Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 2 of 2 1 2
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Avy Offline
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Jun 2000
Posts: 724
Faldage or ted, could you, please, help me with the questions I posted above, on diagramming and phrase tree structure? Thanks a lot.


Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Avy:

Thre have been discussions about diagramming here before, but I've never heard of a phrase tree structure, which is why I didn;t answer. Diagramming can make sense of the most complex sentence you can write, and leads one to a better understanding of grammar.

I will look up the phase tree stuff later today and give you my opinion on it. I suspect I know what it is, but until I'm certain I prefer to remain silent. Better to remain silent and make them wonder if I'm a dunce than to open my mouth and remove all doubt.

TEd



TEd
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Faldage Offline OP
Carpal Tunnel
OP Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Diagramming can make sense of the most complex sentence you can write, and leads one to a better understanding of grammar.

Or either that or get you so confused you'll wonder how you managed to come up with a sentence like that without you had some kind degree in diagramology from some fancy schmancy liberal arts shool all covered over with ivy, one.


Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Avy,

OK, I did some research but I'm not certain I understand phrase tree structure (PTS) very well. It's about linguistics, something that has never interested me very much.

Here's a paper that gives a pretty good nuts and bolts description of PTS.

http://www.staff.uni-marburg.de/~uffmann/psr-tree.pdf

You have to get past the use of two for to in the first sentence, though. I had to grit my teeth because I always have a tendency to dismiss anything that follows so egregious an error. In this case I gave allowance for the fact that someone may have translated this into English or else the person has English as a secondary language.

Notwithstanding, a few paragraphs down there is a PTS of a relatively simple sentence, with some explanation. It shows the inter-relationships among the words in the sentence. It does NOT reflect or teach grammar. And that's what diagramming or parsing a sentence does. The PTS is concerned with highly technical linguistics, principally the relationships between pairs of words or phrases, while diagramming teaches one how to build a good understandable sentence. Diagramming concerns the entire sentence as a structure. Gosh I hope I said that correctly.

Eleventy seven people may now step forward to correct me on this, which is fine by me since if I have misstated the technical nature of PTS I expect to be questioned.



TEd
Page 2 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,912
Posts229,271
Members9,179
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV, Heather_Turey, Standy
9,179 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
1 members (A C Bowden), 285 guests, and 4 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,502
LukeJavan8 9,915
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5