LilacBush
ACADEMIC ENGLISH FOR TEENS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Key course info
Learning mode Online (with 9 live lessons)
Duration 9 weeks
Time commitment 4-5 hours per week
Live online classes Once a week, 1 hour
Start dates 16 April 2026 at 16:00 GMT
Benefits 9 intensive lessons
Max 4 students per group Immidiate application to your
coursework
Cost
$550
COURSE
Building Academic Sentences
Strategic Sentence Construction
Take control of academic sentence construction. Learn how subjects and predicates work, how to extend them, and when to choose each structure purposefully.
Key course info
Learning mode Online (with 9 live lessons)
Duration 9 weeks
Time commitment 4-5 hours per week
Live online classes Once a week, 1 hour
Start dates
16 April 2026 16:00 GMT
Benefits
9 intensive lessons
Max 4 students per group
Immidiate application to your coursework
Cost
$550
Key course info
Learning mode Online (with 9 live lessons)
Duration 9 weeks
Time commitment 4-5 hours per week
Live online classes Once a week, 1 hour
Start dates 16 April 2026 at 16:00 GMT
Benefits 9 intensive lessons
Max 4 students per group
Immidiate application to your coursework
Cost
$550
You learned to identify subjects and predicates in elementary school. You can probably look at a sentence like "The researcher conducted the study" and correctly identify "the researcher" as the subject and "conducted the study" as the predicate. So why would you need an entire course on something you already know? Here is what most students should realize: identification is only the beginning. Academic writing does not require you to recognize subjects and predicates - it requires you to construct them purposefully. You need to know when to use a gerund phrase as a subject versus a noun clause. You need to extend subjects with precision to specify exactly what you are discussing. You need to choose between five different verb patterns based on what you want to express. You need to build predicates that show complex relationships through objects, complements, and adverbials - and you need to do all of this while maintaining grammatical accuracy with agreement, verb forms, and clause structures. Developing the knowledge and skills that cover these needs is what this course addresses.
Why This Matters for Students
For University Success: When you arrive at university with this mastery, you can focus your energy on developing arguments, conducting research, and engaging with disciplinary content, rather than struggling with how to construct sentences that express your thinking clearly. Competitive academic programs (IB, A-Levels, AP courses) and international examinations (IELTS Academic, TOEFL) all evaluate your sentence construction sophistication. Examiners look for varied subject forms, appropriate use of different verb patterns, strategic extension of both subjects and predicates, and consistent grammatical accuracy. Strong sentence construction skills directly impact your scores and your acceptance into selective programs.
For Current Coursework: If you are receiving feedback about "unclear writing," "awkward phrasing," or "confusing sentence structure," the problem often is how you are constructing the sentences that express your ideas. Mastering subject and predicate construction solves these problems. You learn to build subjects that clearly establish your topic, choose verb patterns appropriate to what you need to express, extend predicates to add necessary information, and maintain agreement and structural accuracy throughout. This transforms feedback from "confusing" and "unclear" to comments on your argument quality and evidence use - the substantive issues that actually advance your thinking.
For English Language Mastery: True command of academic English requires more than vocabulary expansion and verb tenses mastery - it requires understanding how English sentences work as a system. Understanding of sentence architecture strengthens all aspects of your English use. It represents a crucila milestone in your English development: the ability to construct sentences deliberately rather than instinctively, to chose among many grammatical options based on the communication purpose, and to extend basic structures to express complex ideasclearly and accurately.
What Makes This Course Different
Focus on Subjects and Predicates. While most grammar courses teach subjects and predicates as isolated identification exercises, this course treats them as the fundamental architecture of every sentence you write. We learn what subjects and predicates are and, most importantly, how to construct them strategically with varied forms, how to extend them for precision and clarity, and how to maintain grammatical accuracy as complexity increases. This focus on the core elements of sentence construction provides the foundation for all sophisticated academic writing.
Meaning-Focused Approach. It connects sentence construction choices to meaning and reader understanding. You learn how choosing a gerund phrase versus a noun clause as subject changes your sentence's focus, how different verb patterns require different structures and serve different purposes, and how extending subjects and predicates affects emphasis and clarity. Structural choices shoud not be arbitrary grammar rules - they are intellectual decisions that shape how we present our ideas.
Comprehensive Yet Accessible. The course covers everything from five subject forms through predicate extension with complement clauses and adverbials, but presents concepts in clear, understandable language with thorough explanations. You are treated as an intelligent learner capable of understanding complex language concepts, not a student who needs oversimplified rules. This combination of theoretical depth with practical application helps develop genuine mastery, not surface-level competence.
Academic Context Throughout. The examples, exercises, and applications use authentic academic writing contexts from subjects like biology, history, literature, psychology, and social sciences. You are working with the kind of complex ideas you actually encounter in academic reading and need to express in your own writing. Every practice session develops both grammatical skill and academic discourse competence simultaneously.
Discipline-Specific Awareness. Different academic disciplines have different conventions for sentence construction. Sciences often favor passive constructions and noun-heavy subjects; humanities tend toward more varied structures and active voice. This course teaches you to recognize these patterns and adapt your sentence construction strategically to different academic contexts. You learn not just how to build sentences correctly, but how to match your construction choices to disciplinary expectations and genre requirements.
Course Overview
Building Academic Sentences: Strategic sentence Construction is an 9-week course which provides deep training in constructing and extending subjects and predicates for academic writing. Starting from understanding what forms subjects can take, then moving to mastering predicate construction with verb phrases, objects, complements, and adverbials, you will develop the sentence-level control that distinguishes clear and precise academic prose. Through nine lessons combining theoretical understanding with extensive practice, you will build the foundational sentence construction skills expected at university level and essential for expressing complex ideas with clarity and sophistication.
What You Will Master
Subject Forms and Their Purposeful Usage
You will master the five forms subjects can take in academic writing and learn when and why to choose each form based on your communicative purpose. A simple noun ("Democracy") creates direct focus on an established concept. A gerund phrase ("Analyzing statistical data") treats a process as your topic. A noun clause ("What researchers discovered") makes an entire proposition the subject of discussion. Understanding these strategic purposes allows you to construct subjects that focus readers exactly where you want them..
Subject Extension Methods
You will master three methods for extending subjects: pre-modification, post-modification, and embedding. You will learn not just how to add detail, but how to add it strategically, understanding when pre-modification creates integrated specification, when post-modification allows substantial elaboration, and when to stop adding information to maintain clarity. This control over extension allows you to achieve precision without sacrificing readability.
Subject-Verb Agreement in Complex Structures
You will master agreement rules specifically relevant to extended subjects: ignoring intervening phrases to find the true head noun, handling gerunds and infinitives, managing noun clauses, working with quantifiers that depend on their referents, and treating collective nouns according to academic conventions. You will understand the logic behind each pattern, which prevents errors even in sentences you construct for the first time.
Verb Patterns and Their Structural Requirements
You will learn the five essential verb patterns for academic writing: intransitive, transitive, ditransitive, linking , and complex transitive. These verbs are not interchangeable, and each type determines what must follow it structurally. This knowledge prevents common errors like adding objects to intransitive verbs or omitting required complements, while giving you strategic control over sentence construction choices.
Indirect Objects in Academic Contexts
You will develop thorough understanding of indirect objects: how to identify them in complex sentences where boundaries blur, when to use the IO + DO order versus DO + to/for construction, how to extend indirect objects for precision while maintaining clarity, and which verbs take indirect objects and which do not. Academic writing frequently requires you to express who receives or benefits from actions ("This approach gives researchers a framework"), and mastering indirect objects allows you to do this with sophistication and variety.
Predicate Extension Through Objects and Complements
You will learn to distinguish objects from complements, understanding that this distinction matters for both grammatical accuracy and strategic construction. You will master direct objects and their extension, subject complements after linking verbs, object complements that complete complex transitive patterns, and complement clauses that allow you to report research, cite sources, and integrate multiple perspectives smoothly into your arguments.
Predicate Extension Through Adverbials
You will develop control over extending predicates through adverbials at three levels: single-word adverbs, adverbial phrases, and adverbial clauses. You will master strategic placement of adverbials for different emphatic effects and learn to combine multiple adverbials without creating confusion or excessive complexity.
Integration and Application
You will develop a decision-making framework for applying everything you have learned: when to use simple versus extended subjects, how to choose among five verb patterns, when to extend predicates through objects versus complements versus adverbials, and how to balance precision with clarity. You will learn systematic revision strategies for improving your own sentence construction, identifying patterns of error or monotony, and making strategic improvements. These skills ensure you can use subjects and predicates correctly and strategically and effectively across all academic writing.
This course is designed for motivated school students (15-18) and beginning university students, both audiences at B1+ (intermediate) level or higher, who want to develop sentence construction skills for academic coursework in English or for mastering English for general purposes.
This course is particularly valuable for students planning to study at English-speaking universities who need sentence construction skills before beginning coursework, students in rigorous academic programs (IB, A-Levels, AP) where writing quality affects performance across all subjects, students preparing for international examinations (IELTS Academic, TOEFL) that evaluate sentence construction sophistication, current university students seeking to improve essay and research paper quality by strengthening foundational skills, students receiving feedback about "unclear writing," "awkward phrasing," or "sentence structure problems" who want to address these issues systematically, and English language learners at B1+ level who have intermediate grammar knowledge but want to extend it to a higher level.
To succeed in this course, you should have:
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B1+ (Intermediate Strong) English proficiency or higher, with comfortable reading and writing abilities in English. You should be able to read academic-style texts without struggling with every sentence and write paragraphs expressing your ideas, even if you are still developing sophistication and accuracy.
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Understanding of basic sentence structure, including subjects, verbs, objects, and how simple sentences are constructed. You should be able to identify these elements in straightforward sentences and understand their basic functions.
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Familiarity with parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions) and their functions in sentences. You do not need advanced grammatical terminology, but you should recognize these categories and understand their general purposes.
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Experience writing paragraphs and essays in English, even if you are still developing these skills. This course focuses on sentence-level construction, so you should already have some practice composing connected texts, not be writing your first English sentences.
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Basic knowledge of clauses and phrases, ideally including some exposure to dependent clauses or compound sentences. You do not need mastery, but you should understand that sentences can contain multiple clauses and that some clauses depend on others.
Not suitable if: You struggle with basic sentence construction, have difficulty reading English paragraphs comfortably, or are below B1+ proficiency level.
This course uses a precision-first methodology that emphasizes understanding concepts thoroughly before applying them. You should be:
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Comfortable with detailed explanations and systematic learning
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Willing to engage with theory and strategic thinking, not just practice exercises
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Prepared to allocate 3-4 hours per lesson for reading, practice, and reflection
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Motivated to work in class and independently with comprehensive self-study materials
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Teaching Approach
LilacBush courses values deep understanding of concepts. Each lesson explains the underlying principles that govern how particular concepts, conventions, structures, formats, and organizational patterns work and achieve specific effects. This thorough theoretical foundation allows you to make intelligent decisions about which tool to use in new situations you have not explicitly studied, developing the kind of understanding that transfers across contexts and strengthens your ability to write effectively in any academic genre or discipline.
LilacBush courses are built on the principle that serious learners benefit from appropriate theoretical explanations. Each course provides thorough, grounded explanations of how different writing formats, organizational structures, and language patterns function in academic contexts - why chronological organization serves some processes while cause-and-effect structure serves others, why some contexts require formal passive voice while others benefit from active constructions, why particular transitional phrases signal different relationships between ideas. This theory-based approach respects your intelligence and analytical capabilities, treating you as a serious learner who can understand how writing formats and structures create meaning. The result is deeper, more durable learning that empowers you to select and use appropriate formats confidently and strategically, not just follow memorized patterns that work only in familiar contexts.
We learn language and organizational structures as meaning-making systems where every choice serves a communicative purpose. You learn to think about organizational structures, sentence patterns, transitional phrases, and format choices the way skilled writers do: as tools that control what readers focus on, how information is hierarchized, what receives emphasis, how clearly relationships are expressed, and how effectively our message is delivered. Understanding that different formats exist for different purposes - that instructions are structured differently than explanations, that scientific writing follows different conventions than historical analysis - helps you become a flexible, strategic writer who can adapt approach and format based on purpose, audience, and disciplinary context.
With a maximum of 4 students per group, we secure the thorough attention and personalized guidance that truly effective learning requires. This deliberately small format allows the instructor to review each student's work carefully, providing grounded, developmental feedback that addresses your specific writing challenges and builds on your particular strengths. It also allows the instructor to keep your needs in mind when planning and organizing the work of the group during the course. Unlike generic instructions that could apply to anyone, you receive instruction adapted to your current level - whether you need more foundational support with organizational basics or are ready for more sophisticated challenges with complex format applications. Throughout the course, your instructor tracks your individual development, identifying patterns in your progress, anticipating where you might need additional support, and adjusting guidance to ensure you're building skills systematically.
How the Course Works
How We Learn
This distant learning course is delivered fully online. You can learn anywhere. Live lessons are delivered through Lessonspace, where each group has a dedicated classroom throughout the course. Course materials are located on Canvas. Instructions on how to use both the platforms are sent upon enrollment. Both the platforms are available 24/7, so you can log in and study when and where it suits you.
Live Sessions
Live lessons are scheduled weekly on the same day and time (e.g., Wednesday at 3 PM GMT) and take 60 minutes of intense learning in a small group (up to 4 students). The group is permanent throughout the course.
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Learn and practice applying concepts from that week's lesson
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Receive personalized feedback on your progress
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Ask questions and work through challenges
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Learn from an experiences tutor, your peers' questions and examples
Independent Study
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Read the Student's Book with detailed explanationsof the material covered during the live lesson to deepen your knowledge (approximately 20-30 pages)
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Take end-of-lesson quiz to check understanding
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Complete Workbook exercises with guided practice and submit for assessment and personalized feedback (typically 10-15 exercises per lesson)
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Reflect on application to your own writing
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Review your peers work (optional) to learn from your peers
Your Instructor
You will learn from a dedicated educator and benefit from her expertise in developing academic English skills and nurturing cohorts of successful international students. She will provide you with first-class teaching, guidance and support throughout the course, as well as individualized feedback and ways of further improvement.
Missing a live lesson must be an exception, rather than a rule. If a student must miss a lesson, they learn the lesson material by the Student's Book - the material in each lesson is designed to be easily understood by a self-paced learner. Despite the missed lesson, the exercises which are compulsory for submission and feedback are required to be submitted in due time.
If you must miss a lesson, we strongly advise and require that you (or people you trust) contact your tutor as early as possible so she can suggest a personalized action plan for you to still cover the topic seamlessly and ensure the necessary skills are gained.
If you tutor must miss a live lesson, she will notify your group as early as possible and suggest alternative dates and times.
Your progress will be assessed during live classes, through checking your individual work from workbooks, and self-assessment quizes. There is an option of peer review, though it is upon the student's discretion whether to share their work with others.
Some workbook tasks develop the necessary skills but do not require submission and assessment. Other tasks (3-5 per lesson) will have set deadlines (usually at least 24 hours before the next live lesson) and are expected to be submitted for the tutor's check and feedback. Assignments are submitted through Canvas.
This course consists of 9 lessons delivered over 9 weeks. It takes approximately 36-45 hours of study totally over 9 weeks, that is 4-5 hours per week (a 1-hour online session and 3-4 hours of independent work). This is an indicative guide for a typical student to achieve the learning goals. This time includes online lessons, time for independent study , self-assessment and reflection.
Your tutor is always here to help. Support from your tutor is available through Canvas, your group chat in WhatsApp, email, and one-on-one, depending on the type of support you need. The enrollment package you will receive upon enrollment details the support provided along with suggested means of communication.
What's Included
Comprehensive Learning Materials:
9 Student's Books (one per lesson)
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15-25 pages each of in-depth instruction
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Clear explanations of the techniquesand why they work
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Worked examples with before/after comparisons
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Grounded in actual academic scenarios across disciplines
9 Workbooks (one per lesson)
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Diagnostic exercises to identify your specific challenges
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Guided practice building from identification to application
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Revision exercises using real academic writing samples
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Progressive difficulty - each exercise builds on the last
9 End-of-Lesson Quizzes
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Check your understanding of key concepts
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Immediate feedback on common misconceptions
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Identify areas needing review before moving forward
Reflection Questions for Each Lesson
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Connect concepts to your own writing patterns
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Plan specific applications to upcoming assignments
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Develop metacognitive awareness of your writing process
Live Instruction & Support:
9 Live Sessions
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1 hour per week
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Personalized feedback on your writing
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Real-time practice and application
Direct Access to Instructor
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Ask questions during live sessions
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Get clarification on concepts between sessions
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Receive feedback on writing samples
Cost & Enrollment
Course Cost: $550
Choose Your Payment Plan
Both plans include the full Building Academic Sentences: Strategic Sentence Construction course experience
Option 1: Pay in Full
$550 one-time payment when you enroll
Option 2: Split Payment
Two payments of $275 each
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First payment: After the introductory call
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Second payment: Beginning of Week 4 (Lesson 4)
Money-Back Guarantee
We are confident that our courses transform your academic experience. If you complete Lesson 2 and feel this course is not right for you, contact us within the second week for a full refund.
Interested in taking this course privately? Contact us to discuss this option.
Interested in the course but unable to attend on the scheduled day and time? Contact us to leave your preferred days and times.
What Comes After You Apply
1. Introductory video call: Your tutor will write you to schedule a 15-minute introductory video call at mutually convenient time
2. Payment: We will send you the invoice for payment
3. Welcome email: Details about your assigned group, live session schedule, and how to prepare for the first session
4. Access to course platforms and materials: You will receive login credentials to the course platforms and can start reading available materials.
5. Week before start: Reminder email with technical setup instructions and what to expect in the first live session.
6. Throughout the course: Weekly reminders, access to new materials, and support as needed
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