Overview
Grammar and Style provides a foundational knowledge of traditional English grammar and investigates the relationship between grammar and style. Style, as a canon of rhetoric, depends on the conscious control of grammar through the choices every writer makes. Working together and individually, we study the rules of grammar, diagram sentences, complete exercises, take quizzes and exams, and write grammatical analyses—everything designed to make you a grammatically savvy writer.
The successful study of grammar depends on repetition, which we will practice. This course has two major and interdependent parts. The first teaches you how to recognize and label the grammatical structures we use every day without thinking (Understanding English Grammar) The second teaches you how to analyze grammatical structures for their rhetorical effects; that is, the analyses help us identify how grammar “works” in our language (Rhetorical Grammar).
Objectives
- Increase your understanding of English grammar
- Practice new grammatical forms and be able to explain stylistically your choices
- Gain a greater, more nuanced, and sophisticated understanding of how and why writers make the grammatical choices they do
- Become a better writer by making conscious grammatical/stylistic choices that influence argument or are appropriate for your subject or argument
- Learn to write grammatical analysis as one way to understand how language functions.