Diagrammer · grammar primer

A short grammar primer

Enough grammar to mark up a passage in the Diagrammer. It defines the fundamental parts of speech, then every markup type the tool offers by default — the word roles, the emphasis tags, and the relationships you can draw between them. It is descriptive, not a full grammar course; where a passage is genuinely ambiguous, the reading is yours to make.

01Parts of speech

The basic classes a word can belong to. Most marking decisions come down to spotting these.

Noun: Names a person, place, thing, or idea. “For God so loved the world.”
Pronoun: Stands in for a noun. “He gave his only Son… whoever believes.”
Verb: Expresses an action or a state of being. “God so loved… he gave.”
Adjective: Describes or qualifies a noun. a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable.
Adverb: Qualifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb — often how, when, where, or how much. “God so loved.”
Preposition: Ties a noun to the rest of the sentence, showing relation. by the mercies of God, to this world.
Conjunction: Joins words, phrases, or clauses. and, but, because, that.
Article / determiner: Specifies or limits a noun. the world, a sacrifice, this world, your bodies.
Interjection: A standalone exclamation, grammatically separate. Behold!

Parts of speech name what a word is; the clause roles below name what a word does in a particular sentence. The same noun is a subject in one clause and an object in another.

02Word roles — the Grammar tags

Left-drag one word to tag its role. These build the Grammar outline and the Reed–Kellogg diagram: subject, verb, and object (or complement) form the baseline; auxiliaries (Particle) merge onto the baseline with their verb; modifiers, determiners, and prepositional phrases hang on slants beneath the words they belong to; vocatives float on their own line above the clause; appositives ride in parentheses after the word they rename.

Subject: The person or thing the clause is about — who or what does the verb.
Verb: The action or state the clause asserts.
Object: The person or thing that receives the action of the verb.
Complement: A word that completes the verb or subject, such as a predicate noun or adjective (“which is your spiritual service”).
Modifier: A word that qualifies or describes another — an adjective or adverb.
Determiner: A word like “the,” “a,” “this,” or “your” that specifies a noun.
Preposition: A word like “in,” “by,” or “to” that ties a noun to the rest of the clause.
Conjunction: A joining word such as “and,” “but,” or “because” that links words or clauses.
Particle: An auxiliary (helping) verb or infinitive marker that belongs ON the verb’s baseline with it — “may prove,” “Don’t be conformed,” “to present.” Link it to its verb with modifies and the Reed–Kellogg view merges it into the verb phrase. (“Not” is an adverb: tag it Modifier, and it hangs beneath the verb instead.)
Vocative: A word naming the person or thing being directly addressed, such as “brothers.” Floats on its own line in Reed–Kellogg.
Interjection: A standalone exclamation, grammatically separate — “Behold!” Also floats on its own line in Reed–Kellogg.

03Emphasis tags

A second, non-grammatical layer for flagging what stands out in the passage.

Key term: A word flagged as central to the passage.
Repetition: A word or idea that recurs in the passage.
Contrast: A point where the text sets one thing against another.
Command: An imperative — something the text tells the reader to do.
Promise: A stated assurance or pledge.

04Relationships

Right-drag from one mark to another to draw a relationship. There are two kinds: grammar links tie one word to another; phrase relationships tie whole propositions together.

Grammar links (word → word)

modifies: This word qualifies or describes the one it points to (a slant beneath it in Reed–Kellogg). A verb linked this way marks its whole clause as subordinate — a relative or adverbial clause joined to its head by a dashed line (anchored at the relative pronoun when there is one, or labeled with the subordinating conjunction).
subject of: This word is the subject of the verb it points to.
object of: This word is the object of the word it points to — a verb (direct object) or a preposition (its object). Linking a verb as object of another verb places its whole clause on a pedestal in the object slot (a noun clause: “prove what is the will of God”; “makes me lie down”).
indirect object of: This word is the indirect object of the verb it points to (“gave him the book”) — Reed–Kellogg hangs it on a bare slant beneath the verb.
complement of: This word completes the one it points to — a predicate noun or adjective. A verb linked this way pedestals its clause in the complement slot. A complement may coexist with an object — the objective complement (“elected him president”).
apposition: This word renames or re-identifies the one it points to (rendered in parentheses after it).
coordinate with: This word is joined as an equal to the one it points to — compound subjects, objects, and complements fork onto parallel lines; coordinated verbs join their clauses with a dashed step. Leave the conjunction itself (“and,” “but”) untagged by links: the views find it between the coordinated items and set it on the dashed rung automatically.

Phrase relationships · coordinate (equal weight)

Two propositions that stand on the same level.

Series: Two or more items of equal weight simply listed together.
Progression: Coordinate items that build toward a climax rather than merely list.
Alternative: Options set out as either/or.
Comparison: One thing likened to another (“as,” “like”).
Bilateral: A proposition that supports two others at once — one before it and one after (“for,” “therefore”; cf. Psalm 67:4–5).

Phrase relationships · subordinate (support)

One proposition serves another; in the phrase view the supporting one nests under the one it supports.

Ground: The supporting clause gives the reason or basis for the main one (“for,” “because”).
Inference: The main statement is a conclusion drawn from the supporting one (“therefore,” “so”).
Purpose: The supporting clause states the intended aim of the main action (“so that,” “in order to”).
Result: The supporting clause states the actual outcome of the main action (“so that,” “with the result that”).
Manner: The supporting clause states how the main action is carried out.
Condition: The supporting clause states what must hold for the main one (“if”).
Concession: The supporting clause grants a point that runs against the main one (“although,” “though”).
Temporal: The supporting clause locates the main one in time (“when,” “while,” “after”).
Idea–Explanation: The supporting clause restates or unpacks the main idea in other words.
Question–Answer: A question paired with its answer.

These are the default vocabularies. You can add your own options on the Diagrammer's Settings panel — those are assumed to be terms you already understand, so they are not covered here. Ready to try it? Open the Diagrammer.