ELANG 325: The Grammar of English
Prerequisite: ELang 223
Fall 2012. Sections 001, 002
MWF 8:00-8:50, 11:00-11:50
http://davies-linguistics.byu.edu/elang325
Mark Davies
http://davies-linguistics.byu.edu
mark_davies@byu.edu
Phone: 422-9168
JFSB 4071
Office hours: MWF 9:00-9:50
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. Students will be able to analyze and describe grammatical structure at the phrasal, clause and
sentence level
2. Students will be able to identify and label parts of speech in English
3. Students will be able to apply the knowledge from #1-2 to authentic texts
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Study of English grammar in various applications
In this particular section of ELang 325, we will focus on data-oriented and functionally-motivated
descriptions of English grammar.
"Data-oriented" means that our discussions will be based on data from actual corpora
(collections of texts and conversations) from English, as exemplified in the course textbook. In
particular, we will focus on data from the 425 million word Corpus of American English
(http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/), and you will write a short (3-4 page) paper based on the corpus
data for a particular grammatical phenomenon.
We won't be overly-concerned with prescriptive grammar ("what should be": who/whom,
can/may, etc), except occasionally as a point of departure. Following the focus of the course
textbook, we will also focus on differences between spoken and written English, and even
registers (styles of speech) within each of these two major groupings.
"Functionally-motivated" means that -- whenever possible -- we will look for functional
explanations for grammatical phenomena. The purpose of language is to communicate
information effectively, and grammatical phenomena often respond to that need. We will use
more formal accounts (e.g. simple versions of generative grammar) only very occasionally, and
only as a starting point for more functionally-oriented discussions.
TEXTBOOK
Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English (Biber et al, 2002) and the
accompanying workbook.
GRADING
The components of the final grade are the following:
50% Midterms #1-3
20% Final exam
20% Class project (corpus based)
10% Daily quizzes
The scale for the final grade is as follows:
A:
93-100
B+: 87-89
C+:
A-:
90-92
B:
83-86
C:
B-:
80-82
C-:
77-79
73-76
70-72
D+:
D:
D-:
67-69
63-66
60-62
F:
<60
Syllabus (tentative). Please check the class website for current information
DATE
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC
READING
1.1-1.6
2.1-2.3
2.4-2.6
EXERCISES
11
13
16
3.1-3.3
3.4-3.5
4.1-4.4
1, 2b
3, 4
1, 2
W
18
4.5-4.10
3:1, 4:1-2, 7
W
F
M
4
6
9
W
F
M
1, 2, 3
2, 4, 6
F
20
4.11-4.16
6, 8, 11
M
W
23
25
5.1-5.4
5.5-5.8
1, 3, 4
6, 7
8, 9
F
27
5.9-5.15
(M)
30
MIDTERM 1
(W)
2
(No class)
(F)
4
(No class)
M
7
5.16-5.17
10, 11
W
F
9
11
6.1-6.2
6.3-6.5
1, 2
4, 5
M
14
6.6-6.8
7, 8, *
W
16
6.9-6.13
11
F
M
18
21
7.1-7.5
7.6-7.9
1, 2, 3, 4
5, 6
W
23
7.10-7.14
7, 8
F
25
MIDTERM 2
M
W
28
30
8.1-8.5
8.6-8.8
1, 2, 3
5, 6
F
1
8.9-8.18
M
W
F
4
6
8
9.1-9.3
9.4-9.6
9.7-9.8
7, (9, 10)
(table)
1
2, *
5, 6, 7
M
11
9.9-9.14
8, 10, (13)
W
F
13
15
10.1-10.7
10.8-10.11
1, 2
3, 4, 5
M
18
Discuss projects (in class)
W
F
M
20
22
25
10.12-10.17
10.18-10.23
TEST 3
6, 8, *
9, 10
(Tu)
26
TOPIC
Introduction, fuzzy grammar
Words and word classes
Introduction to phrases and clauses
Nouns, pronouns, and the simple
noun phrase
Verbs
Variation in the verb phrase: tense,
aspect, voice, modals
Adjectives and adverbs
Exploring the grammar of the clause
Complex noun phrases
Verbs and adjective complement
clauses
M
2
11.1-11.8; 11.9-11.19
1, (3, 4), 5, 6
Adverbials
W
4
12.1-12.4, 12.11-12.12
1, 2, 7, *
Word order choices
F
M
W
6
9
11
13.1-13.5
Presentations 1
Presentations 2
2, 3
The grammar of conversation
M
W
18
19
FINAL EXAM: 7 AM-10 PM (8 AM class)
FINAL EXAM: 11 AM - 2 PM (11 AM class)