English 352
English Grammar and Usage
Clai Rice
University of Louisiana
at Lafayette

Sentence Diagram!

Office: Griffin 357
Phone: 2-1327
Email: crice@louisiana.edu
Office Hours: M-W 11:00-1:00, M 4:00-6:00
and by appointment 

UL Moodle

Course Description:

        This course is an introduction to the principles, terminology, and mechanics of traditional Standard American English grammar and usage, including parts of speech, voice, grammatical roles, and basic sentence patterns, with an emphasis on applying grammar and usage to writing. Some activities will also be oriented toward those who plan to teach K-12 and who therefore would like to increase their expertise in grammar.  The final grade will be determined by 4 tests and a final exam.

Texts:

Daily Syllabus:

 

Month

Monday

 

 Wednesday

 

Aug

26

Course Intro: Chapter 1, English Language History,
Dialects, Registers, Standard

28

Chapter 2, Parts of Speech: Content words
HW: 2.1

Sept

02

Labor Day, no class

04

Function words.
HW: 2.2,3

Sept

09

Chapter 3, subject/predicate
HW 3.1, 3.2.c
Noun Phrase diagrams
HW: 3.3,4,5

13

Chapter 4, sentence types
HW 4.1,2,3

Sept

 16

Chapter 5, Pre- and post-core phrases
HW 5.1, diagram #1,2,3,7; 5.5

20


Test 1

Sept

23

 Chapter 5, Transitivity
HW 5.4, 5.6

IO, OC and SC Sentence patterns
HW 5.3,5,7,9,10

27

 Chapter 6, Verb Phrases
HW 6.1,2,3,4,5

Sept

30

Chapter 7, Prepositional Phrases and NPs
HW 7.1

04

Adverbial Complements
HW 7.3,4,5

Oct

 07

Phrasal and Prepositional verbs
HW 7.7,8

09

 Chapter 8, Pronouns
HW 8.1,2

Oct

14

 Review

16

Test 2

Oct

21

 Noun classification
HW 8.5,6,7

23

Determiner phrases
HW 8.3,4

Oct

28


Chapter 9, Modifiers of Head Noun
HW 9.1,2,4

Gerunds, infinitives
HW 9.5,6

30

Chapter 10, Negation 
HW 10.1,2,3

Nov

04

Chapter 11, Passive HW 11.1,2,3,4

06

Chapter 12, Coordination
HW 12.1,2,3

Nov

11

Review

13


Test 3

Nov

18

Chapter 13, Relative Clauses
HW 13.1,2
(Non)restrictive clauses
HW 13.3,4

20

Chapter 14, Noun Clauses
HW 14.1,2,3,4

Nov

25

Chapter 14, Noun Clauses

27

Chapter 15, Noun Clauses

Dec

02

Chapter 16 Adverbial Clauses
HW 16.1,2,3,4

04

Test 4
Dec
 09
 Final Exams
Final Exams

 

Attendance: This course is cumulative and we will move through the material at a rapid pace.  Missing class for any reason usually causes students to fall woefully behind. University policy is that you may miss 10% of the class meetings without institutional consequences.  Subsequent absences will cause your grade to suffer.  No make-up tests will be given unless you tell me in advance of class that you will be absent for some (important) reason.
Americans With Disabilities Act Compliance Statement
It is the policy of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to afford equal opportunity in education to qualified students. If you have a disability that may prevent you from meeting course requirements, contact the instructor immediately to file a student disability statement and to develop an accommodation plan. Course requirements will not be waived but reasonable accommodations will be developed to assist you in meeting the requirements.
Academic Honesty
This course requires no essays or other graded writing assignments, so there will be little opportunity for presenting another person's work as your own. Nonetheless, it should be noted that, as outlined in the UL Lafayette Undergraduate Bulletin, University policy dictates that plagiarism will result in a grade of zero (0) for the assignment, and possibly further action, such as failure of the course and assignment of the case to the Dean of Students.

Percentages of Each Assignment:

Computer Quizzes 0%
In-class quizzes (if necessary)
 10%
Section Tests (4) 15% each
Final Exam 30-40% 
Tests:
Each test will cover only the material from the preceding weeks, while the final exam will be comprehensive. However, the final exam will be optional. It will not hurt your grade if you do not take it, but if you do take it, the exam grade will be calculated as part of your final grade without regard to its positive or negative effect on your average.
Various Linguistics Links:
The Linguist List -- Clearinghouse for linguistics information of all types
Ethnologue -- A database of the world's languages
Language Log -- professional linguists meet the real world
The Web of Language -- Dennis Baron's op-eds on linguistics issues in the press
MLA's Language Map of the USA

Go to Clai's Home Page