Sentence diagramming is the long division of English. It involves a bewildering array of lines and diagonal branches. It is loathed as an elementary school chore. And it is presumed to be obsolete.

A century of research shows that traditional grammar lessons—those hours spent diagramming sentences ... dropped out of school before earning a college degree, I have found over and over ...

Ellen Jovin is not the grammar police ... students at High School of American Studies at Lehman College in the Bronx learn how to diagram sentences as part of their English curriculum, said ...