You can take the grammar test in the JCOM office on the third floor (AGRS 317). To arrange a time to take the grammar test or if you have any questions, please contact the JCOM office at deb.phillips@usu.edu.
In 1988, an American minister, author and part-time Utah resident name Robert Fulghum wrote a book called "All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten." In the book, Fulghum argues that the world would be a better place if everyone simply adhered to the same basic rules most people learn as children.
The problem with Fulghum's idea, of course, is that not every child learns the same rules - and our experiences, good and bad, all-to-often trump whatever simplistic rules we might once have learned.
As it turns out, that's a problem with collegiate student writing as well. Not everyone learned to write in the same way. Not everyone was taught the same rules. And even when the rules are taught, they're not often evenly enforced throughout a student's K-12 education.
But here’s the thing: To study in the Department of Journalism and Communication at Utah State University, students do need to know the rules — and not just the ones they were supposed to learn in kindergarten.
Some students are understandably concerned that their level of grammatical literacy might be a bit shy of what it should be as a college writer. That’s OK. Because while the department’s faculty does expect incoming students to have mastery of the English language above the level of a kindergartener, all incoming JCOM students really need to know they (should have) learned in the fifth grade.
That’s right. The fifth grade.
Below is a list of Common Core language arts standards for punctuation and grammar taught between kindergarten and the fifth grade, along with online tutorials from dozens of schools, programs and individuals. These tutorials can help ensure incoming JCOM students have a very basic knowledge of punctuation and grammar. Students who don’t have complete mastery over these elementary literacy skills should not enroll in any JCOM class until they have successfully remediated their difficulties.
PUNCTUATION
Recognize punctuation.
http://www.sophia.org/tutorials/grammar-basics-punctuation
Use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
http://grammartips.homestead.com/datecommas.html
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
Use commas for greetings and closings of letters.
http://writingresources.benchmarkeducation.com/pdfs/Gr2_U4_Mini20.pdf
Use apostrophes to form contractions and possessives.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/621/01/
Use commas in addresses.
http://www.dummies.com/education/language-arts/grammar/how-to-use-commas-in-addresses-and-dates/
Use commas in dialogue.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/01/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/quotation.htm
Use commas before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence
http://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/CoordConj.html
Use punctuation to separate items in a series.
http://classroom.synonym.com/punctuate-series-commas-semicolons-4708.html
Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas_intro.htm
CAPITALIZATION
Capitalize proper adjectives.
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/adjectives/what-is-a-proper-adjective.html
NOUNS
Form regular plural nouns by adding /s/ or /es/
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/spelling-plurals-with-s-es/
Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/commonnoun.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm
Use singular and plural nouns.
http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/singular-plural-nouns.aspx
Use collective nouns.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/collectivenoun.htm
Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns.
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/irrplu.htm
Explain the function of nouns and their function in particular sentences.
http://www.iscribe.org/english/noun.html
Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
http://www.grammar.cl/Notes/Plural_Nouns.htm
Use abstract nouns.
http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/nouns/Abstract-Nouns.html
Form singular and plural possessive nouns.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/possessives.htm
Use and identify nouns of direct address.
http://www.softschools.com/examples/grammar/nouns_of_direct_address_examples/59/
Recognize and identify nouns used as predicate nominatives
http://www.dailygrammar.com/Lesson-105-Predicate-Nominative.htm
Identify and use nouns as direct objects, indirect objects and objects of a preposition.
PRONOUNS
Use personal, possessive, indefinite, reflexive and relative pronouns. Explain the function of pronouns in general and in particular sentences.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm
VERBS
Explain function of verbs in general and their function in particular sentences. Use verbs to convey a sense of past, present and future. Use verb tense to convey various times, sequences, states and conditions. Recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tenses.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/601/01/
Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs. Form and use regular and irregular verbs. Form and use the progressive verb tenses.
http://www.chompchomp.com/rules/irregularrules01.htm
Form and use the simple verb tenses.
http://www.talkenglish.com/Grammar/simple-tense.aspx
Ensure subject-verb agreement.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/599/01/
Form and use the perfect and progressive verb tenses.
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/perfectforms/
Use modal auxiliaries.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/auxiliary.htm
PREPOSITIONS
Explain the function of prepositions in general and their function in particular sentences
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/prepositions.htm
Use frequently occurring prepositions.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/preposition_list.htm
Form and use prepositional phrases.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/prepositionalphrase.htm
ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS
Explain function of adjectives and adverbs in general and their function in complete sentences.
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/adjAdv.asp
Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs and choose between them depending on what is being modified.
http://college.cengage.com/english/raimes/digitalkeys/keyshtml/adject11.htm
Order adjectives within sentences according to conventional patterns.
http://www.grammar.cl/english/adjectives-word-order.htm
CONJUNCTIONS AND INTERJECTIONS
Use coordinating, subordinating and correlative conjunctions. Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm
Recognize and use interjections.
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/interjection.htm
SENTENCES
Produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory sentences. Produce, expand and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences.
http://www.pitt.edu/~atteberr/comp/0150/grammar/sentencetypes.html
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/complex-compound-sentences
Recognize and correct inappropriate fragments and run-ons.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/fragments.htm
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/runons.htm