ONCE1216 - Certificate in Effective Grammar
Course Description
Write and edit better starting today. Gain confidence in your writing. Improve your communication skills. This course will reinforce the rules you learned in school and teach you some you didn't.
Good grammar doesn't make good writing, but good writing demands good grammar. Whether you're a student or a professional, a career changer or a job seeker, Effective Grammar will equip you to write more effectively from day one.
You'll learn it all—from grammar basics to more advanced concepts like parallelism and agreement to the finer points of capitalization and punctuation. After completing this certificate, you'll be a master of commas, complete sentences, common sense writing, and more.
Put an end to grammar mistakes that detract from your work. The grammar knowledge you'll gain will contribute to whatever kind of writing you produce. Everything you learn will elevate your communication skills and help you present polished, professional writing every time.
Course Outline
Agenda
Unit 1: Parts of Speech
- Verbs, Nouns, and Pronouns
- Adjectives and Adverbs
- Conjunctions, Prepositions, and Interjections
Unit 2: Mixed-up Words
- Homophones
- Contractions vs. Possessive Pronouns
- Other Confusables
Unit 3: Contractions and Possessives
- Common Contractions
- Regular Possessives
- Irregular and Unusual Possessives
Unit 4: Subjects and Predicates
- Getting to Know Subjects and Predicates
- Predicate Basics: Action Verbs and Linking Verbs
- Compound Predicates and Verb Phrases
- Subject Basics: Nouns and Pronouns
Unit 5: Sentence Fragments
- Missing Subject
- Missing Predicate
- Understanding Clauses
- Fragment Clues
- Acceptable Sentence Fragments
Unit 6: Run-on Sentences
- Punctuation Fixes
- Punctuation Plus Conjunction
- Rewriting
Unit 7: Standard Verb Forms
- Person and Number
- Tense, Voice, and Mood
- Power of Verbs
- Simple Tenses
- Perfect Tenses
Unit 8: Pronouns
- Personal Pronouns
- Compounds and Partners
- Possessive Pronouns
- Other Pronoun Groups
Unit 9: Agreement
- Subject-Verb Agreement
- Singular or Plural?
- Between Subject and Verb
- Here, There, and It
- Pronoun-Verb Agreement
- Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Unit 10: Shifts in Person, Tense, and Structure
- Shifts in Person and Tense
- Lack of Parallel Structure
- Other Structural Shifts
Unit 11: Clarity, Concision, Diction, and Logic
- Syntax and Modifiers
- Faulty Reference
- Wordiness
- Diction and Logic
Unit 12: Capitalization and Punctuation
- Capitalization Rules
- End Punctuation
- Internal Punctuation
- Other Punctuation Marks
- Quotation Marks
Learner Outcomes
Course outcomes
Unit 1: Understand parts of speech and the role each plays in a sentence.
Unit 2: Recognize and correctly use commonly mixed-up words.
Unit 3: Gain command of the apostrophe to make contractions and possessives.
Unit 4: Locate subjects and predicates and understand their place in sentence structure.
Unit 5: Spot sentence fragments and rework them into complete sentences.
Unit 6: Identify and correct run-on sentences.
Unit 7: Get familiar with standard verb forms in simple and complex tenses.
Unit 8: Discover pronoun groups and forms and apply them correctly.
Unit 9: Ensure agreement between subjects and verbs and between pronouns and antecedents.
Unit 10: Maintain consistency in person, tense, and structure.
Unit 11: Develop clear, concise, and logical sentences.
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Unit 12: Master basic rules of capitalization and punctuation. |
Notes
Instructor: Ellen Feld, is the creator of online grammar refresher courses that have served over 43,000 students. She has taught college writing courses online and in the traditional classroom. Ellen has a special fondness for working with developing writers. She's worn a variety of editorial hats, including newspaper reporter and copy chief, personal essayist, website reviewer, writing coach, and developmental editor. Ellen has a master's degree in writing from the Johns Hopkins University and is the author of the children’s storybook Paragon and Jubilee. Students graduate from her courses with a new understanding of English grammar and a new belief in their writing ability.
This self-paced, online program is scheduled as follows: February 7 to April 1, 2022. Participants will receive the classroom link/invitation prior to the start of the program.