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 teach the rules of French spelling and grammar, 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 based on consulting reference grammars of French.
The course will focus in particular on the following points
-    definition of simple and complex sentences
-    functions in simple and complex sentences; subordinate clauses
-    rules of agreement within the group and within the sentence
-    grammatical categories (definition, usage): verb, noun, determiner, adjective, adverb, pronoun, preposition, conjunction, interjection
-    lexical spelling: rules of the 1990 spelling reform, double consonants, historical consonants, plurals of compound nouns, etc.
- typography (capital letters) and punctuation
- development of a reflective approach to standards, grammatical terminology and reference grammars (descriptive and prescriptive)

Teaching methods

Lecture (including Wooclap exercices) and exercice sessions.

Evaluation methods

The assessment consists of two sets of questions: 
•    A set of multiple-choice questions
•    A set of questions requiring analysis and justification
The mark is calculated as follows: 
If 70% 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
If the student scores less than 70% correct answers for series 1, they will receive a failing grade for this session.
The maximum duration of the examination is 1 hour 30 minutes. The procedures may not be identical to those for the 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

Faculty or entity

> ELAL