Practical English Grammar: A Concise Guide to Usage
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2020
Edition: 2
Copyright: 2020
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Practical English Grammar helps students think about how the English language is structured and how it works. The authors break down the basic elements of an English sentence, show students how the parts function, and give students the tools they need to parse and revise any sentence that they read or write.
The publication approaches the study of language as a series of puzzles, which allows for individual and group work that students find accessible, challenging, and satisfying. This approach serves two basic functions: first, it demystifies English and empowers students to use it with confidence, and second, it improves students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills in a way that benefits all future academic inquiries. Additionally, once students understand the structure of the language, the rules of punctuation easily fall into place.
Grammar and usage is best taught in the context of student reading and writing, and this text was developed so that students can apply its lessons to the work they are doing in other courses. This text emphasizes that meaning is conveyed and understood via the structure of a sentence. By the completion of this text, students understand how to recognize and employ these methods as well.
Unit One
Introduction to the Parts of Speech
Subjects and Objects: Nouns and Pronouns
Verbs: Forms and Functions
Introduction to Diagramming Basic Independent Clauses: S-V, S-V-DO
Introduction to Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs
Unit Two
Indirect Objects
Prepositional Phrases
Object Complements and Subject Complements
Diagramming the Five Basic Constructions of an Independent Clause along with any Modifying Words and Phrases (S-V, S-V-DO, S-V-IO-DO, S-V-DO-OC, S-LV-SC)
Verbals: Participles, Gerunds, and Infinitives
Unit Three
Independent Clauses versus Dependent Clauses
Adjective, Adverb, and Noun Clauses
Restrictive versus Nonrestrictive Clauses
Unit Four
Major Punctuation, particularly the Comma
Other Punctuation
Sentence Types: Simple, Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex
Parallel Structure
Editing
Appendices with Additional Information and Practice
Greg Campbell is an Assistant Professor of English at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex, where he teaches a broad range of courses such as grammar and usage, literature, and composition classes infused with contextualized content. He holds a BA in English Literature with a focus in Ethnic and Cultural Studies from the University of Delaware and an MA in English Literature from DePaul University. He is also the Deputy Executive Director of the Community College Humanities Association (CCHA).