Course aims:

to familiarize students with the major syntactic structures of English and their relevance to linguistic theory
to train students in the rudiments of syntactic analysis and syntactic theorizing and argumentation
to familiarize students with the basic goals and assumptions of English grammar

Course Entry Requirements:

The students need to be familiar with the basic concepts of English grammar

Course contents:

TYPES OF SENTENCES Functional and structural classification THE SIMPLE SENTENCE - the subject and the predicate - means of expressing subject and predicate; - agreement - complementation THE SEQUENCE OF TENSES - Direct object clauses and the Sequence of Tenses - Main Clause – Present - Main Clause - Past REPORTED SPEECH WORD ORDER COMPLEX SENTENCES RELATIVE CLAUSES CLAUSES OF PLACE, TIME AND MANNER . NOMINAL CLAUSES IF CLAUSES CLAUSES OF PURPOSE CLAUSES OF RESULT CLAUSES OF CONCESSION CLAUSES OF CONTRAST CLAUSES OF REASON AND COMPARISON

Teaching methods:

LectureProblematization and discovery learningConversation

Learning outcomes:

By the end of this course, the students will be better able to describe the English grammatical system and properly use it to produce and translate texts.

Learning outcomes verification and assessment criteria:

Grades will be decided on the basis of the following procedure. First consideration will be the quality and punctual submission of weekly assignments (20%), the final exam (75%),and class participation (5%).

Recommended reading:

Carnie, Andrew, Syntax: A generative introduction., Blackwell, Malden, 2002, 430.
Coates, Richard, Word structure, Routledge, London, 1999, 320.
Haegeman, Liliane, Thinking syntactically: A guide to argumentation and analysis, Blackwell, Malden, 2006, 346.
Radford, Andrew, English syntax: An introduction., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2004, 428.