The middle school curriculum continues the study of language arts: grammar, vocabulary acquisition, writing, and literature. The faculty maintains a largely prescriptionist approach to the study of grammar and syntax and, to this end, grammar is approached in a rigorous, systematic way. Sentence parsing and diagramming are frequently employed to demonstrate the organization of grammatical constructs. As the curriculum progresses, students will be expected to write longer essays about a variety of topics incorporating a more varied lexicon and complex grammatical forms. They will be graded on both style and content. Additionally, students will apply all of their language arts skills to analyzing and criticizing great English language works.