Yes, I was thinking along these lines recently with DS8's reading and writing work at school. We diagrammed sentences in 4th grade--I remember because I know which teacher started us on it! I don't think they do that anymore, and it's a shame and a disgrace. As good as our schools here are, their writing and language program is the weakest link; it's still ahead of the state, but not stellar. I may have to do some diagramming homeschooling here.