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ENG422: Modern Grammar |
| 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 awareness of particular subconscious grammatical principles and rules that shape our
everyday use of English. More generally, students should come away from this course with a better understanding
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.
Work and Grading: assignments (16%), Midterm (32%), Final
(32%), Tests (20%). Attendance (except at tests/exams or as otherwise noted) is not mandatory but regular attendance is 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 turned in on time and in class except with advance permission, but you may skip one "ungraded" assignment without affecting your grade. Assignments, depending on their size, will be announced at least one class period before they are due and 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.) "Ungraded" assignments are graded only as an acceptable effort
(full credit) or an unacceptable effort (no credit). In other words, you won't be penalized for incorrect information, although you must (of course!) make an honest attempt at all parts of the assignment to get credit. The tentative dates for tests and exams is provided in the schedule below. Any date changes due to weather or other special circumstances will be posted in this syllabus and announced in class. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1/11 | "Will there be a final exam?" - An introduction to the course | |
| 1/13 | "That ain't what my teacher told me..." -- Defining modern grammar | Chap. 1, pp. 1-30 |
| 1/18 | The sounds of English -- phonetics and phonology | Chapter 2 (at least through page 52) |
| 1/20 | More Phonetics and Phonology | Chapter 2, remainder |
| 1/25 | Concluding Phonetics and Phonology | |
| 1/27 | SNOW DAY | Chap. 3, pp. 72-82 |
| 2/1 | "Antidisestablishmentarianism" -- the building blocks of words | Chap. 3, pp. 72-82 |
| 2/3 | Morphology | Chap. 3, pp. 83-105 |
| 2/8 | Final notes on Morphology, plus... A noun is a noun is a noun -- Major Grammatical Categories | Chap. 4, pp. 108-131 |
| 2/10 | TEST (note new date!) | |
| 2/15 | NO CLASS -- ASSESSMENT DAY | |
| 2/17 | Majors and Nothing Major -- just critical (Other Grammatical Categories) | Chap. 4, pp. 131-150 |
| 2/22 | Pronouns, Prepositions, and Oter Peculiar Words | Chap. 4, pp. 150-161 |
| 2/24 | More Minor Class Categories and Some Words that Aren't UNgrammatical but Are NON-grammatical | Chap. 4, pp. 150-161 |
| 3/1 | Catch-up and Review | |
| 3/3 | MIDTERM | |
| 3/8 | SPRING BREAK | |
| 3/10 | SPRING BREAK | |
| 3/15 | The 'case' for nouns -- Noun Subclasses and Features | Chap. 1, p. 31; Chap. 5, pp. 163-175 |
| 3/17 | Verb Subclasses, Features, and Auxiliaries, plus Grammatical Relations | Chap. 5, pp. 175-205 & Handout to be given out based on Chapter 7 |
| 3/22 | The forest and the trees -- An introduction to phrase structure **UPDATE -- MEETING IN OUR REGULAR CLASSROOM** | Chap. 6, pp. 207-224 | 3/24 | Phrase Structure -- Can you hum a few bars? (internal structure of NPs) | Chap. 6, pp. 225-242 |
| 3/29 | More NPs and a start on VPs | Chap. 6, pp. 243-244 |
| 3/31 | NO CLASS | |
| 4/5 | More NPs, VPs, and Auxs | Chap. 6, pp. 245-252 |
| 4/7 | Coordination and Adverbial Clauses (subordinate conjunction) | Chap. 6, pp. 253-255, Chap. 8, pp. 306-308 D> |
| 4/12 | TEST (**NOTE NEW DATE**) | |
| 4/14 | More Complex Sentences | Chap. 6, pp. 255-267, |
| 4/19 | Unmarked Sentences and Amazing Transformations | Chap. 8, pp. 306-326 |
| 4/21 | To-infinitives and beyond (to Relative Clauses) | Chap. 8, pp. 326-336; chap. 9, pp. 356-375 |
| 4/26 | It's not all relative -- Participles and Appositives | Chap. 9, pp. 377-388 |
| 4/28 | Final Points and Review | |
| Finals Week | FINAL EXAM -- THURSDAY, 5/5, 10:30-12:30 (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
Look here for homework assignments:
