Use of English I

The route

Lessons are in the order that makes each one easier than the last. Each unit ends with a short quiz.

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   Unit 1

   Study Skills

   Secondary school rewarded cramming. Higher education rewards a system for managing time, reading with purpose and keeping notes.
   1. Study Skills and Time ManagementFree Secondary school rewarded cramming. Higher education rewards a system, and you can build one this week. 9 min
   3. Reading Skills and Reading Speed You don't read a bus timetable the way you read a love letter. Good readers change gear on purpose. 10 min
   4. The SQ3R Reading Method and Reading Comprehension Five letters that turn a heavy textbook chapter into something you actually remember. 10 min
   5. Note-Taking and Note-Making Your memory is a leaky bucket. Notes are the lid, and there is more than one way to make one. 10 min
   6. Unit 1 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 2 Full plan

   Library and Information Use

   How to find the right source fast, read a call number, use reference works, and give every borrowed idea its credit.
   1. Types of Library and Library Resources Google gives you a million answers in a second. A library gives you the right one, and tells you who wrote it. 9 min
   2. The Library Catalogue and Classification Schemes Every book in the library has an address. Learn to read it and you will never wander the shelves again. 10 min
   3. Use of the Dictionary and Reference Materials A good dictionary tells you far more than what a word means, if you know where on the page to look. 9 min
   4. Plagiarism, Citation and Referencing Borrowing ideas is how scholarship works. Hiding that you borrowed them is how careers end. 10 min
   5. Unit 2 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 3 Full plan

   Parts of Speech and Sentence Structure

   What language is, and how English builds words into phrases, clauses and sentences you can label with confidence.
   1. The Nature of Language and the Uses of English in Nigeria Over 500 languages are spoken in Nigeria, yet a lecture in Sokoto and a court case in Calabar run in the same one. Why? 9 min
   2. Parts of Speech A word is not a noun or a verb by birth. It becomes one by the job it does in a sentence. 10 min
   3. Phrases and Clauses Words team up into phrases, phrases into clauses, and clauses into sentences. Spot the teams and grammar stops being a mystery. 9 min
   4. Sentence Types and Sentence Structure Every sentence can be classified twice, once by how it is built and once by what it does. 10 min
   5. Unit 3 quiz7 questions on this unit 9 min
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   Unit 4 Full plan

   Concord, Punctuation, Spelling and Common Errors

   The handful of rules behind most red-pen marks, from subject–verb agreement and the apostrophe to "borrow me your pen".
   1. Subject–Verb Agreement (Concord) The news is good, the scissors are blunt, and neither the students nor the lecturer was late. Here is the logic behind each one. 10 min
   2. Punctuation One comma separates "Let's eat, Grandma!" from "Let's eat Grandma!", and spares a very worried grandmother. 10 min
   3. Spelling and Word Formation (Affixation) English spelling looks lawless, but most of it follows a few rules, and the rest you can learn in families. 10 min
   4. Idioms and Figures of Speech When someone "kicks the bucket", no bucket is harmed. Welcome to the part of English that refuses to mean what it says. 9 min
   5. Common Errors in Nigerian English In Enugu, "Borrow me your pen" makes perfect sense. In a formal letter, it is a mistake. 11 min
   6. Unit 4 quiz8 questions on this unit 10 min
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   Unit 5 Full plan

   Paragraph and Essay Writing

   One idea per paragraph, the right type of essay for the question, and a plan that keeps you on the point.
   1. The Paragraph: Structure and Qualities A paragraph is a promise. The first sentence makes it; every other sentence keeps it. 7 min
   2. Methods of Paragraph Development and Ordering of Details A topic sentence is only a seed. These are the ways to grow it into a full paragraph. 9 min
   3. Types of Essay Tell a story, paint a picture, explain a process or win an argument. Each essay type has its own job and its own rules. 10 min
   4. The Essay Writing Process Good essays are not written in one go. They are planned, drafted and fixed, even when you have only 45 minutes. 10 min
   5. Unit 5 quiz6 questions on this unit 8 min
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   Unit 6 Full plan

   Summary Writing and Letter Writing

   Say less without missing what matters, and dress every letter correctly for its reader.
   1. Summary Writing Saying less, but missing nothing that matters, is one of the most useful skills you will ever learn. 11 min
   2. Formal Letters A formal letter is judged before it is read, by its layout. Get the frame right and the reader takes your message seriously. 10 min
   3. Informal and Semi-Formal Letters Writing to your cousin in Maiduguri and to your old principal are both personal letters, but they are not dressed the same. 10 min
   4. Unit 6 quiz6 questions on this unit 8 min

Practise and remember