230337 Grammar and Usage (S) (WiSe 2016/2017)

This course will review the grammatical structure of English with emphasis on those areas that present special difficulty for native speakers of German. We will consider, among other topics, verbs with respect to tense, aspect, voice and mood; the use of adjectives and adverbs, count and non-count nouns, and punctuation--especially commas and relative clauses. You will be expected to assess your own strengths and weaknesses with resepct to grammar and to do additional work at home in those areas where you need more practice. The goal of the course is to improve your ability to produce acceptable English sentences that accurately express what you intend to say in a given context and that would sound appropriate and natural to native speakers. You will also gain insight into key differences between English and German sentence structure and usage.

Requirements for participation, required level

This course is open only to students who have passed our departmental Entrance Test or the equivalent. If you are assigned a place in this course, you must be there at the first meeting to claim your place or it will be given to someone on the waiting list.

Bibliography

Raymond Murphy English Grammar in Use

Martin Hewings Advanced Grammar in Use

Michael Swan Practical English Usage