The Timpson Lyceum · Beginning Grammar (2026)
Syllabus
A Complete Course in English Grammar & Composition
Docendo Discimus — "by teaching, we learn." After Harvey's Elementary Grammar & Composition (1880).
The Course
Grammar is the study of how words are put together to say true and exact things. Over four quarters we work straight through the parts of speech — first meeting each one, then returning to study it in depth — and finish with sentence analysis, syntax, and punctuation. Nineteen lessons, one per week, each drawn from a single classic text and paired with a recorded lecture, an in-app drill, and its own place in the schedule below.
The aim is not to memorize rules but to apply them: to look at any sentence and name what every word is doing in it.
How You're Graded
| Category | What it is | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Homework | Acing the 19 lesson drills (pass / no-credit) | 25% |
| Midterm | Papers I & II | 25% |
| Final | Papers III & IV | 25% |
| Attendance | Watching the lecture videos | 10% |
| Quizzes | Short per-lecture quizzes | 10% |
| Comprehensive Exam | The Grammar Gauntlet | 5% |
| Total | 100% |
- Homework is pass / no-credit. Each of the nineteen lessons has a drill; a flawless 30-question run aces the lesson and earns full credit for it. There is no partial credit and no penalty for retrying — ace it whenever you're ready, before that quarter's paper.
- Papers are the exams. The two papers in the first half form your Midterm; the two in the second half form your Final. There is no separate written test.
- Attendance is watching. Credit is earned by watching each lecture; short quizzes follow the lectures.
The Schedule
Twenty-four weeks, four quarters. Each quarter closes with a paper; the year ends with the Grammar Gauntlet.
Quarter I — Foundations & the First Parts of Speech (Weeks 1–6)
| Wk | Lesson | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lesson 1 · Foundations — objects, words, sentences, propositions, and the four kinds of sentences | pp. 7–12 |
| 2 | Lesson 2 · The Noun — common & proper nouns, plurals, abbreviations, contractions, and sentence parts | pp. 13–23 |
| 3 | Lesson 3 · The Verb — action, being & state; transitive, intransitive & copulative; common verb mistakes | pp. 24–30 |
| 4 | Lesson 4 · Adjectives & Participles — the two kinds of adjectives, a/an, participles, and participial nouns | pp. 31–41 |
| 5 | Lesson 5 · The Pronoun — personal & possessive pronouns, the three persons, apostrophes, and appositives | pp. 42–51 |
| 6 | Paper I — A Significant Experience — narrative essay; counts toward the Midterm | 750–1k wds |
Quarter II — Completing the Parts of Speech (Weeks 7–12)
| Wk | Lesson | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Lesson 6 · Relative & Interrogative Pronouns — relative clauses, antecedents, who/which/what, and pronoun mistakes | pp. 52–56 |
| 8 | Lesson 7 · The Adverb — how/when/where/how much; what adverbs modify; adverbial clauses; adverb mistakes | pp. 57–61 |
| 9 | Lesson 8 · Prepositions & Phrases — prepositional phrases, adjective vs. adverbial phrases, infinitives, misplaced modifiers | pp. 62–66 |
| 10 | Lesson 9 · Conjunctions — conjunction vs. preposition, compound elements, and the series comma | pp. 67–69 |
| 11 | Lesson 10 · Building Sentences & the Interjection — simple/compound/complex sentences, clauses, and the eight parts of speech | pp. 70–77 |
| 12 | Paper II — Explain Something You Know Well — expository essay; with Paper I, forms the Midterm | 750–1k wds |
Quarter III — The Parts of Speech in Depth (Weeks 13–18)
| Wk | Lesson | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Lesson 11 · The Noun in Depth — gender, number & plurals, the four cases, and noun properties | pp. 79–87 |
| 14 | Lesson 12 · Pronouns & Adjectives in Depth — reflexives, who vs. whom, degrees of comparison, definitive adjectives | pp. 88–102 |
| 15 | Lesson 13 · The Verb in Depth I — voice, the five modes, the six tenses, and subject–verb agreement | pp. 103–108 |
| 16 | Lesson 14 · The Verb in Depth II — helping verbs, regular vs. irregular, principal parts, and progressive forms | pp. 109–121 |
| 17 | Lesson 15 · Adverbs to Interjections in Depth — the five classes of adverbs, comparing adverbs, classes of conjunctions | pp. 122–132 |
| 18 | Paper III — The Purpose of Education — argumentative essay; counts toward the Final | 750–1k wds |
Quarter IV — Analysis, Syntax & Mastery (Weeks 19–24)
| Wk | Lesson | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Lesson 16 · Advanced Analysis — ellipsis, simple vs. complete subject and predicate, and full sentence analysis | pp. 133–137 |
| 20 | Lesson 17 · Syntax & Letter-Writing — the case rules, the agreement rules, and the parts of a friendly letter | pp. 138–147 |
| 21 | Lesson 18 · Punctuation — end marks, the comma, and naming every mark from period to dash | pp. 148–154 |
| 22 | Lesson 19 · Irregular Verbs & Capitals — principal parts of irregular verbs, unipersonal verbs, and the capital-letter rules | pp. 156–160 |
| 23 | Paper IV — Homeschooling vs. Traditional School — compare & contrast; with Paper III, forms the Final | 1–1.5k wds |
| 24 | The Grammar Gauntlet — the comprehensive capstone; every concept, every part of speech, one pool | all |
The Four Papers
Four formal papers — one a quarter — are the writing behind your Midterm and Final. They are arranged to build on one another: first you tell, then explain, then argue, then judge — so that by the end writing has become an instrument for your thinking, not merely a set of grammatically correct sentences. Every paper is graded on clear organization, specific detail, and correct grammar, punctuation & spelling — after careful revision.
Paper I · Narrative — A Significant Experience Quarter 1 · Midterm · 750–1,000 words. Tell the story of an experience that had a real effect on you. Narrate it in order, with specific detail, and make clear not merely what happened but why it mattered and what you came to understand.
Paper II · Expository — Explain Something You Know Well Quarter 2 · Midterm · 750–1,000 words. Explain a subject you know well to a reader who knows nothing about it. Don't persuade — make it understood: define your terms, show how and why it works, and let each paragraph carry one part of the explanation.
Paper III · Argumentative — The Most Important Purpose of Education Quarter 3 · Final · 750–1,000 words. Answer one question — what is the most important purpose of education? — and defend the position you actually hold with reasons and evidence. Weigh at least one honest objection and answer it. A strong argument is reasoning, not just a firm opinion.
Paper IV · Compare · Contrast · Evaluate — Homeschooling vs. Traditional School Quarter 4 · Final · 1,000–1,500 words. Compare your year of homeschooling with your earlier years in a traditional school. Go past listing differences: explain why they mattered and how they shaped your learning, then judge honestly which is better suited to you, and why.
The Honor System
The lesson drills are built so that a passing score means you know the material, not the layout. Every attempt draws a fresh set of thirty questions from a larger pool, in random order, with the answer choices shuffled each time — nothing sits in the same place twice. Work honestly; the drills are yours to master, not to game.