Diagram Sentence Structure

Diagramming is a great way to break down a passage's flow of thought by grouping and arranging the various words and phrases according to their function in a sentence.

The Diagram feature lets you create diagrams of sentence structure for any Bible text, and is particularly useful with grammatically tagged texts. Standard Macintosh drawing capabilities are used wherever possible, making the Diagram features intuitive to most users.

You should be familiar with the principles of diagramming in order to create a diagram; these principles are outside the scope of Accordance Bible Software; however, for your convenience, here is a link to help beginners to sentence diagramming get started.

An example of a diagram is shown above. This diagram uses the Baseline symbol to distinguish the subject from the verb, the Direct Object symbol to mark the direct object, and the Left Branch symbol to distinguish the two phrases joined by the conjunction "and."

Open a Diagram Tab and Create a DiagramOpen a Diagram Tab and Create a Diagram

  1. Select words in a grammatically tagged Bible text.

    For example, select "God created the heaven and the earth" in Genesis 1:1.
  2. On the AmplifyClosed To select words or a reference and search for the selection in the text or tool of your choice. You can select the resource in the Library or Amplify menus. A triple-click is a shortcut which amplifies to the top tool of the relevant category. menu, choose Language>Diagram. A Diagram tab opens in a Language Tools zone.
  3. You can also customize the Workspace toolbar to open a Diagram tab from there.
  4. Each word is a separate "object" which you can drag anywhere within the tab.
  5. On the left side of the Diagram tab is a palette with symbols used to distinguish subjects from verbs, direct objects, and other parts of sentence structure. Rest the cursor over any symbol to view a help tag about that symbol.
  6. Diagram the sentence, as follows:
  7. Drag symbols from the palette to main diagram workspace.
  8. Position the text over the appropriate symbols.
  9. If desired, save the diagram for future use (File>Save As).

An example of a Diagram tab for Genesis 1:1 is shown below.

Diagram Tab FeaturesDiagram Tab Features

The features of the Diagram tab are detailed under the picture.

Number Description Details
1 Magnification pop-up menu Select a different magnification to zoom in or out of the Diagram tab, to fine-tune the details or see the big picture
2 Font bar Used to format words of the text; the Bold button works for text and activeClosed The application, window, tab, or other screen element which is currently being used; sometimes called the "front" or "frontmost" screen element objects
3 Group and Ungroup buttons Used to group and ungroup selected items in the Diagram tab
4 Words of the Text The selected text is displayed as a series of objects, color-coded for parts of speech (in tagged texts); place the cursor over a word in the Diagram to see its definition in the Instant Details
5 Symbol Palette

Symbols for diagramming sentence structure:

  • Line, arrow and dashed line that snap to horizontal or vertical
  • Line, arrow and dashed line that can be set to any angle
  • Base line/Direct object
  • Predicate/Indirect object
  • Simple and partial modifier
  • Full modifier/Equals
  • Infinitive/Complement
  • Upper and lower standard
  • Left and right bracket
  • Left and right arc
  • Rectangle/Text box
6 Diagramming Area Create the diagram in the rest of this area
7 Color Key Key to colors of text (5 in the picture)
8 Symbol Tip Shows the name of the symbol the cursor is resting on (in the Symbol palette and the diagramming area)

 

Tips for Creating a DiagramTips for Creating a Diagram

  • Drag a symbol to the diagram from the Symbol palette. The symbol expands to its full size and snaps in place. If desired, you can also change the color of any item in the Diagram tab.
  • For Hebrew diagrams: Opt+Drag a non-paired symbol from the palette to reverse its direction.
  • Resize a symbol by selecting an item and dragging one of the corners or grow points (the cursor changes to a + when it rests over the grow point). The object retains its shape and snaps through a series of new sizes.
  • Enlarge or shrink the selected item(s) using the corner grow points. If grouped, all items remain aligned and grow/shrink proportionally. If not grouped, then select one item at a time to enlarge/shrink proportionally.
  • Move words or symbols by dragging them (when the cursor changes to a white arrow).
  • Select words or symbols by clicking on them (when the cursor changes to a white arrow), or Shift+Click to select two or more objects. You can also draw a box around multiple symbols to select them.
  • Move selected items with the arrow keys, drag them with the mouse, or delete them. Press Opt+ with an arrow key to move objects one pixel at a time in the arrow direction.
  • Align selected text items to the grid: Return moves the items down on the grid; Tab moves items right on the grid; Shift+Tab moves items left on the grid.
  • Group and Ungroup selected objects using the Group/Ungroup buttons (3, picture in Diagram Tab Features, above), shortcut keys (+G or Opt++G), or the Select menu.
  • To Duplicate objects, hold on Opt+ while dragging the object.
  • Copy a selected object or group to another Diagram tab by dragging it to the new tab.
  • You can also copy selected items from one Diagram tab to another using the shortcut keys or shortcut menuClosed Also known as a contextual menu, acessed by right-clicking (or pressing Ctrl+Click, Mac only) over a screen element. For example, to use the shortcut keys:
    1. In the source Diagram tab, select the desired item(s) and press +C.
    2. In the target Diagram tab, click and press +V.
  • Drag an object and scroll the tab at the same time by placing the cursor over the inner border of the scrollerClosed The control you drag in the scroll bar.
  • Add text by dragging the A on the Symbol palette to create a text box. Use the Font bar to change font, size, color, and style.

    Note

    If you change the font size of text objects, both the size and position of the text box and all selected Text elements are automatically adjusted to avoid changing the relative text box positions.

  • Double-click a word to open the text box and Edit it.
  • The color and style of new items depend upon whether another item is already selected. If no items are selected, the new item is initially black with a plain style. If an item is selected, the new item is the color and style of the selected item, as before.

Diagram Tab Options and SettingsDiagram Tab Options and Settings

  • Page margins are shown as blue lines, and can be set via the File menu (File>Page Setup).
  • Use the scrollers, or press + or to Scroll through the tab.
  • Copy and paste the entire image or selected objects to another program, or save them as a PNG or JPEG file.
  • If saving printing to a PDF, you can edit the diagram in the PDF.
  • Right-click within the Diagram tab and choose Set Diagram Display to set the following options for the active Diagram tab, or the default for future Diagram tabs:
  • Grid spacing
  • Number of Pages
  • Font size
  • View all text in black
  • Show color key
  • Print all text in black
  • Colors for Parts of speech

Hint

Large horizontal grid spacing helps in arranging objects or words in columns.