Sentence diagramming

Question

I want to make up some handouts on sentence diagramming. For those who didn't have to diagram sentences at school, I'm talking about something like this.

It's basically an exploded view of the sentence, with the various parts all laid out in relation to each other. I would post some sample code for people to comment on, but I'm not even sure where to start with this. I'm putting the tikz tag on the question, but I don't even know whether tikz is the right tool for the job. Where should I start figuring this out?

(I did find this earlier post, but it doesn't really get at the branching &c. in the link above.)

Answer 1

TOTALLY REVISED ANSWER:

Macros available to use:

\startline[indent] draws the top startline, with optional indent.

\xdiv vertical line that crosses the startline, as between "puzzles" and "are" in the MWE.

\vdiv vertical line that does not cross the underline, as between "exercising" and "mind" in the MWE.

\ddiv diagonal line that does not cross the startline, as between "are" and "games" in the MWE.

\diag[mode]{diag-dimen}{diagtext}{horiz-dimen}{horiz-text} drops a diagonal that will vertically extend diagdimen\baselineskip downward, places the diag text over it, then draws a line of length horiz-dimen\baselineskip and set the horiz-text above it (by default). If the mode is set to [d], the horizontal line is dashed and the horiz-text is underset, like the word "yet" in the MWE. If the mode is [b], the diagonal is blanked out, as with the word "exercising" in the MWE.

\dropleg[mode]{dimen}{left-aligned underset} Drops a vertical strut of height dimen\baselineskip and then sets the final argument to the right of that. If mode is [d], the strut is dashed, as shown below "are" in the MWE.

\entry{dimen}{text}{aftercode} a self-contained underlined entry, such as "and" in the MWE. The text is centered and underlined by a line of length dimen\baselineskip, and the aftercode is executed at the right hand end of the underline.

\tstrut{dimen} the trianglular shape with a vertical strut above, as seen below "exercising" in the MWE. The height of the \tstrut object is determined by the number dimen, which is a multiple of \baselineskip, which should be the difference between the depths of two adjacent \diags.

\leftstep the stair-step thingie that is left-lapped.

---

Parameters:

\rlwd rule width; (.5pt) default.

\tlength the step height and the triangular leg length, both below "exercising" in the MWE; 1.7ex default.

---

In the MWE, you will note that horizontal space had to be added manually between entries. Also, to create the 2nd line, I left the \dropleg below "and" dangling, and used \vspace to shift to the lower position. The argument to \vspace (16\baselineskip) was easily ascertained, because the \droplegs before and after "and" were both of dimen=8. The \tstrut dimen of 2 is also easily ascertained, since the dimen of the "for" \diag was 6, while the dimen of "exercising" \diag was 4, the difference being 2.

To drop a \diag in the middle of a word, you have two options (both shown in the MWE):

1) split the word around the diag, like newspa\diag{2}{in}{5}{America}pers, or

2) place the word in a box of smaller width than its actual width, such as \makebox[3ex]{\textcolor{blue}{puzzles}}\diag{4.5}{crossword}{}{}.

In either case, you will generally follow the word with some \hspace.

Since I could not create a curved arc, the "Appearing" leg is done with a \dropleg with a \diag as the underset code.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[usestackEOL]{stackengine}
\usepackage{graphicx,xcolor}
% DASHED LINE OF SPECIFIED LENGTH
% Based on morsburg at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/12537/
% how-can-i-make-a-horizontal-dashed-line/12553#12553
\def\dashfill{\cleaders\hbox to .6em{\rule{1ex}{\rlwd}}\hfill}
\newcommand\dashline[1]{\hbox to #1{\dashfill\hfil}}
%%%%%
\def\rlwd{.5pt}
\def\xdiv{\smash{\rule[-.7071\baselineskip]{\rlwd}{1.5\baselineskip}}}
\def\vdiv{\smash{\rule[-.37\baselineskip]{\rlwd}{1.5\baselineskip}}}
\def\ddiv{\smash{\rotatebox{45}{%
  \rule[-.55\baselineskip]{\rlwd}{1.74\baselineskip}}}}
\newlength\tmplen
\newlength\tlength
\tlength=1.7ex\relax
\newcommand\tstrut[1]{\smash{\raisebox{-.35\baselineskip}{%
  \def\stackalignment{c}\stackon[0pt]{%
  \rotatebox{45}{\rule{\tlength}{\rlwd}}\kern-.2ex%
  \raisebox{.7071\tlength}{\rotatebox{-45}{\rule{\tlength}{\rlwd}}}%
  }{\rule{\rlwd}{\dimexpr #1\baselineskip-.7071\tlength}}}}%
}
\def\leftstep{\smash{\raisebox{\dimexpr-.3\baselineskip-\rlwd}{%
  \llap{\rule[\tlength]{\tlength}{\rlwd}\rule{\rlwd}{\tlength}%
  \rule{\tlength}{\rlwd}~~}}}%
}
\newcommand\dropleg[3][s]{\unskip\smash{%
  \stackunder[\dimexpr-\dp\strutbox-.7071pt]{%
    \if d#1%
      \raisebox{-\dp\strutbox}{\rotatebox{-90}{\dashline{#2\baselineskip}}}%
    \else%
      \rule[\dimexpr-\dp\strutbox-.7071pt-#2\baselineskip]{\rlwd}%
      {#2\baselineskip}%
    \fi}{#3}}\ignorespaces%
}
\newcommand\entry[3]{\smash{\makebox[0pt][l]{\def\stackalignment{c}%
  \stackunder[0pt]{\strut#2}{\rule{0#1\baselineskip}{\rlwd}}#3}}%
}
\newcommand\diag[5][s]{\unskip%
  \if b#1\def\dcolor{white}\else\def\dcolor{black}\fi%
  \tmplen=#2\baselineskip%
  \def\stackalignment{l}\def\useanchorwidth{F}%
  \smash{\makebox[0pt][l]{%
  \raisebox{\dimexpr-\dp\strutbox-.7071pt}{\rotatebox{-45}{%
    \stackon[0pt]{\textcolor{\dcolor}{\rule{1.414\tmplen}{\rlwd}}}{%
    \makebox[0pt][l]{\makebox[1.414\tmplen][l]{~~~~\strut#3}%
      \if d#1%
        \rotatebox{45}{%
          \smash{%
          \kern-.22\baselineskip\raisebox{-.3\baselineskip}{%
            \stackunder[0pt]{\dashline{0#4\baselineskip}}{~~\strut#5}}}%
          }%
      \else%
        \rotatebox{45}{%
          \kern-1.02\baselineskip\raisebox{.52\baselineskip}{%
          \stackon[0pt]{\rule{0#4\baselineskip}{\rlwd}}{~~\strut#5}}}%
      \fi%
    }}%
  }}}}\ignorespaces%
}
\newcommand\startline[1][0in]{\noindent\hspace{#1}%
  \rule{\dimexpr\textwidth-#1}{\rlwd}\par%
  \vspace{\dimexpr-\baselineskip-\parskip-\dp\strutbox-.7071pt}\par%
  \noindent\hspace{#1}%
}
\begin{document}
\scriptsize\startline
~
\dropleg{2}{%
\diag{5}{Appearing}{3}{
  \diag{2}{in}{6}{
    \diag{3}{most}{}{}
    newspa\diag{2}{in}{5}{America}pers
  }
}}
\hspace{1cm}
\makebox[3ex]{\textcolor{blue}{puzzles}}
\diag{4.5}{crossword}{}{}
\hspace{1.5cm}\xdiv\hspace{2cm}
\makebox[1ex]{\textcolor{red}{are}}
\dropleg[d]{8}{\entry{4}{and}{\dropleg[d]{8}{}}}
\hspace{.8cm}\ddiv\hspace{0.4cm}
\diag[d]{5}{challenging}{2.8}{yet}
\textcolor{black!50!green}{games}
\diag{5}{exciting}{}{}
\hspace{1cm}
\diag{6}{for}{7}{\tstrut{2}}
\hspace{1cm}
\diag[b]{4}{exercising}{5}{\leftstep\vdiv~mi\diag{1.5}{the}{}{}nd}

\vspace{16\baselineskip}
\startline[1in]
~\textcolor{blue}{they}
\hspace{1cm}\xdiv\hspace{1cm}
\diag{2}{}{8}{\diag{3}{literate}{}{}people\diag{3}{with}{5}{patience}}
\hspace{.6cm}
\textcolor{red}{give}
\hspace{.6cm}
\vdiv
\hspace{.6cm}
\textcolor{black!50!green}{joy}
\hspace{.6cm}
\ddiv
\hspace{.6cm}
exquisite
\end{document}