University of WashingtonContact Us
Beginning Academic English
  Overview
» Course Details
  What to Expect
  How to Register
 Photo
"I took the Campus English Language Program in summer and I wanted to take fall quarter, but I could not do that, so I took this. My friends are still learning at the UW, and I didn't want to fall behind. At first, this program was so hard for me because I have a full time job and I didn't have enough time. But I have enjoyed it very much. Thank you for helping to improve my English."
- An office worker in Tokyo

Course Details

The purpose of this class is to improve your grammar and vocabulary in English for academic contexts. If you do well in this class, you will be better prepared to do well in courses where English is the medium of instruction.

» Target Goals
  Sample Course Schedule
Cost
Course Fees $690
(subject to change)  
Nonrefundable registration fee $35
 
Total $725
Target Goals
By the end of this course, you should be able to do the following:

  • identify these parts of speech in sentences: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, descriptive adverbs (including comparative and superlative forms), prepositions, and modal auxiliaries

  • identify subjects, verb phrases, objects, object of prepositions, and prepositional phrases

  • state the number of clauses in a sentence

  • identify and correct incomplete sentences and comma splices

  • recognize and name the four basic verb tenses: simple present, simple past, present continuous, and past continuous

  • recognize and name four perfect tenses: present perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous

  • recognize common errors in meanings of modals

  • recognize noncount and count nouns

  • recognize the meanings of level 1 words or phrases from the University List, a compilation of the most common sub-technical vocabulary in academic textbooks

  • identify and correct incomplete sentences and comma splices

  • recognize and correct incorrect expressions of future time

  • recognize and correct impossible verb forms

  • recognize and correct incorrect modal constructions
You should also be able to control these structures:

  • existential there and false subject it

  • fragments, run-ons, and comma splices

  • simple present, present continuous, simple past, and past continuous in a paragraph

  • subject-verb agreement

  • irregular verbs

  • present perfect and present perfect continuous with for and since

  • causatives

  • gerunds and infinitives as subjects and as objects of verbs and prepositions

  • the list of common noncount nouns

  • the "singular count noun cannot go bare" rule

  • plural -s

 Top