Once the subject and verb are on the baseline, modifiers hang below. Adjectives (articles too) and adverbs go on slanted lines under the word they modify.
An adverb that modifies an adjective or another adverb hangs under that word, on a little shelf of its own.
Key idea
Every modifier hangs on a slant under the exact word it tells about: adjectives under nouns, adverbs under verbs, adjectives or other adverbs.
Why it works
The slanted lines make the modifier’s job visible. You can see at a glance that loudly describes the barking, not the dog. If a sentence is unclear, the diagram often shows why: a modifier could hang from two places.
Worked example: Where does each word hang?
“The old owl hooted very softly.”
- Baseline: owl | hooted.
- The and old describe the owl: slants under owl.
- softly tells how it hooted: a slant under hooted.
- very tells how softly: a slant under softly.
Answer: owl: The, old; hooted: softly; softly: very
Common mistake
Hanging an adverb that modifies an adjective under the noun. In “very tall sister,” very tells how tall, so it hangs from tall, not from sister.