In this six-week class, students will learn to identify and correct some common grammatical errors. Through a study of basic grammatical rules and structure, learners will come to understand why certain sentence structures and word choices are incorrect.

Class 1: "Should've, Would've, Could've"

In this class, the common tendency to use "of" in lieu of "have" within a verb phrase will be addressed. For example, students will learn why "I should of gone to bed earlier" is incorrect. They'll learn that "should have" plus the past participle is correct grammar for these past modal verbs, which express hypothetical situations.

They'll also learn how "they're" and "their," "you're" and "your," "it's" and "its," etc. are used properly by learning to ask the question: "Is this word showing possession (ownership) or an action (or state of being)?" We'll also examine other homophones, such as "are"/"our," "then"/"than," "effect"/"affect," and "accept"/"except."

Class 2: Misuse of Pronouns

In this second week, students will learn when it's appropriate to use "whom" and "who." They'll learn a simple trick: If the word can be replaced with “he” or “'she,” then "who" is correct. ("Who" should be used to refer to the subject of a sentence.) However, if it can be replaced with “him” or “her,” the use of "whom" is correct. This new understanding of grammar will help them avoid writing sentences such as, "The girl whom is walking is my friend."

Students will learn the difference between subject pronouns and object pronouns. This will help them understand why sentences such as "Me and Mom went to the mall today," "Him and her are best friends," and "She and him ate too much cake" are grammatically incorrect. This will involve a study of subject pronouns, as well as subject-verb agreement.

We'll also study possessive adjectives (e.g., my, your, his, her, our, their) and how they differ from pronouns (mine, yours, ours, theirs, etc.), and students will learn to ask themselves the right questions to determine whether or not an apostrophe is required in order to show possession.

Students will also learn to avoid vague pronoun references.

Class 3: "Let's Eat Grandma!" and Other Punctuation Mishaps

In this class, students will learn why punctuation matters (e.g., It prevents the intended meaning of the sentences from being ambiguous, organizes ideas, helps us avoid run-on sentences, etc.) and how to use it effectively. Students will learn about (and how to correct) missing commas after an introductory element, missing serial commas, superfluous commas, comma splices, colon mistakes, and sentence sprawls.

Class 4: Parallel Construction (Parallel Structure)

Students will be introduced to the concept of parallel construction. Parallel ideas must be presented in parallel grammatical form, in which each part of a sentence uses the same grammatical structure. They'll learn how some sentences (e.g., "We debated the difference between the weather in Minnesota in the winter and how hot it is in the summer" and "The films were enjoyable both to watch and for discussing") break the rules of parallel construction because each part of the sentence is using a different grammatical structure.

Class 5: Sentence Fragments and Split Infinitives

In this class, students will learn about sentence fragments. They'll examine several sentences containing fragments and learn why they are grammatically incorrect (e.g., they're missing a subject). They'll learn simple fixes for sentence fragments, including adding subjects and punctuation, such as semicolons.

Learners will also be introduced to the concept of split infinitives. 

Class 6: Dangling Participles and Misplaced Modifiers

A dangling participle is a participle intended to modify a noun that is not actually present in the text. In this class, students will learn why sentences such as "Sitting on the park bench, the sun disappeared behind the clouds" involve the use of dangling participles that can lead to ambiguity and confusion.

A misplaced modifier is a type of ambiguous grammatical construction whereby a grammatical modifier could be misinterpreted as being associated with a word other than the one intended. An example of a misplaced modifier would be: "Covered in ketchup and mustard, I enjoyed the hotdog." This misplaced modifier makes the reader wonder if the subject is covered in ketchup and mustard while enjoying the hotdog.

In this last class, we'll venture into sentence diagramming. Previous experience with sentence diagramming is not a pre-requisite, but would be helpful.