French grammar and spelling

Teacher(s)

Simon Anne-Catherine;

Language

French

Main themes

The course aims to develop the mastery of French grammar and orthography in their current standards. It trains professionals in the French language, who have both a technical mastery of the norm and a capacity for critical reflection on the creation, diffusion and development of this norm. The understanding and good use of reference works (grammars and dictionaries) are part of this learning process.  

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Master the  standard spelling of a list of frequently used French words (5,000 to 6,000 words);
2	Outline the characteristic features of the French writing system and situate them within a historical and critical perspective;
3	Master the morphology of the verb and all the rules of agreement for verbs, nouns and adjectives;
4	Distinguish and name categories of words and identify through analysis what functions these categories are able to perform in simple sentences;
5	Analyse the constituent parts of complex sentences;
6	Understand and apply systematically the rules of prescriptive grammar;
7	Develop critical thinking on the norm and its application.
This learning unit contributes to the development and command of the following skills and learning outcomes of the ELAL programmes: 3.5; 6.4.

Content

The course aims to help students acquire the rules of French lexical and grammatical spelling, the ability to identify the grammatical categories of words in use and to analyse the functions of syntactic groups in simple and complex sentences. This learning is also based on the consultation of reference grammars of French.
The course will focus in particular on the following points
- lexical spelling: rules of the 1990 rectified spelling, double consonants, historical consonants, plurals of compound nouns, etc.
- grammatical categories (definition, use): noun, determiner, adjective, adverb, pronoun, verb, preposition, conjunction, interjection (word-phrase), introducer
- rules of agreement in the group and in the sentence
- definitions of the sentence
- functions in simple and complex sentences (including subordinate clauses)
- typography (capitals) and punctuation
- development of a reflective approach in relation to the norm, grammatical terminology and reference grammars

Teaching methods

Lecture (including Wooclap exercices) and exercice sessions.

Evaluation methods

The assessment takes the form of a questionnaire consisting of two series of questions: 

• Series 1 (basic questions): 40 questions worth 0.75 pts each (for a total of 30 pts). 
• Series 2 (advanced questions): 10 questions worth 2 points each (20 points in total). 

For each questionnaire, the score is calculated as follows: 
If 80% of the answers in series 1 are correct, the mark for the questionnaire is calculated by adding the points obtained for series 1 and 2. 
Below the threshold of 80% correct answers for series 1, the student receives a fail mark (7/20) for that session. 
The arrangements are identical to those for the January, June and August sessions. 

Other information

N/A

Online resources

Moodle

Bibliography

Ouvrages de référence (à consulter)

• ABEILLE, A. & D. GODARD. 2021. Grande grammaire du français. Paris-Arles: Actes Sud, Imprimerie Nationale. (disponible en ligne via le site des bibliothèques)
• Encyclopédie grammaticale du français: http://www.encyclogram.fr/util/accueil.php (encyclopédie en ligne)
• GREVISSE, M., GOOSSE, A. Le bon usage. Grammaire française, Bruxelles, De Boeck-Duculot, 2016.  
   

Teaching materials

• Fairon, C. & A.C. Simon. 2024. Le petit bon usage de la langue française. (2e édition). Louvain-la-Neuve: De Boeck Supérieur (disponible à la DUC)
• Dictionnaire récent ex. Le Petit Robert de la langue française 2025
• Liste de 5000 mots courants en français (disponible sur Moodle)

Faculty or entity

> ELAL