Chapter 2 Ouchless Nouns When Do We Diagram Sentences? A Flashback Back in 7th grade, I longed to become a great poet. Either that or an Oscar-winning actress, or a rock star like Janis Joplin (minus the heroin addiction). But then, didn't we all? I loved writing, reading, talking...just about anything involving words. But diagramming sentences? I remember sitting in Miss Ferguson's English class, my bowels knotting up in horror as I tried to draw those silly lines over those silly words, which made as much sense to me, an aspiring poet, as astrophysics. Fortunately, instinct told me diagramming sentences was not about writing--in fact, not about communications at all. It was about...diagramming sentences. So I continued writing undeterred. 33