Grammar in Text

obligatory courses

The focus of the course is twofold: on the one hand, it intends to relate sentence-level grammar rules to the description of larger language units: the paragraph and the text as a linguistic whole. On the other hand, the course aims to highlight 'text' as an autonomous level of language organization, displaying a range of design principles that go beyond the scope of any sentence-level description. To this effect, the course includes a detailed analysis of a number of different text types (genres), with particular focus on the principles that underlie any well-constructed piece of text in English. The discussion will involve, among others, characteristic features (stylistic and/or rhetorical) of each of the main genres, as well as the key principles of the so-called structure of information.

The course is a comprehensive overview of the key phenomena that underlie any well-constructed piece of text in English. Specific topics will include:

1. introduction to basic concepts: discourse, text vs. non-text, texthood criteria, information structure, Theme vs. Rheme; Given vs. New; Information Focus

2. three principles of discourse (Given/New; Topic Continuity; End Weight)

3. strategies of topic preservation (continuous progression, linear progression, derived themes progression)

4. syntactic strategies of assigning focus: clefting, pseudo-clefting, postponement, extraposition)

5. emphatic devices; thematic fronting vs. inversion

6. grammatical means of identifying given information: ellipsis, substitution and deixis

7. cohesive devices (grammatical and lexical)

8. passive as a text-building device

9. nominalization as a text-building and information-(re)packaging device

10. existential 'there' as an information-organizing device

11. articles in discourse

Course participants will be expected to carry out a number of mini-analytical tasks on a range of pre-selected texts (native and learner-written), as well as perform a few editorial tasks. The emphasis throughout the course will be on students' active involvement in order for them to gradually develop the main strategic skills needed to comprehend, edit, correct, and/or construct English texts in a range of typical contexts. Credit will be given on the basis of the above, plus a final written test.

Biber, D. et al. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English

Carter, R. & M. McCarthy, Cambridge Grammar of English. CUP 2006.

Carter, R., Hughes, R. & M. McCarthy, Exploring Grammar in Context. CUP 2000.

Collins Cobuild English Grammar. Collins 1990.

Downing, A. & P. Locke A University Course in English Grammar. Prentice Hall 1992.

Foley, M. & D. Hall Advanced Learners' Grammar, Longman 2002.

Hoey, M. Patterns of lexis in text, Macmillan 1995.

Macpherson, R. English for Writers and Translators. PWN 1996.

Macpherson, R. Advanced Written English. PWN 2001.

Quirk, R. et al. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman 1985.

Quirk, R. & S. Greenbaum A University Grammar of English. Longman 1973.

Thornbury, S. Beyond the Sentence, Macmillan 2005.

Yule, G. Explaining English Grammar, OUP 1998.

Students will develop skills to compose continuous and coherent texts. They will learn how to apply grammmatical and syntactic devices, such as the passive/active voice, cleft sentences, inversion, etc., to improve text readability and to achieve desired stylistic effects.

Code reference: K_U03,5,7

The student:

K_U03 is able to express himself/herself in English correctly, with precision and coherence, adjusting language forms to the communicational context.

K_U05 is able to monitor and diagnose the correctness of the Polish and English languages in use.

K_U07 is able to interpret, analyse, prioritise and synthesize various ideas, facts and phenomena concerning language, culture, society, history and economy.

Assessment on the basis of written home assignments (at least 2) and written tests (1 or 2).

The retake consists in obtaining a positive grade in a retake test.

Two or three (to be determined by a specific group teacher), formally justified, absences are allowed.