentence!

Here are other diagram-help websites if the one above doesn't tell you everything you need:

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/diagrams/diagrams.htm
Go through the PowerPoint presentation; there are also further links near the bottom of this page.

http://www.lifestreamcenter.net/DrB/Lessons/TS/diagram.htm

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