This course provides students with the conceptual framework and skills for describing and analysing Modern English. Students will learn to parse simple and complex constructions in English. The topics covered include word classes, the structure of sentences and phrases, clause types, complex sentences and discourse styles. The course will also analyse variations in English through time, and evaluate influences on the structure of English in bilingual/multilingual situations such as Singapore.
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Year Taken: AY 19/20, Sem 1
2 in-class quizzes – 30% each Individual
Assignment – 30% Pair work
Class participation – 10% Individual
One lecture + one tutorial per weekOne of the core mods with the lightest reading work, but one of the hardest to pass the quizzes for. I had a really tough time with this mod and I think it’s because it’s one of those mods where I had to diligently go through its tutorials in order for me to grasp the content. (kind of like math but in terms of English) I flunked both of the quizzes so it affected my overall grade quite a bit. It is known as a killer mod as it pretty much questions the implicit knowledge on grammar (e.g why are both ‘She dances crazily’ and ‘she crazily dances’ accepted but not ‘*dances crazily she’.). Try to grasp the content as early as you can.
The quizzes are in the form of puzzles. The answers are usually quite short but not in MCQ format. As for the paired assignment, we were given a set of grammatical and ungrammatical sentences, and we have to analyse the sentences using tests and concepts taught during the lecture and tutorial. Imo it was quite challenging and confusing, so please communicate with your partner as you do this assignment.
This review was reposted with the kind permission of Pressing Realities. Originally published at https://pressingrealities.wordpress.com/2020/05/01/ay19-20-y1s1/
June 29, 2021 -
Year Taken: AY 17/18, Sem 1
Grade: A+Ah, the killer module of the semester. A lot of people did VERY BADLY for this. My advice is to keep up with the concept as much as you can. I personally found it to be relatively alright. Very light in workload too as the readings merely require to understand once and apply them for your tutorials. This is unlike Mind and Meaning where you have to keep memorizing the details.
20% Quiz
25% Assignment 1
20% Assignment 2
25% Quiz
10% Tutorial Participation
According to the professor, 70% of us failed the first quiz (less than 10 marks out of 20 marks). This was due to the questions being presented in a form of a puzzle whereby you had to apply what you had learnt during tutorials (if you had been doing them regularly) to these. Same application in my humble opinion. Make sure you actually TRY to do all of your tutorials before coming to class and clarify any doubts before leaving classes. Once you figure out the concept and patterns of application, the A is yours.The assignment 1 was basically the same type of question as the quiz except that you can take it home. It was supposed to be a solo assignment but I was pretty sure people went around discussing with each other. Whether you want to be a person of integrity or not, the choice is yours. I got a C+ for this assignment as I went to look up irrelevant stuff that were out of the syllabus and put them inside my 2 pages work. Please do not repeat the same mistake as me. Just focus on the task at hand and apply whatever you were taught in class to solve the assignment.
Assignment 2 was pretty much the same idea as assignment 1 except that you would be working in pairs.
The final quiz was slightly easier than the first quiz. It revolves around the concept of recursive and embedding clauses (don’t worry, you will understand these terms when you take this course). Once you get the idea behind this, the marks are yours. However, due to the negative marking nature of this quiz, please do not “overstate” your answers. For example, if a clause is ditransitive clause, it is a ditransitive clause. DO NOT say this sentence is a ditransitive clause and a transitive clause (even though if you have a ditransitive clause, technically it should have an object component too which effectively makes it a transitive clause too at the same time). Moral of the story: do not act smart. If you are unsure of the answer, just leave blank. I did well for this and eventually got an A+ despite having a C+ for my assignment 1. Do not give up no matter how bleak your results for a test/assignment seems.
This review was reposted with the kind permission of aLMSstudent. Originally published at https://ntulmsmods.wordpress.com/2018/07/06/ntu-lms-2017-2018-semester-1/
June 27, 2021 -
The course material is rather technical for beginners, but Prof Ying Ying and the TAs are excellent at helping students understand the various concepts and ways to break down English. Practice and grinding are required for an A grade as this course tests technical understanding, so just do the homework and the practice questions that the TAs assign and all should be good.
May 27, 2021
