Well-Trained Mind Press created The Diagramming Dictionary as a quick and easy-to-use reference guide. The dictionary format is ideal for anyone who is learning or remembering diagramming skills and wants quick access to diagramming structures.
Think of it this way: a writing curriculum teaches students to write and uses specific and sometimes unfamiliar words to name a concept or practice. But when students write essays, they don’t want to thumb through the entire curriculum when they need to remember a word’s definition – they use a dictionary to look up what the words mean.
That’s the same with diagramming. Sometimes, students in the midst of diagramming sentences suddenly can’t remember exactly how to diagram a prepositional phrase, or a dependent clause. Using The Diagramming Dictionary, they can go to the index, look up “Prepositional Phrase” or “Dependent Clause” and go directly to the page which provides the information.
The Diagramming Dictionary can be used with any grammar curriculum, but it pairs especially well with First Language Lessons, Level 4, and Grammar for the Well-Trained Mind from Well-Trained Mind Press. These grammar curricula teach diagramming as part of the core instruction. The Diagramming Dictionary is also the instructional resource for the supplement How to Diagram Any Sentence.
The Diagramming Dictionary is useful as a reference through all of a student’s academic career, and as a classroom resource.