WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/148919, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension

Grammar Lab Syllabus

Course Number: WCWP-40234

Section ID: 148918/148919
Quarter: Summer
Course Dates: 07/06/2020 - 09/13/2020

Instructor Information
Name: John A. Adams
Email: jadamsucsd@gmail.com

Communication Policy
The instructor will use Announcements, Discussion Board postings, and email to
communicate with students. You are responsible for logging into Canvas each
week to check for messages. Submit your questions to classmates and instructor via
Discussion Board, unless the question is of a personal nature or deals specifically
with your assignment. In that case, you may email your instructor. The instructor
strives for 24-hour or less response times, but questions asked in the Discussion
Board over the weekend may not be answered for 48 hours.

Please communicate with your instructor early and often if you are
experiencing challenges in completing course assignments on time.

Course Information
This course is intended for adult learners who are interested in understanding the
basics of English grammar and applying them to writing and copyediting.

Course Goal
The goal of this course is to learn the fundamentals of English grammar. Topics
include parts of speech, clauses, phrases, pronouns, verb tenses, voice, mood,
punctuation, and mechanics.
 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
 
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to do the following:

• Identify all parts of speech.

• Identify both types of clauses:
-independent clauses
-dependent/subordinate clauses: adverb, adjective and noun clauses.
• Identify phrases:
-prepositional, appositive, participial, gerund, and infinitive phrases.
• Identify verb tenses, forms, mood, and voice.
• Identify and correct errors in grammar and usage relating to word forms, word
choice, verb tense, verb form, agreement, pronoun case, sentence structure,
modifiers, and parallelism.
• Identify and correct errors in punctuation and mechanics.

Course Materials and Textbooks

It is recommended that you order the required text as soon as possible to allow
sufficient time for delivery. Readings and assignments are due the first week.

Required Textbook

The McGraw-Hill Handbook of English Grammar and Usage, 3rd edition.

You can purchase the textbook on campus or online from the UCSD Bookstore or from
any bookseller such as Amazon.

Required Online Resource

Guide to Grammar and Writing (http://guidetogrammar.org/grammar/)

Required Tools
• Windows-based PC or Mac
• Internet access
• Latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader

Course Prerequisite:
Native-level fluency in English and ability to write clear, logical, and grammatically
correct sentences.

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Course Schedule
Session Topics, Readings, Lectures Assignments /Due
dates

All assignments are

due Sunday at
11:59 p.m., Pacific
time.

1 Course Introduction and Parts of Speech: Discussion Board

Nouns, Pronouns, Verbs, Prepositions,
Grammar
Adjectives, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Interjections
Diagnostic Pretest
Read: 3 “Check Your
McGraw-Hill Textbook: Knowledge”
Ch. 1, p. 3-22: “Parts of Speech” Exercises
Ch. 2, p. 28-37: “Action and Linking Verbs”

Guide to Grammar and Writing:

Due 07/12
"Definitions of Basic Sentence Parts"

Read and Listen:

Lesson 1_Lecture 1: Nouns and Pronouns

Lesson 1_Lecture 2: Adjectives and Verbs
Lesson 1_Lecture 3: Adverbs, Prepositions,
Conjunctions, Interjections

2 Sentence Components and Phrases Discussion Board

Subjects, Verbs, Objects, Complements,

Phrases
3 “Check Your
Knowledge
Read: Exercises”
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch. 2, p. 23-44: “Basic Phrases”
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Ch. 5, p. 95-109: “Verbals”

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Due 07/19

“Sentence Subjects”
“Objects, Predicates, Complements”
“The Garden of Phrases”
“List of Common Prepositions”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 2_Lecture 1: Sentence Components

Lesson 2_Lecture 2: Infinitive, Gerund,
Participial, and Absolute Phrases
Lesson 2_Lecture 3: Appositive and
Prepositional Phrases

3 Independent and Dependent Clauses Discussion Board

Sentences, Independent Clauses, Dependent

Clauses, Types of Sentences
3 “Check Your
Knowledge
Read: Exercises”
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch. 3, p. 45-71: “Sentences and Clauses”

Guide to Grammar and Writing:

“Clauses: The Essential Building Blocks” Quiz 1
“Coordinating and Subordinating
Conjunctions”
“Relative Pronouns”
“Types of Sentences” Due 07/26

Read and Listen:

Lesson 3_Lecture 1: Independent Clauses,
Coordinating Conjunctions,
Conjunctive Adverbs
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Lesson 3_Lecture 2: Dependent Clauses
Lesson 3_Lecture 3: “Types of Sentences”

Commas, Semicolons, Colons Discussion Board

Read: 3 “Check Your

McGraw-Hill Textbook: Knowledge”
Ch. 11, p. 209-235: “Commas” Exercises”
Ch. 13, p. 257-271: “Semicolons and
Colons”

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Assignment:

“Rules for Comma Usage” Paragraph Editing
“The Semicolon” for Punctuation
“The Colon”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 4_Lecture 1:Comma Rules, Part One
Lesson 4_Lecture 2: Comma Rules, Part Two
Lesson 4_Lecture 3: Semicolons and Colons Due 08/02

5 Common Sentence Problems, Dangling and Discussion Board

Misplaced Modifiers, Parallelism

Comma Splices, Run-ons, Fragments, Mixed

Constructions, Dangling and Misplaced 3 “Check Your
Modifiers, Parallelism Knowledge”
Exercises

Read:
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch. 6, p. 113-124: “Writing Complete Quiz 2
Sentences”
Ch. 10, “Modification,” p. 197-208
Ch. 17, “Parallelism,” p. 327-332
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 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
Due 08/09
Guide to Grammar and Writing:
“Comma Splices”
“Run-Ons”
“Fragments”
“Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers”
“Parallelism”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 5_Lecture 1: Comma Splices and Run-
On Sentences
Lesson 5_Lecture 2: Fragments and Mixed
Sentences
Lesson 5_Lecture 3: Parallelism, Misplaced
Modifiers, Dangling Modifiers

6 Pronouns Discussion Board

Case, Agreement, Reference

3 “Check Your
Knowledge
Read:
Exercises”
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch. 8, p. 143-177: “Pronoun Problems”

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Due 08/16

“Pronouns”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 6_Lecture 1: Pronoun Case
Lesson 6_Lecture 2: Pronoun
Agreement
Lesson 6_Lecture 3: “Pronoun Reference”
7 Verbs Discussion Board

Subject-Verb Agreement, Verb Forms and

Tenses, Modal Auxiliaries
3 “Check Your

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Knowledge
Exercises”
Read:
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch. 7, p. 125-141: “Subject-Verb Agreement”
Ch. 4, p.73-94: “Verb Forms” Due 08/23

Guide to Grammar and Writing:

“Subject-Verb Agreement”
“Tenses of Verbs”
“Helping and Modal Auxiliary Verbs”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 7_Lecture 1: Subject-Verb Agreement
Lesson 7_Lecture 2: Verb Forms and Tenses
Lesson 7_Lecture 3: Modal Auxiliaries

8 Verb Mood, Voice, Tense Sequence Discussion Board

Verb Mood, Verb Voice, Verb Consistency and

Sequence
3 “Check Your
Knowledge
Read: Exercises”
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
Ch.4, p. 91-93 “Verb Forms,” The Passive
Voice,
Ch. 9, p.179-195: “Verb Problems” Quiz 3

Guide to Grammar and Writing: Due 08/30

“Active and Passive Voice”
“Mood of Verbs”
“Tenses of Verbs”
“Sequence of Verb Tenses”
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“Noun Clauses/ Indirect Speech”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 8_Lecture 1: Verb Mood

Lesson 8_Lecture 2: Verb Voice
Lesson 8_Lecture 3: Verb Tense Consistency
and Sequence

9 Other Punctuation Marks Discussion Board

Read: 3 “Check Your

McGraw-Hill Textbook: Knowledge
Exercises”
Ch. 14, p. 273-284: “Quotation Marks”
Ch. 15, p. 285-315: “Dashes, Hyphens, and
Other Punctuation”
Due 09/06
Guide to Grammar and Writing:
“Underlining and Italics”
“Quotation Marks”
“Brackets”
“Ellipses”
“Parentheses”
“Hyphens”
“Dashes”
“Slashes”

Read and Listen:

Lesson 9_Lecture 1: Quotation Marks, Italics

Lesson 9_Lecture 2: Dashes, Parentheses,
Ellipses
Lesson 9_Lecture 3: Slashes, Hyphens

10 Apostrophes, Capitalization, Abbreviations

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WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
Read: Discussion Board
McGraw-Hill Textbook:
“Apostrophes,” Ch. 12, p. 237-256
"Capitalization," Ch. 16, p. 317 - 326 3 “Check Your
"Abbreviations," p. 287 – 350 Knowledge
Exercises”
Guide to Grammar and Writing:
Final Exam
“The Apostrophe”
“Possessive Forms”
“Capitalization”
“Abbreviations” Due 09/13

Read and Listen:

Lesson 10_Lecture 1: Apostrophes

Lesson 10_Lecture 2: Capitalization
Lesson 10_Lecture 3: Abbreviations

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 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension

Grading and Assignment Information

Letter grades are based on the UC San Diego Extension Grading Scale. Your final
course grade is based on the weighted grading of the points you have earned.

Passing Grades
A+ 100%
Non-Passing Grades
A 93-99%
D 60-69%
A- 90-92%
F 59% and
B+ 87-89%
below
B 83-86%
B- 80-82%
C+ 77-79%
C 73-76%
C- 70-72%

Weighted Grading Criteria

Letter grades are a cumulative weighted average of points earned in the following
categories:

Weighted Grades
Discussion Board participation: 15%
Check Your Knowledge exercises: 15%
Assignments and Quizzes 40%
Final Exam 30%
TOTAL 100%

You can check your point total through the Course Menu in Canvas at any time by
clicking Grades.

Grading Policies
This course can be taken as part of the Copyediting, Medical Writing, Technical
Communication and Creative Writing Certificates. In order for the class to count
towards your certificate it must be taken for a letter grade or as Pass/No Pass. Classes
that are taken as NFC cannot count towards a certificate. You can change your
grading option any time BEFORE the last day of class through My Extension.

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 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
Assignments

Late Policy  
An assignment is considered late if it is not submitted to Canvas per stated
due date/time. Late assignments will be accepted at the discretion of the
instructor and are not accepted unless due to a verifiable medical or family
emergency. Please contact the instructor 24 hours before the assignment due
date if you cannot meet the due date.

Note: Many students have experienced glitches in the minutes leading up to a

deadline and have been unable to upload their assignment or complete a quiz.
We strongly urge you to complete the assignment well before then.

Assignment Availability
Each weekly module containing the PowerPoint lectures, exercises, assignments, and
Discussion Board for the upcoming week will be available on Sunday at 11:59 p.m.,
Pacific Time.

Assignment Submission Policies:

Each week, you have unlimited attempts to complete all “Check Your Knowledge”
exercises, with your highest score recorded in the Grade Center. This means that you
can retake each exercise until you receive 100% on each one. The purpose of these
exercises is to practice your skills so that you are prepared for the quizzes and exams,
so make sure to complete the exercises before attempting any scheduled quizzes or
exams. In Grades the highest score received among all attempts will be visible. If
you want to review each attempt individually, you can do so by clicking on the exercise
title in Grades.

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 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
Quizzes:

Late submissions for the quizzes and final exam will not be accepted and will receive a
score of zero.

Discussion Board Policies:

Required Discussion Board assignments are due on the dates posted on the course
schedule.

Expect and plan for contingencies and technical problems (they WILL happen!).

Assignment Quality

Grammar and Editing: An assignment may lose up to 5% for nonacademic style,

grammar, spelling, and presentation. To ensure that you earn maximum points in this
area, take the following steps before you submit your assignment:
• Use spell and grammar check on your word processing program.
• Read your assignment aloud to yourself and listen! You may be surprised at the
number of small/simple errors you can find this way.
• Double-check any references to make sure they are correctly cited, following
APA or MLA guidelines.

Quality of Content:
• Demonstrates a high-level understanding of issues, including complexities.
• Is well focused and sequenced. Has a clear sense of purpose. Thoughts
are clearly developed and easily understandable.
• Critically evaluates the topic beyond what is stated in readings, research,
and discussions. Makes connections.
• Expresses views clearly. Provides specific examples, details, illustrations,
anecdotes, etc., to support positions taken.
• Does more than repeat what the text says or what was said in class. Draws
out additional important implications.
• Shows originality of thought.

Discussion Board

Discussion Board topics are assigned weekly.

You are expected to post each week on the Discussion Board with one original post as
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well as responses to two fellow student postings. Your postings and responses to the
Discussion Board prompts are geared toward improving the learning experience for
yourself and for your classmates in meaningful ways.

Your original post must be completed by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday.
Responses must be completed by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday.

Be sure to read the instructions for each Discussion Board assignment as they may
differ in terms of content requirements and response requirements.

The quality of your postings/responses is most important. To earn points, your

contributions should add to the knowledge base of all classmates and indicate
substantive thought. If you are less knowledgeable about a topic, pose questions about
the topic and/or share what you find in researching the topic yourself.
Look to spend at least half an hour each week on Discussion Board topics. Each
week’s Discussion Board assignment (post and responses) is worth 6 points total.

Points are based on the below:

Exemplary = 2 points Proficient = 1 point Not present = 0 points

Original post Meaningful original post Original post created by No post or post not
created by the due date, due date, but all made by due date.
with thought-provoking questions/points
response or questions presented in forum thread
that address all points not answered/addressed.
presented in the DB
forum’s thread.

Response to Thoughtful and Response to classmate No response to

1stclassmate appropriate response to was brief and lacked classmate or response
classmate’s post by the depth. not made by due date.
due date.

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 WCWP-40234, Sections 148918/19, Summer Quarter, UC San Diego Extension
Response to Thoughtful and Response to classmate No response to
2ndclassmate appropriate response to was brief and lacked classmate or response
classmate’s post by the depth. not made by due date.
due date.

UC San Diego Extension Policies and Resources

Academic Policies and Procedures
Please refer to UC San Diego Extension’s website (Student Resources tab) for
specific details about academic policies and procedures: Student Resources.

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