English

English 395:  English Grammars (PDF Version)                   
Grant T. Smith, Ph. D.                               
MWF 9 a.m. – 9:50 a.m.   MC 414
Spring Semester, 2010

Office:  MC 533; Phone: 796-3485; E-mail: gtsmith@viterbo.edu 
Office hours: T Th 9 a.m. to 12 noon (By Appointment)

Text:   Martha Kolln and Robert Funk: Understanding English Grammar, eighth edition

Course Description: 
English 395 is designed to provide an intensive study of English grammars.  Included in the study will be discussions of English phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics as applied in traditional, structural, and transformational grammars.  The course is also designed to make students aware of their usage of grammar in their speaking and writing.

 Policies: 

• Click here for the university definitions of an excused and unexcused absence 
• Click here for the university policy on sexual harassment 
• Click here for the university policy on plagiarism  
• If you are a person with a disability and require any auxiliary aids, services or other accommodations for this class, please see Jane Eddy in Murphy Center Learning Center 332 (796-3194) within ten days to discuss your accommodation needs.  If there other accommodations that need to be made for you to succeed in the class, please indicate those needs to the instructor.  Click here for a link to the Learning Center.
• In the event of an infectious disease outbreak, university officials will monitor progress and work with local, state, and national authorities to determine the best course of action regarding institutional operations. Information related to any widespread infectious diseases outbreak will be available on Viterbo’s website and Viterbo Health Services website (http://www.viterbo.edu/HealthServices.aspx). In addition, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website has extensive information on health threats (http://www.cdc.gov). If you have specific questions about your personal health, please contact your medical provider or Health Services.

Core Abilities:  

• Thinking—Students engage in the critical and creative thinking
• Ethical Decision Making—Students respond to ethical issues
• Communication—Students communicate effectively orally and in writing
• Aesthetic Sensitivity—Students engage in artistic experiences and reflect critically upon them
• Cultural Sensitivity—Students demonstrate a respect for the diversity of the human experience
• Community Involvement—Students demonstrate responsible citizenship

English Department Student Learning Outcomes:

These are the six learning outcomes of the English major.   Few English courses promote all six learning outcomes, but, collectively, these are the outcomes you can expect as an English major.  The right-hand column shows how your work in English 395 promotes these outcomes.

Links related to English Department Student Learning Outcomes:

• Thinking—The students will engage in critical thinking when they explicate or “close read” literary texts; when they identify formal elements such as point of view, literary language, symbolism, imagery; when they consider texts and authors in relation to historical, cultural, ideological, and theoretical contexts; when they compare what they are reading with what they have read previously; when they relate what they are reading to the wider world and to universal issues of human life.   Click here for a Critical Thinking Web Page.  Click here for a Logical Fallacies Web Page.
• Communication—The students will articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their interpretations, insights, analyses, and evaluations of the assigned literature.  Click here for the English Department’s Home Page on Writing a Critical Analysis of Literature. 
• Aesthetic—The students will articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of the elements of a “masterpiece” of young adult literature.  The students will evaluate the lasting quality of literature from the formal and contextual elements embedded in the literature.
• Ethics—The students will articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their responses to the ethical questions and dilemmas posed in the assigned readings.  Ethics is generally defined as the principles of conduct governing an individual or group; concerns for what is right or wrong, good or bad.  The students will not plagiarize.  Click here for the Viterbo University plagiarism statement.  Click here for the Viterbo University Institute of Ethics in Leadership Web Page.
• Cultural Sensitivity—The students will read various texts by diverse authors.  The students will articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of life values represented in different texts in relation to their own.  Individual projects are designed to give the students an opportunity to move outside of their own culture and to study and interact with a new culture. Click here for the Viterbo University sexual harassment statement.

 Objectives: 

The students will become familiar with the rules, terms, history and theories of English grammars, and they will apply those concepts in their writing, speaking and teaching practices.

Methodology:

The class will rely upon lectures, class discussions, individual research, and practice exercises and exams to learn basic grammar principles.

Requirements: 

Because new concepts are introduced in each session, and because each concept builds upon the previous concept, perfect attendance is highly encouraged.   Students who have three or fewer absences during the semester will receive 100 points. Students who have four to six absences will receive 60 points.  Any student who has more than six absences will be asked to withdraw from the course.  Class participation (completion of assignments) will be worth 100 points.  Each exam will be valued at 100 points.  The final exam will be comprehensive and valued at 200 points.

Schedule of Classes:

Week One:  January 18

Introduction to Grammar
Chapter One

Week Two:  January 25

Review Parts of Speech
Chapters 12 – 14

Week Three:  February 1

Continue Parts of Speech

Week Four:  February 8

Basic Sentence Patterns
Chapters 2, 3

Week Five:  February 15

Continue Basic Sentence Patterns

Week Six:  February 22

Verbs
Chapter 4

Week Seven:  March 1

Review
Exam on Chapters 1 – 4, 12 – 14

Week Eight:  March 8 (Spring Break)

Week Nine:  March 15

Adverbials
Chapter 6

Week Ten:  March 22

Adjectivals
Chapter 7

Week Eleven:  March 29 (Easter Break April 2)

Nominals
Chapter 8

Week Twelve:  April 7

Sentence Modifiers
Chapter 9

Week Thirteen:  April 12

Coordination
Chapter 10

Week Fourteen:  April 19

Review
Exam Chapters 6 – 10

Week Fifteen:  April 26

Changing Sentence Focus
Chapter 5
Grammar for Writers
Chapter 15

Week Sixteen:  May 3

Review

Week Seventeen:  May 10 (Final Exam)

Tuesday, May 11, 7:40–9:40 a.m.