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English Grammar I: from Word to Sentence

Code: 106279 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2504212 English Studies FB 1
2504380 English and Catalan Studies FB 1
2504386 English and Spanish Studies FB 1
2504393 English and French Studies FB 1
2504394 English and Classics Studies FB 1

Contact

Name:
Mireia Llinàs Grau
Email:
mireia.llinas@uab.cat

Teachers

Ana Maria Fernandez Montraveta
Àngel Barranqueras Martínez
Jordi Rodó Tomás
Maria Merce Coll Alfonso
Sílvia Garriga Galobardes

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

A C1 (advanced) level of English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages is required since students will have to read, understand and explain advanced texts about grammatical concepts and the grammatical properties of English.


Objectives and Contextualisation

This is a descriptive course which offers an overview of the grammar of English from the word to the sentence. The main objective of the course is for students to be able to describe the properties of English grammar unsing appropriate terminology.


Competences

    English Studies
  • Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
  • Describe and analyse—synchronically and comparatively—the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of English and its historical development.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge. 
  • Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
  • Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.
    English and Catalan Studies
  • Act in one's own field of knowledge evaluating inequalities based on sex/gender.
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Catalan and English languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structures.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Make correct use of written and spoken English for academic or professional purposes, related to the study of language, history, culture and literature.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
    English and Spanish Studies
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the English and Spanish languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structure.
  • Apply teaching and acquisition strategies in the development of communicative competence (both linguistic and extra-linguistic) in a global and multilingual society.
  • Correctly use written and oral English and Spanish for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
    English and French Studies
  • Analyse the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical, semantic and pragmatic properties of the English and French languages, their evolution throughout history and their current structures.
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams with the aim of attaining the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge.
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use spoken English and French correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of linguistics, history, culture and literature.
    English and Classics Studies
  • Demonstrate the ability to work autonomously and in teams in order to achieve the planned objectives in multicultural and interdisciplinary contexts.
  • Describe and analyse synchronically and comparatively the main phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic properties of English, Greek and Latin, as well as their historical evolution.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
  • Take sex- or gender-based inequalities into consideration when operating within one's own area of knowledge. 
  • Understand and produce oral and written academic texts with appropriateness and fluency in distinct communicative contexts.
  • Use written and spoken English correctly for academic and professional purposes related to the study of English linguistics, history, culture, and literature.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Distinguish between grammatical gender and natural gender.
  2. Distinguish grammatical gender from natural gender.
  3. Express oneself orally in English, in an academic register and using appropriate terminology, in relation to the study of English linguistics and grammar.
  4. Identify, describe and analyse the main morphological and syntactic properties of the English language.
  5. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  6. Produce non-extensive specialised texts at an advanced proficient-user level (C1) on general linguistics and English grammar.
  7. Produce non-extensive specialised texts on general linguistics and English grammar at Advanced User level (C1).
  8. Produce non-extensive specialised texts on general linguistics and English grammar at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
  9. Produce non-extensive specialised texts on general linguistics and English grammar.
  10. To distinguish the grammatical and pragmatic factors that determine the overall interpretation of the sentence.
  11. Understand and apply the knowledge and skills acquired from basic and advanced texts in linguistics and English grammar.
  12. Understand specialised academic texts at an advanced proficient-user level (C1) on general linguistics and English grammar.
  13. Understand specialised academic texts on general linguistics and English grammar at Advanced User level (C1).
  14. Understand specialised academic texts on general linguistics and English grammar at an advanced proficient-user level (C1).
  15. Understand specialised academic texts on general linguistics and English grammar.

Content

1. Introduction

2. Morphology

3. Word Formation Processes

4. Word Classes

5. Constituents and Phrases

6. The Simple Sentence


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Commenting and correcting exercises 10 0.4 2, 3, 4
Lectures with ICT support 30 1.2 3, 4, 11
Type: Supervised      
Doubt solving 10 0.4 3, 4, 11
Individual feedback on exercises 10 0.4 3, 5, 11
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and summarising texts 15 0.6 5, 9, 11, 15
Study 40 1.6 4, 5, 11, 15

 The methodology of this subject is based on lectures with ICT support, practical exercises and readings commented in class, as well as group work.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Assignment 10% 15 0.6 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Final Exam 50% 3 0.12 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 14, 15
In-class exercises 10% 15 0.6 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Quiz 30% 2 0.08 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 15

This subject is assessed by means of a final exam (50%), a quiz (30%) an assignment (10%) and a set of practical exercises (10%).

The dates of each of the assessment items will be provided at the beginning of the course. Any changes will also be announced in class and on Moodle.

Any of the assessment items which are not done or handed in will count as a zero, unless they are duly justified.

Students will obtain a Not assessed course mark if they have not done 30% of the assessment.

In order to successfully complete the subject, students must pass the final exam (or pass the reassessment exam).
 

Procedure for reviewing grades awarded

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Reassesssment

Reassessment for this subject requires a content-synthesis exam, for which the following conditions are applicable:

a) Only students who have a 3.5 (or higher) as a final average mark will be allowed to sit the reassessment exam.

b) The maximum reassessment mark is a 5.

Evaluation activities excluded from reassessment: practical exercises, assignment and quiz.

VERY IMPORTANT

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or amisuse of AI suchas presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be reassessed.

This subject does not incorporate the single-assessment option.


Bibliography

Textbooks:

Capdevila, Montserrat, Curell, Hortènsia & Llinàs, Mireia (2006). An Introduction to English Descriptive Grammar. Volume I. Servei de Publicacions UAB.

Capdevila, Montserrat, Curell, Hortènsia, Cuartero, Néstor & Llinàs, Mireia (2007). An Introduction to English Descriptive Grammar. Volume II. Servei de Publicacions UAB. Chapter 1

 

Aarts, Bas. (2017). English Syntax and Argumentation. 5th edition. Macmillan Press.

Aarts, Bas & McMahon, April (eds) (2020). The Handbook of English Linguistics, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell.

Beard, Adrian (ed) (2008) Working with Texts. A Core Introduction to Language Analysis. Third Edition. Routledge.  

Berry, Roger (2012). English Grammar. A Resource Book for Students. Routledge.

Börjars, Kersti & Burridge, Kate (2010). Introducing English Grammar. 2nd edition. Arnold.

Brinton, Laurel J. & Brinton, Donna (2010). The Linguistic Structure of Modern English. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Brinton, Laurel J. & Brinton, Donna (2010). The Linguistic Structure of Modern EnglishWorkbook. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Huddleston, Rodney, Pullum, Geoffrey K., Reynolds, Brett  (2021). A Student's Introduction to English grammar. Cambridge University Press.

Nelson, Gerald & Greenbaum, Sidney (2016). An Introduction to English grammar. 4th Edition. Routledge.

Yule, George(2022) The Study of Language. 8th Edition. Cambridge University Press.

 


Software

Not applicable. 


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 2 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 3 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 4 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 5 English first semester morning-mixed
(PAUL) Classroom practices 6 English first semester morning-mixed