Description:

Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to demonstrate the basic rules of English, develop correct sentence structure and use accurate English grammar and mechanics when writing documents. Students also will be able to proofread written work using standard proofreading symbols. 3 hrs. lecture/wk.

Supplies: Refer to the instructor's course syllabus for details about any supplies that may be required.

Prerequisites: NONE

Textbook(s): For information see - http://bookstore.jccc.net

Course Fees: NONE

Course Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course the student should be able to:

1. Identify eight parts of speech and use them correctly in business writing.
2. Identify the subject and verb of the sentence and demonstrate the strength of each according to the intended business purpose.
3. Write complete sentences.
4. Analyze the construction of simple, compound, and complex sentences and the use of each in business documents.
5. Identify phrases and independent and dependent clauses in writing and use each correctly.
6. Recognize common sentence errors, such as fragments, run-on sentences, comma splices, dangling modifiers, pronoun-antecedent agreement, and parallelism.
7. Recognize and use punctuation marks according to conventional rules when writing business correspondence.
8. Demonstrate the understanding and the use of common business vocabulary.
9. Correctly define and use frequently confused words.
10. Apply conventional rules of number usage when writing business documents.
11. Apply conventional capitalization usage rules when writing business documents.

Content Outline & Competencies:

I. English Language Origin
   A. Identify words derived from various countries
   B. Identify root words from other languages
   C. Describe how new words have been added to the English language
   D. Form blended words and compound words
   E. Identify abbreviated words

II. Sentence Structure
   A. Identify a sentence 
   B. Use proper subjects and verbs
   C. Identify and use kinds of sentences

III. Nouns
   A. Identify nouns and their function in a sentence
   B. Describe common and proper nouns 
   C. Recognize concrete and abstract nouns
   D. Distinguish between compound and collective nouns
   E. Form the plural of nouns
   F. Use singular and plural possessive nouns correctly

IV. Pronouns
   A. Identify pronouns and their antecedents
   B. Describe when to use masculine, feminine, or neuter pronouns
   C. Use nominative, objective, and possessive cases correctly
   D. Clarify the difference between who and whom/which and that
   E. Use interrogative and indefinite pronouns correctly
 
V. Verbs
   A. Identify the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs
   B. Identify uses of verbs in a sentence
   C. Recognize a verb phrase
   D. Apply the four principal parts of a verb
   E. Distinguish between the present, past, and future tense of verbs
   F. Use the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses of
verbs
   G. Create subject verb agreement
   H. Describe when to use lie and lay, sit and set, and rise and raise
 
VI. Adjectives
   A. Define adjectives as words that modify or limit nouns and pronouns
   B. Identify descriptive, possessive, demonstrative, and quantity
adjectives
   C. Recognize the positive, comparative, and superlative forms of
adjectives

VII. Adverbs
   A. Define an adverb
   B. Distinguish adverbs from adjectives
   C. Use the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees of adverbs
   D. Place modifiers in their correct position in a sentence
   E. Recognize and use conjunctive adverbs

VIII. Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections
   A. Identify prepositions and prepositional phrases
   B. Eliminate repetitious prepositions
   C. Use coordinating and correlative conjunctions appropriately
   D. Place conjunctions and punctuation appropriately in sentences
   E. Use a variety of interjections to show emotions

IX. Clauses and Phrases
   A. Recognize infinitive, participial, and gerund phrases
   B. Demonstrate ability to use independent and dependent clauses
   C. Use subordinate conjunctions to link clauses
   D. Distinguish between clauses used as nouns, adjective, and adverbs

X. Punctuation
   A. Correctly identify and use 12 marks of punctuation such as: 
question mark, exclamation point, hyphen, comma, semicolon, colon, dash,
parentheses, brackets, quotation marks, underscore, and apostrophe
   B. Punctuate dependent and independent clauses
   C. Use the comma to set off parenthetical elements
   D. Distinguish between essential and nonessential appositives

XI. Words and Numbers
   A. Demonstrate when to use capital letters 
   B. Apply the major rules governing the use of numbers in writing

Methods of Evaluation of Competencies:

Evaluation of student mastery of course competencies will be accomplished using the following methods:

   In-class Exercises/Homework    50% of grade
   Tests                          50% of grade
     Total                       100%

   Grading Criteria:
   90% to 100%   A
   80% to  89%   B
   70% to  79%   C
   60% to  69%   D
    0% to  59%   F

Caveats: NONE

Disabilities:

If you are a student with a disability, and if you will be requesting accommodations, it is your responsibility to contact Access Services. Access Services will recommend any appropriate accommodations to your professor and his/her director. The professor and director will identify for you which accommodations will be arranged.

JCCC provides a range of services to allow persons with disabilities to participate in educational programs and activities. If you desire support services, contact the office of Access Services for Students With Disabilities (913) 469-8500, ext. 3521 or TDD (913) 469-3885. The Access Services office is located in the Success Center on the second floor of the Student Center.