Humor, or a crying need for grammar police?

April 6, 2013

Is this sign saying “Don’t do anything here,” or is it saying “Do anything you want here?”

Or, is it saying, “Doing everything at all times, is required?”

Photo by Amanda and Keith Holland, somewhere in the South:

A tree in the woods, with a sign nailed to it that reads, “POSTED: No Nothing, Cowden Plantation”

Leave a Comment » | Humor | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Diagramming the Preamble

January 17, 2008

Beautiful, indeed!

I’ve often recommended students diagram the Preamble to the Constitution, to better understand the source of authority in our government (“We, the People”).

Betsy (I have no surname) sent me a link to this:

Preamble to the Constitution as your English teacher wishes you would have diagrammed it. JPEG version

Preamble to the Constitution as your English teacher wishes you would have diagrammed it.

Sentence diagram of the Preamble to the Constitution

Sentence diagram of the Preamble to the Constitution. GIF version

 

The work is done at a the site of Capital Community College, their “Guide to Grammar and Writing.”

Here’s the Preamble as it usually appears:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I wonder: Has anyone diagrammed the Mayflower Compact?

Tip of the old scrub brush to Betsy at The Reality Based News Feed, and to Boing Boing.

5 Comments | Historic documents, History, History images, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell