ENGL 0401: Reading and Writing English
This course is designed to develop skills as a writer by practicing the stages of writing from rough draft, grammar and sentence structure, revising the draft, editing, and final draft. The course covers both narrative and expository writing, with an emphasis on the expository form for both academic and business purposes. (Grade 10 equivalency)
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- Show what is meant by "correct" English
- Demonstrate the distinctions between narration and exposition
- Practice good reading habits
- Show how proper punctuation creates effective writing
- Use knowledge of sentence structure to create interesting prose
- Demonstrate basic essay structure in your own writing
- Identify common errors in use of language
- Use a dictionary effectively
- Increase your vocabulary
Course topics
Unit 1
- Narration and exposition
- Drafting your narrative
- Standard English
- Traditional parts of speech
- Clauses and phrases
- Commas
- Revising and editing your narrative
Unit 2
- Reading for main ideas
- Drafting an expository paragraph
- Canadian English
- Using a dictionary
- Complete sentences
- Periods, semi-colons, and colons
- Revising and editing your expository paragraph
Unit 3
- Facts and opinions
- Drafting an expository essay
- A brief history of English
- Spelling
- Agreement
- More about commas and semi-colons
- Revising and editing your narrative and opinion paragraphs
Unit 4
- Recognizing irony
- Drafting a business letter
- What's English like?
- Building a vocabulary
- Parallel structure
- Sentence interruptions
- Revising and editing your letter
Unit 5
- Recognizing metaphor
- Drafting a short report
- Etymology (origins of words)
- Useful prefixes
- Sentence variety
- Apostrophes
- Revising and editing your short report
Unit 6
- Reading fiction
- Drafting a short essay
- Language abuse
- Some often confused words
- Misplaced and dangling modifiers
- Quotation marks
- Revising and editing your short essay
Required text and materials
There is no required textbook for this course.
Additional requirements
A standard dictionary is required (e.g. The Gage Canadian Dictionary).
Assessments
Please be aware that should your course have a final exam, you are responsible for the fee to the online proctoring service, ProctorU, or to the in-person approved Testing Centre. Please contact exams@tru.ca with any questions about this.
To successfully complete this course, students must achieve a passing grade of 50% or higher on the overall course, and 50% or higher on the final mandatory examination.
| Assignment 1 | 12.5% |
| Assignment 2 | 12.5% |
| Assignment 3 | 12.5% |
| Assignment 4 | 12.5% |
| Assignment 5 | 12.5% |
| Assignment 6 | 12.5% |
| Final Exam (mandatory) | 25% |
| Total | 100% |
Open Learning Faculty Member Information
An Open Learning Faculty Member is available to assist students. Students will receive the necessary contact information at the start of the course.
