1501.251.001 SYLLABUS
BENNER
Spring 2008
(benner@towson.edu)
APPLIED GRAMMAR Linthicum 201B / Ext. 42857
Office Hours:
T, R 7:30 a.m.-8:00 a.m.
M-F, 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. by appt.
Objective: English 251 seeks to familiarize students with the underlying grammatical structure of the English language to improve competence and flexibility in written and spoken communication.
Students will enhance their reading and critical thinking skills as they read and reflect upon essays about language and as they consider specific concepts of grammar, usage, and punctuation and the impact these concepts have upon communication. Writing assignments will achieve a three-fold goal: students will 1) apply their critical skills as they shape them into cogent thesis-support essays, 2) research as needed to strengthen initial assumptions, and 3) apply the knowledge they have gained from the study of grammar, usage, and punctuation to achieve sentence and paragraph structure that is both correct and rhetorically effective.
The following schedule is subject to modification:
WEEK 1: January 29-31, 2008
Course introduction / Grammar systems
Phonology / Morphology
WEEK 3: February 12-14, 2008 (Essay #1 due February 14)
Parts of speech
WEEK 4: February 19-21, 2008
Parts of speech (continued)
Words, phrases, clauses
Module 1: Avoiding Fragments
WEEK 5: February 26-28, 2008
Compounding / Sentence types
Module 2: Avoiding Comma Splices and Fused Sentences
WEEK 6: March 4-6, 2008
Test #1 / Expansion of main verb
WEEK 7: March 11-13, 2008
Sentence patterns / Intro. to diagramming / Sentence pattern transformations
Module 3: Subject-verb Agreement
WEEK 8: March 25-27, 2008
Adverbials: verbal phrases and clauses
Module 4: Sentence Parallelism
WEEK 9: April 1-3, 2008
Adjectivals: verbal phrases and clauses
WEEK 10: April 8-10, 2008 (*Essay #2 outline, due April 8)
Nominals: verbal phrases and clauses
Module 5: Pronoun-antecedent Agreement
WEEK 11: April 15-17, 2008
Test #2 / Levels of usage / Verb forms
WEEK 12: April 22-24, 2008 (*Essay #2 rough draft due April 24)
Modules 6 and 7: Pronoun reference and Pronoun case
WEEK 13: April 29-May 1, 2008
Modifier forms / Dangling and misplaced modifiers / Shifts
Module 8: Dangling and Misplaced modifiers
WEEK 14: May 6-8, 2008 (Essay #2 final draft due May 6)
Parallelism / Faulty comparisons
Modules 9 and 10: Apostrophe Use and Major Comma Use
WEEK 15: May 13, 2008
Effective coordination and subordination
Sentence politics: effective style through grammatical skill
Required texts:
Rickerson and Hilton, eds.
The 5-Minute Linguist:
Bite-sized Essays on Language and
Languages
Benner, Lab Manual / Text (Spring 2008 edition)
Access to Towson University Online Writing Site: www.towson.edu/ows
To gain full benefit from this course, students should attend class regularly. Missing more than one week's classes (2) without a valid written excuse accepted by the instructor will result in the lowering of a student's final grade by ½ letter grade (e.g. C+ to C, A- to B+) per missed class, possibly to failure. See English Department Guidelines.
Class begins at 8:00 a.m. Students are expected to be in the classroom and ready to begin at that time. Late arrivals distract both the instructor and the students; chronic tardiness indicates either an inability to get to class at the scheduled time or a lack of interest in the class. Either scenario suggests that the student should not have signed up for / should not be in the course.
Arriving late for more than one week's classes (2) without a valid written excuse accepted by the instructor will result in the lowering of a student's final grade by one (1) point per late arrival in class, possibly to failure.
1. Class format will combine lecture, discussion, oral exercises, and towards the end of the semester, online work. Beginning week 4, class will include work with sentence combining and diagramming.
2.
Most Tuesday classes will begin with a short quiz on assigned readings from
The 5-Minute
Linguist.
*Quizzes may be made up ONLY when an emergency has caused you to be late for class.
3. Selected Thursday classes will end with a quiz on the module(s) assigned for the week.
4.
After each class, you will be assigned exercises from your texts, the OWS
website, and from
other sources. Please come to class prepared to discuss assignments.
5.
Class participation is expected in this course. It indicates that you have
done the
assignment and that you have some interest in the material. If you
fail to participate in
class discussions, your grade will suffer.
6.
Papers are due on the dates listed on the syllabus. Late papers without an
excuse accepted
by the instructor will be penalized by one-half letter grade per day of
lateness.
7. Type all writing assignments, using double-spacing and one-inch margins at top, bottom,
and sides of paper. Use 14-point Ariel font. For your own protection, make a
copy of each
essay.
8. This class adheres to the English department guidelines on plagiarism. Please do not
plagiarize; instead, ask the instructor for help.
9. Cell phones and pagers must be turned off during class time.
10. In accordance with University regulations, this course can be repeated only once without
permission of the Academic Standards Committee.
11. Every effort will be made to accommodate students with special needs and disabilities.
Please see the instructor to inquire about available facilities and procedures.
Evaluation Criteria Quiz average 20%
Module average 20%
Test average 20%
Essay average 20%
Exam grade 20%
1. Write in standard
English--not in e-mail shorthand (e.g., "you," not "u").
2. Use correct capitalization; my brain is case sensitive.
3. Tell me your name (I can't determine who “bugsy89” is).
4. Be specific. (Do not just say, "I don't understand the assignment.")
5. I can usually respond to your e-mail within 24 hours.
6. I do not accept assignments by e-mail.
7. I am strictly prohibited from e-mailing you any information about your grade
regardless
of whether you give me permission to do so.
8. If you miss class, e-mail another student (i.e. not me) for notes, pertinent
info, etc.
9. E-mailing me to tell me you are not coming to class does not excuse your
absence from
class even if your refrigerator stopped running, you ran out of gas on
the Beltway, and
your boyfriend dumped you within a five-hour period of time.
READING LIST
The 5-Minute Linguist: Bite-sized Essays on Language and Languages
(subject to modification by instructor)
Rodman, “Why Learn Language?” p. 7
Lewis, “How Many Languages are there in the World?” p. 11
McWhorter, “Why Do Languages Change?” p. 33
Bybee, “Where Does Grammar Come From?” p. 50
Baker, “Do All Languages Have the same Grammar?” p. 54
Napoli, “Do Animals Use Language?” p. 62
Lodefoged, “How are the Sounds of Language Made?” p. 124
Wolfman, “Why do American Southerners Talk that Way? P. 116
Weinberger, “What Causes Foreign Accents?” p. 120
Wolfman, “Are Dialects Dying?” p. 179
Johnson, “What does it Mean to be Bilingual?” p. 88
Garrett, “What does it Take to Learn a Language Well? P. 132
Long, “Why Study Languages Abroad?” p. 140
Lipton, “Is Elementary School Too Early to Teach Foreign Languages?” p. 144
Barchardt, “Can Computers Teach Language Faster and Better?” p. 148
Goldberg, “What is the Language of the United States?” p. 153
Ingold, “Is there a Language Crisis in the United States?” p. 157
Carreira, “Is Spanish Taking Over the United States?” p. 162
Holman, “What is Cajun and Where Did it Come From?” p. 166
Martinez-Gibson, “What’s Gullah?” p. 175
Lowe, “What’s Exciting about Icelandic?” p. 237
Lange, “Do all Arabs Speak the Same Language?” p. 241
Rickerson, “Whatever Happened to Esperanto?” p. 260
Moseley, “Does Anybody Here Speak Klingon?” p. 268
Jackson, “Can You Make a Living Loving Languages? P. 183
McKean, “How are Dictionaries Made?” p. 188
Savignac, “How Good is Machine Translation?” p. 196
Rodman, “Can You Use Language to Solve Crime?” p. 201