Diagramming Confusion

Sean Tucker

Professor Mary Boland

English 329

3 February 2009

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When I was in the seventh grade, I had a thick hardcover grammar book that focused quite a bit on diagramming sentences. I remember my teacher going over these diagrams and they seemed quite simple in the beginning in that the sentences we quite simple, e.g. “He hit the ball,” “She kissed the baby,” “We ate lunch,” etc. I do not remember how we diagramed these sentences, but I have not done it this way since I was in the seventh grade. Not long after this introduction to diagramming sentences, the sentences became more complex with adjectives, adverbs, auxiliary verbs and various other grammatical functions. The simple diagrams that only had a few lines in the beginning began to look like some kind of advanced mathematical equation. I remember being completely lost and confused. There were lines and brackets that shot out of the sentence in various angles with lines and brackets coming sprouting out from the other brackets in a complete incomprehensible manner to me. I did not even know how to read the sentence after my teacher diagramed it. It just looked like a cacophony of geometric shapes and angles with words tossed about in a great salad of chaos. Of course, I was expected to repeat this exercise, but as much as I tried, I could not repeat what my teacher had just done. I was too embarrassed to ask and so I just sat there starring blankly at her while she diagramed more sentences throughout the school year while my grade suffered.

What’s funny about this is that I am now an English major on the Linguistics track. You think I would hate grammar after an experience like that and I did for quite some time. It wasn’t until I decided to get my degree, more than ten years after I graduated from high school, that I began to enjoy language, literature, and grammar. Much has changed since I was in the seventh grade. Although I am no longer confused with these diagrams (I still don’t like them), I do realize that grammar can be confusing to anyone, especially if they stare blankly at the teacher and don’t ask any questions. Although I now realize that I should have spoken up in class and told the teacher I was confused, I can understand why a student wouldn’t speak up and voice his or her confusion. For me, I was embarrassed and thought that I was the only one in class that didn’t know what to do. I remember looking around and seeing other students’ pencils writing busily and I took this as their understanding of the assignment. This experience has allowed me to empathize with others that are having difficulties with grammar or any other subject for that matter. When I see errors in someone’s writing or it appears that they are completely lost, I don’t look at as if he or she is simply not smart enough to do the assignment. Instead, I look at it as if the person does not understand and I ask him or her what they think and what they are trying to do. If there is confusion, then I will try approaching the material differently and ask each step of the way if he or she understands. This seems to work well and I will continue to remember how I felt in that seventh grade English class so I can continue to empathize with others that are confused.