What is a sentence-diagramming CAD program? I have never heard of such a thing. Does this program automatically recognize parts of speech and put them into the right diagram?
Sentence diagramming was one of the best things I ever learned and just as onerous. While I do not now diagram sentences, I do still check for tenses, appropriate modifiers, spelling, subject-verb agreement, etc.
As for Mr. Thompsson’s sentence, you’d think he could and would write better. On the other hand, Archbishop Thomas Cranmer’s sentences also run on forever as do St. Paul’s sentences in his Epistles. Have your kids practice on those.
It's deliberate and that's why it's funny.
I just invented it. (Now all it needs is a programmer ;-). It would let you shift around modifiers, phrases, and clauses into different positions as you evaluate how words or word-groups function in the sentence. And when you were finished, if you really loved it, you could print a poster! Congrats on the dog! What kind?