Hm…“See spot run” sounds imperative to me.
sprought
Linking to the column is imperative. How do you diagram the sentence, “See Spot run”?
In “See Spot run,” “See” is imperative, & “run” is infinitive.
You could also say this with a gerund: “See Spot running.”
Or a dependent clause: “See Spot as he runs.”
another way of saying the sentence is “Watch spot run.”
doesn’t seem too tricky. it is just an imperative - a command… not an awkwardly structured question. See… watch… same thing, just a odd word choice. Those kid books dont use words more than 4 letters - watch is 5, so they use “see” instead… only 3. Simple.
The problem is not the imperative, Kalt. The question is, what is the function of “run” in that sentence?
In the case of my neighbor’s dog you don’t diagram, you re-punctuate;
See spot? Run!
I’m leaving now.
Peace,
mangeorge
I asked this question of a friend of mine who is a retired editor of the Encyclopedia Brittanica. After thinking about it for a moment, he said, “Imagine that ‘Spot Run’ is a small creek near Washington D.C.” Funny guy!
The sentence could (if put most clearly written) read “If you look above these words, there is a picture of a dog named Spot. The picture shows Spot running.”
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Symblized, no fair rewording the sentence. Besides, it doesn’t have to be talking about a picture in the book.
Example: You know I’m a great fisherman. Why don’t you watch me fish, so you can learn how I do it?
If you take away the dependent clause at the end, and ignore the phrasing as a question, the essence in the middle of this sentence is “watch me fish”, which is exactly the same structure as “see Spot run”. Watch is the imperative verb, with “me fish” as the direct object, a noun clause, and “fish” as an infinitive.
(No intent to claim I can fish, or you can’t. 
)