ENG310: Modern English Grammar
(sec. 1, class #75873, meeting times TTH 14:00-15:15, Keez G9)


Professor:
Email:
Office:
Prof. Sharon Cote
cotesa@jmu.edu
Keezell 209, Ext. 8-2510
Availability: I am available during my office hours and by appointment.



Description: In this course, we will examine the structure of the English language from a modern, linguistic perspective. We will discover what it means to be a native speaker of a language and will develop a conscious understanding of particular unconscious grammatical principles and rules that shape our everyday use of English. More generally, students should come away from this course with a better awareness of what grammar rules are, of where they come from, of how they can be determined, and of the extent to which they are or are not fixed and comprehensive.


Required Text: Kaplan, Jeffrey P. (1995). English Grammar: Principles and Facts, 2nd Edition.

Recommended Text: Garner, Bryan A. ed. (2016). Garner's Modern American Usage, 4th Edition.


Work and Grading: Assignments (16%), Midterm (32%), Final (32%), Tests (20%). Attendance (except at tests/exams or as otherwise noted) is not mandatory; however, regular attendance is generally crucial for keeping up with the class. If you miss a class, you are responsible for the material and for checking for an assignment link and doing any assignment due the next class period. All work must be completed before the start of class and must be turned in on time and in class except with permission, but you may skip one "ungraded" assignment without affecting your assignment grade. Depending on their size, assignments will be announced at least one class period before they are due and will be posted as links at the bottom of this webpage no later than the evening of that same day. (Links are named and ordered by the date they are due.) Assignments are graded only on acceptable effort -- as full credit, half credit, or no credit. In other words, you won't be penalized for incorrect information, although you must (of course!) make an honest attempt at all questions/examples on the assignment to get full credit. The tentative dates for tests and exams are provided in the schedule below. Adjustments may be made to the course schedule to accomodate weather cancellations, other special circumstances, or class needs. Please read my course policies for additional details about grading and other issues. Note: As in all your courses, your work for this course is subject to the JMU Honor Code.



Daily Schedule: (Note: This is a tentative schedule of what will be discussed in each class period.) You should have readings done before the first class date on which they will be discussed.

Date Topic Reading
8/29 "What is grammar, anyway?" - an introduction to the course
8/31 "That ain't what my teacher told me..." -- considering modern grammar Chap. 1, pp. 1-30
9/5 The Sounds of English -- phonetics and phonology Chapter 2, at least through page 52
9/7 More Phonetics and Phonology Chapter 2, remainder
9/12 Making sounds Meaningful -- Morphology Chap. 3, pp. 72-76 (top half)
9/14 "Antidisestablishmentarianism" -- building words with morphemes Chap. 3, pp. 76 (bottom half)-85 (top half)
9/19 A Few More Ways We Get New Words (and brief review) Chap. 3, 85 (bottom half)- 89
9/21 TEST
9/26 A Noun is a noun is a noun -- Major Grammatical Categories Chap. 4, pp. 108-131
9/28 More Majors and Nothing Major -- just critical (Other Grammatical Categories) Chap. 4, pp. 131-150
10/3 Pronouns, Prepositions, and Other Peculiar Words Chap. 4, pp. 150-161
10/5 More Minor Class Categories and Some Words that Aren't UNgrammatical but Are NON-grammatical Chap. 4, pp. 150-161
10/10 The 'case' for nouns -- Noun Subclasses and Features Chap. 1, p. 31; Chap. 5, pp. 163-175
10/12 Verb Subclasses, Features, and Auxiliaries, plus Grammatical Relations Chap. 5, pp. 175-205 & Handout to be given out based on Chapter 7
10/17 Catch-up and Review
10/19 MIDTERM
10/24 Noun And Verb Subclasses, and auxiliary structures (Catch up on earlier reading)
10/26 The Forest and the Trees -- An introduction to phrase structure Chap. 6, pp. 207-224 and handout based on Chapter 7 distributed on 10/24
10/31 Phrase Structure -- Can you hum a few bars? (internal structure of NPs)More NPs and a start on VPs Chap. 6, pp. 225-242 243-244
11/2 More NPs and a start on VPs Chap. 6, pp. 243-244
11/7 Auxes, Coordination, and Subordination Chap. 6, pp. 245-255
11/9 TEST
11/14 More Complex Sentences Chap. 6, pp. 255-267,
11/16 Unmarked Sentences and Amazing Transformations Chap. 8, pp. 306-326
11/21 THANKSGIVING BREAK
11/23 THANKSGIVING BREAK
11/28 More Complex Sentences Chap. 6, pp. 255-267,
11/30 Unmarked Sentences and Amazing Transformations Chap. 8, pp. 306-326
12/5 It's not all relative -- Participles and Appositives Chap. 9, pp. 377-388
12/7 Final Points and Review
12/12 FINAL EXAM -- TUESDAY, 1:00pm-3:00pm, usual classroom (Confirm all final exam date/time information on JMU exam schedule and check with me if you see a discrepancy.)

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world." Ludwig Wittgenstein

"Grammar is a piano I play by ear, since I seem to have been out of school the year the rules were mentioned. All I know about grammar is its infinite power. To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed. Many people know about camera angles now, but not so many know about sentences. " Joan Didion


Look here for assignments:


  • FINAL EXAM EXTRA CREDIT OPTION


  • Linguistics Resources Writing Resources Oxford English Dictionary Send email to Prof. Cote
    ENG310, fall 2017, © JMU