English Grammar and Style – University of Queensland

Learn key concepts and strategies in grammar and style to help enhance your writing and confidently respond to the demand of high levels of literacy in the 21st century.

About this course

With the rise of social media and the Internet, many people are writing more today for different mediums than ever before. We’ll present materials that cover grammatical principles, word usage, writing style, sentence and paragraph structure, and punctuation. We’ll introduce you to some marvelous resources that we have annotated for your guidance. We’ll show you video clips of interviews conducted with distinguished grammarians, challenge you with quizzes and writing activities that will give you strategies to help you to build skills that will enhance the quality of your writing, and invite you to participate in discussions and assess the work of your peers.

Length:	8 Weeks
Effort:	3–4 hours per week
Price:	FREE Add a Verified Certificate for $99 USD
Institution:	UQx
Subject:	Humanities
Level:	Introductory
Language:	English
Video Transcript:	English
Course Type:	Instructor-led on a course schedule

Institution:

Free online courses from The University of Queensland

The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia, is one of the world’s premier teaching and research institutions. Striving for excellence through the creation, preservation, transfer and application of knowledge UQ ranks in the top 50 Universities as measured by the QS World University Rankings. UQ is one of only three Australian members of the global Universitas 21 and a founding member of the Group of Eight (Go8) universities. UQ is recognised for its world standard specialised research and teaching excellence; having won more Australian Awards for University Teaching than any other in the country.

Founded in 1909 UQ is Queensland’s oldest university and has produced more than 250,000 graduates. UQ has a diverse community of over 51,000 students including 13,300 international students from 141 nations. It has one of Australia’s largest PhD enrolments, with more than 14,700 postgraduate students. UQ employs 6,700 staff spanning six faculties and eight research institutes.The University of Queensland MOOCs

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What you’ll learn

• How to reliably identify the roles and relationships of words in a sentence
• Mastery of grammatical concepts and syntactical strategies
• How to apply this knowledge to produce coherent, economical, and compelling writing
• Skills in critiquing and editing your own and others’ writing

Syllabus

In Week 1 , we’ll introduce you to the course and discuss what grammar is and why it matters; writing standard English; and how words work.

In Week 2 , Introduction to Sentences, we’ll learn about parts of speech and word classes; structure and patterns of sentences, phrases, and clauses; and common sentence-level problems.

In Week 3 , Introduction to Verbs, we’ll consider finite and non-finite verbs: linking verbs, auxiliary verbs, transitive and intransitive verbs, verb phrases, phrasal verbs, verbal phrases, infinitives, participles, and gerunds. We’ll also look at tense, mood, and voice of verbs.

In Week 4 , Introduction to Nouns and Pronouns, we’ll explore form and function of nouns: noun strings and nominalisations; form and function of pronouns, and problems with pronouns.

In Week 5 , Introduction to Adjectives and Determiners, we’ll discuss the form, function, and use of adjectives including the ‘Royal Order of Adjectives’ and degrees of comparison. Adjectival sequencing, punctuation, and determiners will also be discussed.

In Week 6 , Introduction to Adverbs and Conjunctions, we’ll learn about the form, function, degrees of comparison, and placement of adverbs; intensifiers; and weasels.

In Week 7 , Introduction to Prepositions and Paragraphs, we’ll identify how prepositions function and problems with prepositions. We’ll also look at paragraph development and cohesive ties.

In Week 8 , Introduction to Punctuation, we’ll explore the main punctuation marks, punctuation problems, and other punctuation marks.

Approach: Video interviews, mini-lectures, readings, quizzes, writing activities, and writing assignments.

Instructors 

Roslyn Petelin

Associate Professor at The University of Queensland

Associate Professor Roslyn Petelin designed and established the post-graduate Writing, Editing, & Publishing (WEP) Program in the School of Communication and Arts at The University of Queensland in 2000. Prior to this, she taught Literature and Film at the Brisbane Kindergarten Teachers’ College and Communication in the Faculty of Business at Queensland University of Technology and in the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University.

Associate Professor Petelin edited the internationally refereed Australian Journal of Communication from 1988-2013 and is on the editorial boards of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly (USA) and Corporate Communications: An International Journal (UK). She is a past President and Honorary Life Member of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association and has consulted extensively on writing, editing, and information design to public and private sector organisations in Australia, the UK, the USA, and S. E. Asia.

In 2014, she developed and launched WRITE101x. Since then, close to 700,000 students have enrolled in the course. In October 2016, she published the book How Writing Works: A Field Guide to Effective Writing, which explores the concepts covered in WRITE101x, as well as writing for social media, online publication, university, and the workplace.