- The perfect combination of courses for polishing English language usage and learning how to write clear, well-organized business documents
- In-depth, individualized language and grammar course
- Business writing course contains four writing sample business writing examinations and twelve practice writing activities
- English language and grammar course goes through several writing samples to identify and provide individualized training
- Instructor provides individual attention to grammar training needs, especially nonnative writer issues
- Students receive only the specific language and grammar training they need
- Self-pacing, available from anywhere in the world
- Unlimited access to the instructor to ask business grammar questions
- Online quizzes containing sentences from the student’s original business writing sample
- Instructor is a college of business PhD professor
- Extensive feedback and coaching to enhance the language and grammar training
- Grammar course contains easily understood explanations of English language and grammar
- Tuition for the two courses: $595
Grammar Course and Writing Course Syllabuses:
The Individualized Business Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English course
The Individualized Business Writing for Nonnative Speakers of English course is for nonnative speakers of English who have a good command of the English language, but have basic problems in language and grammar resulting from speaking English as a second language. This grammar course is a tutorial, so it focuses on the student’s writing to teach the grammar and language skills the student needs to learn. The instructor reads samples of the student’s writing thoroughly, identifies grammar and language skills the student needs to learn, lists the sentences with problems in each area, corrects the sentences to show the student how they should have been written, assigns readings from the grammar textbook and online training materials, answers questions about the grammar and language, has the student practice the skills, and provides an online quiz containing sentences from the original writing sample the student must correct to be sure he or she has learned the grammar and language skills. This course includes unlimited access to the instructor.
You may purchase the grammar textbook we use from a bookseller such as Amazon.com. However, the textbook is not required for the course. You will use online training materials for the grammar training.
Language and Grammar Course Timeline
You will go through the language and grammar course at your own pace, so you could complete it within a few weeks. However, you have up to four months to complete the course so you can fit the study time into your schedule. All lessons must be finished within the four-month period.
Language and Grammar Course Content
You will send writing samples to your instructor. Your instructor will read each sample thoroughly, identify skills you need to learn, list the sentences with problems in each area with corrections showing how they should have been written, assign readings from the grammar textbook, answer any questions you have about the skill, have you practice the skill, and give you an online quiz containing sentences from your original writing sample that you must correct in ten minutes to be sure you have learned the skills. You have unlimited access to the instructor in the course.
Your instructor will look for issues in any of the following areas and give you the language and grammar training you need:
Abbreviations • Active Voice • Adverbs • Affect – Effect • Apostrophes to Show Possession • Articles • Bolding • Capitalization • Colloquialisms • Colons • Commas and Periods with Quotation Marks • Comma Overuse • Commas in a Series • Commas with “However,” “Therefore,” “Thus” • Commas with Coordinate Adjectives • Commas with Coordinating Conjunctions • Commas with Dates, States, Addresses, and Numbers • Commas with Introductory Elements • Commas with Nonrestrictive Appositives • Commas with Nonrestrictive Elements • Commas with Parenthetical Elements • Commonly Confused Word Pairs • Conciseness • Consistency • Contractions • Dangling and Misplaced Modifiers • Ellipses • Errors Unique to Your Writing • Formatting • Fragment Sentences • Gerunds, Infinitives, and Participles • Hyphens and Dashes • Hyphens with Compound Adjectives • Hyphens with Numbers • Hyphens with Prefixes and Compound Words • Idioms and Word Usage • Inversions • Lists • Modal Auxiliary Verbs • Mood Shift • Number (Singular or Plural) • Numbers Format • Omitting Space or Inserting Too Much Space • Parallelism in Lists and Sentences • Parentheses • Passive Voice • Periods • Plurals • Prepositions • Pronoun Reference • Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement Pronouns • Proofreading • Questions • Quotation Marks • Run-on Sentences • Run-on sentences Using “Therefore,” “However” • Semicolons • Simple Sentence Structures • Simple Vocabulary • Slashes • Spelling • Subject/Verb Agreement • Tense Endings • Tense Shifts • Tense • “There,” “Their,” and “They’re,” • Using Case Correctly • Using Key Words • “Whom,” “That,” and “Which” • Word Choice • Word Omitted • Word Unnecessary • Wordiness • Wording Problems
BWC210 Business Writing Skills
The Business Writing Skills course teaches the best practices business people must know to be able to create clear, effective, professional business writing, including e-mail, memos, letters, and reports. The Business Writing Skills course teaches a structured approach to writing that makes writing easier and guides readers through the content. Graduates report that they receive high praise for their business writing, and other employees begin to copy their style.
The course contains 12 business writing practice activities and four competency examinations. The online lessons contain clear explanations and many examples. You go at your own pace and submit business writing assignments when you are ready. The instructor evaluates the activities and examinations, comments on skills learned and skills that still need polish, coaches you through learning the business writing skills, and certifies your competence. You receive a Business Writing Skills course graduation certificate for framing at the end of the course.
Pre-write
- Follow email protocol.
- Set goals.
- Choose strategies based on the goals and readers.
Prepare the Information.
- Learn how to overcome writer’s block.
- Prepare notes for your email, memo, letter, or report.
Organize the Writing.
- Have an organizational pattern in mind.
- Use special organizational patterns for some messages.
Introduce the Content.
- For emails and memos, always write a clear, meaningful subject line.
- Write a clear, complete introduction.
- For emails, letters, and memos, write a cordial beginning or buffer.
- State the contents.
- For reports, state conclusions and recommendations in the introduction.
Write a Clear Document.
- Write the explanations in blocks.
- Check each block for focus.
- Check each block for completeness.
- Use headings to open blocks.
- Create lists.
Write Clear, Complete Explanations.
- Write to build conclusions in the reader’s mind.
- For reports, write clear, complete, relevant explanations.
Write a Conclusion with Impact.
- Write a conclusion that achieves your goals.
Write Clear, Effective Sentences, Paragraphs, and Words.
- Use paragraphs to organize information.
- Write concisely.
- Write clear, simple, active-voice sentences.
- For reports, write clearly and simply for non-technical readers.
- Use words the reader will understand.
Prepare a Polished, Correct Final Draft
- Use your spell checker and grammar checker.
- Proofread.
- Format the email to be readable.