Understanding Grammar for Powerful Communication

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I had been putting off listening to this course because although I had purchased it with the idea that learning more about grammar might be useful, I felt certain that it would be a long slog.

Totally wrong.

Professor Drout is an engaging and informative educator. He is, to be honest, extremely funny. I found myself eager to listen to the lectures, and along the way I found myself learning quite a bit, such as how to avoid the dreaded comma splice in this sentence by putting a comma before the “and.”

I've listened to Drout's courses on Anglo-Saxon history and the history of the English language. Both were equally entertaining and informative. Drout puts his ample knowledge of the history of language to good use by using history to explain why seemingly arbitrary rules of English grammar exist.

For example, I remember being a young lawyer and spending some time puzzling over the expression “If I were you.” Every logical circuit in my brain said that it should obviously be “if I was you,” and, yet. I knew that was somehow wrong. Eventually, I discovered that this was an example of the “subjunctive mood.” However, it wasn't until Drout that I learned that the “were” of this sentence is a fossil from the Old English subjunctive system and represents a word that language used to express a conditional state. Everything else is gone, but this one word remains.

Fascinating.

Likewise, I finally know what a dangling participle is.

Drout offers much information and lots of good advice. Besides, he's really funny. If you have any interest in language or writing, this is a great lecture series to listen to.