English Grammar and Writing Mechanics
The English Grammar and Writing Mechanics course provides a rigorous foundation in the rules and conventions of Standard American English, covering parts of speech, sentence structure, punctuation, agreement, verb tense, and style — equipping learners to write clearly, correctly, and persuasively.
Who Should Take This
Ideal for high-school and college students who need to strengthen writing mechanics for standardized tests (SAT, ACT, GRE writing sections), academic papers, or professional communication, as well as non-native English speakers working toward fluency in written Standard American English.
What's Included in AccelaStudy® AI
Adaptive Knowledge Graph
Practice Questions
Lesson Modules
Console Simulator Labs
Exam Tips & Strategy
13 Activity Formats
Course Outline
1Parts of Speech 6 topics
Identify the eight parts of speech — noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection — and describe the grammatical function each performs in a sentence
Distinguish the types of nouns including proper, common, concrete, abstract, collective, and compound nouns, and apply correct capitalization and article usage for each type
Distinguish the types of verbs including action, linking, and helping verbs and identify transitive versus intransitive verbs, explaining how transitivity affects sentence structure and voice
Distinguish coordinating, subordinating, and correlative conjunctions and explain how the type of conjunction determines punctuation requirements and the grammatical relationship between joined elements
Apply part-of-speech analysis to identify words functioning in multiple grammatical roles — a word that is a noun in one context and a verb in another — and explain how context determines grammatical function
Analyze how correct identification of parts of speech enables diagnosis and correction of grammatical errors including modifier misplacement, agreement failures, and incorrect verb form selection
2Sentence Structure 7 topics
Identify the essential components of a sentence — subject, predicate, and complete thought — and distinguish complete sentences from fragments and run-on sentences
Distinguish between phrases and clauses, identify independent and dependent (subordinate) clauses, and classify sentences as simple, compound, complex, or compound-complex based on clause structure
Identify noun, adjective, and adverb clauses and explain their grammatical function — subject, object, modifier — within the larger sentence
Apply sentence structure principles to diagnose and correct common errors including comma splices, fused sentences, and sentence fragments, explaining the repair strategy for each type
Apply varied sentence structure — including coordination, subordination, and embedding of phrases — to improve sentence variety, rhythm, and emphasis in a paragraph
Analyze how sentence structure choices — short vs. long sentences, periodic vs. cumulative structures, strategic fragments — affect rhetorical impact, emphasis, and reader comprehension
Apply appositive and absolute phrase construction to embed additional information into a base sentence without creating fragments, and identify when these constructions require comma punctuation
3Agreement 6 topics
State the rule of subject-verb agreement in number and apply it to simple cases where the subject is a singular or plural noun or pronoun immediately preceding the verb
Apply subject-verb agreement rules to challenging constructions including compound subjects joined by and/or/nor, collective nouns (team, jury), indefinite pronouns (everyone, none), and inverted sentence order
Apply subject-verb agreement rules when intervening prepositional phrases, relative clauses, or parenthetical expressions appear between the subject and verb and could confuse number identification
Apply pronoun-antecedent agreement rules including number and gender agreement, ambiguous antecedents, and agreement with indefinite pronoun antecedents such as everyone, each, and neither
Analyze agreement errors in extended prose passages, diagnose the grammatical cause of each error, and select the correction that preserves the author's intended meaning while restoring agreement
Apply the rules of agreement for relative pronouns — who, which, that — to ensure the relative clause verb agrees with the antecedent noun rather than with a closer intervening noun, correcting errors in sentences such as 'one of the students who is' versus 'one of the students who are'
4Verb Tenses and Mood 6 topics
Identify and describe the six primary tenses — simple present, simple past, simple future, present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect — and the progressive and perfect progressive aspects of each tense
Apply the principle of sequence of tenses to ensure logical temporal relationships across sentences and paragraphs, including the correct use of past perfect to sequence events that occurred before a past reference point
Identify common irregular verb forms for high-frequency verbs including lie/lay/lain, sit/set, rise/raise, and frequently confused past tense forms, and apply them correctly in context
Apply subjunctive mood correctly in contrary-to-fact conditional clauses (if I were), requests and recommendations (the committee recommended that he resign), and formal expressions of wish or doubt
Analyze how tense consistency and aspect choice affect the meaning and coherence of a passage and evaluate corrections that alter tense to assess whether the revision preserves the intended temporal meaning
Describe the distinction between the historical present tense used to narrate past events in vivid storytelling and the default past-tense narrative mode, and apply consistent tense selection across an extended narrative passage
5Modifiers 6 topics
Distinguish adjectives from adverbs and identify cases where adverbs incorrectly replace adjectives after linking verbs — predicate adjective errors such as 'he feels badly' instead of 'he feels bad'
Identify dangling modifiers — participial phrases or clauses whose implied subject does not match the grammatical subject of the main clause — and apply the two repair strategies: restructure the modifier or restructure the main clause
Identify misplaced modifiers including limiting adverbs (only, just, nearly, almost) positioned away from the word they modify and squinting modifiers that could attach to either an earlier or later element
Apply modifier placement rules to correct dangling and misplaced modifiers in sentence-editing contexts, choosing the revision that creates the clearest and most logical relationship between modifier and modified element
Analyze how modifier errors change meaning or create unintentional ambiguity in a passage, and evaluate competing corrections for their effect on clarity and the author's likely intent
Apply the rules for comparative and superlative adjective and adverb forms — using -er/-est for short words, more/most for longer words — and identify errors in double comparatives and illogical comparisons such as 'more unique'
6Punctuation 6 topics
State the primary rules for comma use including serial commas, commas before coordinating conjunctions in compound sentences, commas after introductory elements, and commas around nonrestrictive clauses and appositives
Describe the rules governing semicolons — joining independent clauses without a conjunction, separating items in a complex list — and colons — introducing a list, explanation, or quotation — and apply each correctly in context
Apply apostrophe rules to form possessives of singular nouns, plural nouns ending in -s, plural nouns not ending in -s, and compound possessives, and distinguish possessive apostrophes from contractions
Apply quotation mark conventions including placement of commas and periods inside closing quotation marks, use of single quotes within double quotes, and the distinction between direct and indirect quotation
Apply the distinct functions of dashes (em dash for interruption or emphasis, en dash for ranges) versus hyphens (compound modifiers, prefixes, and compound numbers) and parentheses for supplementary information
Analyze punctuation choices in a passage — including over-punctuation, under-punctuation, and ambiguous comma placement — and evaluate whether proposed revisions improve clarity without altering the intended meaning
7Capitalization and Usage 7 topics
State and apply the rules of capitalization for proper nouns, proper adjectives, titles before names, the first word of a sentence, and the pronoun I, and distinguish capitalized proper nouns from lowercase common nouns in context
Identify and correct common homophones and easily confused word pairs including its/it's, there/their/they're, affect/effect, then/than, principle/principal, and complement/compliment
Apply the correct form of who versus whom by substituting he/him to determine grammatical function — who for subjects, whom for objects — including in relative clauses and questions
Apply rules for number style (spell out numbers under ten, use numerals for ten and above in most contexts) and abbreviations in formal writing, and explain when exceptions such as measurements or dates apply
Identify and correct spelling errors for commonly misspelled words — including accommodate, separate, occurrence, necessary, and recommend — and explain the spelling rules or memory devices that govern each pattern
Apply the rules governing italics and quotation marks for titles — italicizing books, films, and periodicals versus quoting chapters, articles, and short works — and explain the rationale for the distinction
Analyze a set of usage and mechanics corrections — capitalization, number style, abbreviations, and commonly confused words — and prioritize revisions by severity of error and impact on reader comprehension
8Active and Passive Voice 4 topics
Distinguish active from passive voice by identifying whether the grammatical subject is the agent of the action or the receiver of it, and identify the be-verb plus past participle construction that signals passive voice
Apply the technique of converting passive constructions to active voice to increase directness and clarity, and identify contexts where passive voice is appropriate — scientific writing, focusing on the receiver, unknown agent
Analyze the rhetorical effects of voice choice — how passive voice can obscure responsibility, how active voice establishes agency — and evaluate whether a passage's voice choices serve or undermine its communicative purpose
Identify the get-passive construction and other informal passive variants, explain how they differ from the be-passive in register, and apply judgment about when each variant is appropriate in formal versus informal writing
9Paragraph Structure and Coherence 7 topics
Identify the components of a well-structured paragraph — topic sentence, body sentences with supporting evidence or detail, and a concluding or transitional sentence — and explain the function of each component
Identify transitional words and phrases by category — addition, contrast, causation, sequence, illustration, summary — and explain how appropriate transition selection signals logical relationships between sentences and paragraphs
Apply parallel structure to coordinate elements — items in a list, paired comparisons, compound predicates — ensuring that grammatically equivalent ideas are expressed in grammatically equivalent form
Apply concision principles to eliminate wordiness including redundant pairs (basic and fundamental), unnecessary qualifiers (very unique), weak expletive constructions (there is, it is), and overuse of nominalizations
Analyze paragraph coherence by evaluating logical flow, pronoun reference chains, topical consistency, and the use of given-new information structure to guide readers through complex ideas without losing them
Apply unified paragraph development by identifying when a paragraph's supporting sentences stray from its topic sentence, and revise or reorganize sentences to restore unity and logical sequence
Describe the principles of introductory and concluding paragraph structure in multi-paragraph essays — effective hook strategies, thesis placement, and conclusion techniques — and explain why weak openings and closings undermine overall composition quality
10Style and Clarity 5 topics
Identify common sentence-level style problems including weak expletive constructions, excessive nominalization, overuse of prepositional phrases, and vague pronoun references, and explain why each weakens clarity
Apply tone awareness to distinguish formal from informal register and revise informal constructions — slang, contractions in formal writing, second-person you in academic prose — to match the appropriate register for the context
Apply sentence variety techniques including varying sentence length, openings, and structure to avoid monotony and achieve rhythm, emphasis, and readability in extended prose
Analyze a passage's style holistically — evaluating grammar, mechanics, concision, voice, coherence, and tone together — and prioritize revisions that produce the greatest improvement in clarity and correctness for the target audience
Apply the principle of specificity to replace vague, abstract language — things, aspects, areas, factors — with concrete nouns and precise verbs, and explain how specificity strengthens argumentative and expository writing
Scope
Included Topics
- Parts of speech (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, interjections), sentence structure (subjects, predicates, phrases, clauses, sentence types and purposes), subject-verb agreement (number, indefinite pronouns, collective nouns, inverted sentences), verb tenses (simple, perfect, progressive, perfect progressive; sequence of tenses; subjunctive mood), pronoun-antecedent agreement (number, gender, indefinite pronoun antecedents), modifiers (adjective and adverb placement, dangling and misplaced modifiers, squinting modifiers), punctuation (commas, semicolons, apostrophes, colons, quotation marks, dashes, hyphens, parentheses, periods, question and exclamation marks), capitalization rules, active versus passive voice, paragraph structure (topic sentence, supporting details, coherence, transitions), common usage errors (its/it's, there/their/they're, affect/effect, lie/lay, who/whom), style and clarity (concision, parallelism, wordiness, tone, sentence variety)
Not Covered
- Literary analysis and interpretation (covered in English Literature domain)
- Rhetoric and argumentation theory beyond paragraph-level structure
- Second language acquisition theory
- Dialect and sociolinguistics beyond Standard American English conventions
- Advanced academic and disciplinary writing styles (APA, MLA, Chicago citation formats)
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