Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab)
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Comprehensiveness: * * * * *

Ease of Navigation:* * * * *

Attractiveness:* * * *

This award-winning site is the Online Writing Lab most frequently linked to by other Web writing sites. It is comprehensive and very well done, with many useful links, including lots of grammar and style worksheets, and a set of PowerPoint downloads. I don't have an extensive written review of it, but only for lack of time--it is well worth exploring.

The Basic Elements of English: An Interactive Guide to Grammar

http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/grammar/

Comprehensiveness: * * * *

Ease of Navigation:* * * * *

Attractiveness:* * * *

This is one of the most detailed, comprehensive grammar sites that I found on the web. Well-organized, attractive and easily navigated, it rivals --only rivals--  Charles Darling's Capital Community College site in comprehensiveness, but lacks the charm.  

The best part of the site is the tutorials, which are divided into four major sections: Parts of Speech, Sentence Elements,  Punctuation, and Word Use

PARTS OF SPEECH  has 24 links that provide instruction and interactive practice exercises.

SENTENCE ELEMENTS has six subcategories containing 30 links and interactive exercises.

PUNCTUATION:  has eight subcategories, with 17 links and interactive exercises.

WORD USE:   has  four categories and accompanying interactive exercises.  Thus, this hyperlinked compendium of “traditional” grammar presents over 75 different interactive exercises of from 10-25 items each to reinforce concepts.

The Basic Elements of English: An Interactive Guide to Grammar is a companion to several other U. of Calgary websites:

The Effective Writing Detailed Marking Guide

Guide to Writing with sections on Inspiration Organization Composition Revision Presentation Correction.

An extensive Student’s Guide to the Presentation of Essays

These last two companion sites, though hyper-linked and cross-referenced, are not interactive--there are no quizzes or exercises.  Thus, these sites serve only as easily navigable, detailed electronic reference works.  However, they do offer easily accessible information that could prove very valuable to a writing/grammar course taught without its own text.

Of special interest is The Effective Writing Detailed Marking Guide.  It includes a comprehensive alphabetized list of hyperlinks in several different categories to explain 154 common writing errors Each section provides a chart of the errors and explanations for remediation, with some.  An instructor could use the coding system for markingthese errors on student essays and refer students to the web page for follow-up.

http://home.pct.edu/~evavra/indexGR.htm

Comprehensiveness: * * *

Ease of Navigation:* *

Attractiveness:* * * *

This unusual site will appeal to grammar lovers, and especially to teachers who think the teaching of grammar is an important art.  This guy loves grammar, loves teaching it, and has provided a whole lot of stuff on the web for it.  He spends a fair amount of time justifying the teaching  of grammar as indispensable to good writing, a proposition that would have been universally accepted 70 years ago, but now  is widely ridiculed as archaic and unrelated to learning to write well.  However, his approach is not traditional: he doesn't diagram sentences and he doesn't catalog all the grammatical elements. (See the "KISS" method, below.)

 An endearing feature of the site is the use of color art reproductions as 2-inch borders on many pages. These "classical art" pieces are annotated with links back to the web collections from which they were taken.  So, a student working through one of Vavra's grammar sites can, at the same time, take an art tour.  Some of the "study" pages also provide background music.

The site includes some materials for various courses Vavra teaches at Pennsylvania College of Technology, but they are designed for enrolled students.  In addition, you can find

This is the only self-instructional program for teachers of grammar that I found on the web.  (There may be others, but they missed my dragnet.) The "Keep It Short and Simple" method presents  a carefully sequenced set of lessons with lots of exercises and quizzes that cover

• Prepositional Phrases
• Subjects / Verbs / Complements
• Clauses [Subordinate and Main]
• Verbals [Gerunds, Gerundives, and Infinitives]
• Eight additional constructions
  

The lessons illustrate the different grammatical functions by use of color in the explanation of a passage, i.e., adjectives are in green; adverbs in blue.The goal, and Vavra claims almost 100% success with his students, is to be able to explain how every word in any sentence grammatically relates to the subject and verb.  This ability, he says, will provide students with the tools to write good sentences.

"KISS" Grammar is built on the assumption that if they are taught how sentences work, instead of the isolated rules they are traditionally taught, students will eventually not only eliminate most of their most serious writing errors, they will also be able to use their knowledge to evaluate the style and clarity of their writing.

In teaching, Vavra says, emphasis should be on the Instructional Material first, then on matters of style, and last (and only if necessary) on errors. Because his approach is not traditional, the teacher should probably work through the entire set of KISS materials before attempting to teach by this method.  (There is a very strong testimonial from a Latvian polyglot for the logic and sense of this method. You'll have to see for yourself.)

This is an extensive site, and, unfortunately, it is easy to get lost and confused.  Trying to find my way back to the page I left by using links on the page doesn't always work.  Sometimes I can only go back directly by using the back button. This is the one drawback to an otherwise excellent site for teachers who are interested n improving their own knowledge of grammar.

Paradigm Online Writing Assistant
http://www.powa.org/

Comprehensiveness: * * * * *

Ease of Navigation:* * * * *

Attractiveness:* * * * *

The Tongue Untied
http://grammar.uoregon.edu/toc.html

Comprehensiveness: * * * * *

Ease of Navigation:* * * * *

Attractiveness:* * * *

Subtitled "A Guide to Grammar, Punctuation and Style for Journalists," this is an entire semester's course, with weekly lessons and quizzes. It is designed as a "book" online for the course. Although it is for students taking specific courses at the University of Oregon, anyone can profit from working through some of the lessons.

Paradise Valley Community College Writer's Block. © 2001, MCCCD.
This page is maintained by Thomas Butler and was last modified on August 18, 2004 2:05 PM .
http://www.pvc.maricopa.edu/~butler/grammarsites.html