WR 091 Writing Essentials

Lecture Hours: 1
Credits: 1

Details the fundamental structural components of writing. Primary focus is on parts of speech and sentence types. Secondary focus and eventual outcome is college-level editing skill.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Establish recognition of essential parts of speech for college level writing.
Foster concrete understanding of four primary sentence types.
Develop strategies necessary to eliminate primary sentence errors.
Understand how to properly utilize commas and recognize impact on sentences.
Master basic editing skill necessary for college level writing.

Content Outline

Basic Parts of Speech
- Nouns
- Verbs
  - Active vs. passive
- Adjectives and adverbs
- Subjects and predicates
- Prepositions
- Phrases
- Clauses
  - Independent
  - Conjunctions
  - Dependent
Sentence Types and Diagramming
- Simple sentence
  - Fragments
- Compound sentence
  - Coordinating conjunction
  - Compound sentence comma rule
  - Using a semi-colon
- Complex Sentence
  - Subordinating conjunctions
  - Order of clauses
  - Complex sentence comma rules
  - Loose vs. periodic Sentences
- Emphasis
- Compound complex sentence
  - Order of Clauses/Comma Rules
  - Introductory Word or Phrase Comma Rule
  - Transition Word Comma Rule
  - Items in Series
  - Attributing Quotes
- Adjectives Modifying the same Noun
- Offset Negation
Other Parts of Speech
- Verbals
  - Gerunds
  - Infinitives
- Appositives
  - Comma usage
Modifiers
- Dangling
- Misplaced
Punctuation in Context