For anyone who gives a rat's ass, here is the opening sentence ( a huge run-on, no less) of the Declaration of Independence:
When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Here is the same sentence, all clauses and phrases of it, when diagrammed:
http://wths-aplang-comp.wikispaces.com/file/view/declaration-diagram.pdf
(I tried to cut and paste and I tried to save as a picture file, but it's just too damn complicated and probably copyright protected. You may have to copy and paste the link, even. Hey, it used to be a free country. If all else fails, Google "Declaration Independence Diagram.")
Feel FREE to check it out. For those of you who remember having to do this (used to be called "parsing"), you'll either start drooling with admiration or start shaking with anxiety.
Either way, have a pop for me. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, ALL!
