An explanation of how to write proposals correctly for business.

An overview of writing processes correctly in business.

An overview of how to use abbreviations properly in business writing.

A brief explanation of using acronyms in business writing.

A quick discussion of language that is appropriate in business writing.

An overview of commonly misused words, and how to use them correctly when writing for business.

An introduction to correctly structuring sentences and paragraphs.

An overview of writing executive reports and memos for business.

How you write a business document, whether it's a resume, email, or a client proposal impacts the way others view you. We all want to be perceived as professional, credible, and knowledgeable at work. Proofreading is essential to writing properly, particularly in business. It helps you pinpoint areas that need rewriting and it minimizes errors with grammar, punctuation, spelling, and wording. Yes, spellcheck is great but it doesn't catch everything. In this first program on Proofreading, we'll go over exactly how to proofread to help you perfect your writing.

Spellcheck and autocorrect tools are one of the great advances in technology when it comes to writing, but they cannot fully replace a set of human eyes. They're designed to work in conjunction with a good human proofread. In this course, we'll go over the pros and cons of spelling and grammar checking tools, along with best practices to use them to your advantage. We'll also discuss Autocorrect and it's use in writing.

You'd be surprised by how many rules and exceptions to those rules exist within the English language. We all have words and grammatical rules that trip us up. One of the best things you can do to make writing easier and less error-prone is to create your own personal cheat sheet. In this program, we'll talk about some of the helpful items you might want to include.

There are a lot of rules to remember when it comes to writing, and beyond just the rules, it takes voice, tone, and organization to create an effective piece. You've probably heard the adage, "Rules are made to be broken," but today we're going to talk about ten mistakes you should avoid at all costs.

When reading and writing, there are three ways to end a sentence. In this course, we'll go over those marks: the period, the exclamation point, and the question mark. We'll discuss what they mean and how to use them effectively. This is a great refresher course and is also helpful for ESL learners.

The comma has long been a source of much confusion, conflict, and conversation. The comma's purpose is to indicate a small break or pause within a sentence. If you've ever been intimidated by appropriate use of commas, fear no more. After this course, you'll know how, when, and why to use commas.

Periods, question marks, exclamation points, and commas will get you through a lot of sentences. But to take your writing to the next level, you'll want to consider a couple more options. Enter the semicolon and colon. In this course, we'll go over the purpose of both of these punctuation marks and how you should and shouldn't use them.

Apostrophes can get confusing because they serve many different purposes. In this course we'll discuss all of their uses and teach you when and how they should appear in sentences.

Let's talk quotation marks. In this course, we're going to focus on the rules for American English, but know that the rules do differ in British English, so be prepared to do your research if needed.

Writing is one of our most important forms of communication. Most of us do quite a bit of writing daily without even realizing it. Whether it's drafting emails, text messages, social media posts, or more in-depth pieces like proposals, writing well is a necessary skill. In this course, we'll go over why having good writing skills is essential in business.

When you speak or write, you likely don't pay much attention to the actual parts of speech. But learning the components used to communicate can help you form better, clearer, more cohesive sentences. In this program, we'll discuss the seven components of speech: 1. Nouns, 2. Pronouns, 3. Verbs, 4. Adjectives, 5. Adverbs, 6. Prepositions, and 7. Conjunctions.

Any given sentence, no matter how simple or complex, can be boiled down to two parts: the subject and the predicate. Here, we'll talk about what those two terms mean and how you can use them to construct better sentences.

Capitalization mistakes remain one of the most common errors found in today's business writing. In this course, we'll discuss how you can avoid those mistakes by going over the six instances that merit capitalization in the English language.

Voice in writing can be divided into two categories: active voice and passive voice. It essentially boils down to this: who's in the driver's seat? Is it the subject or is it the verb? With active voice, the subject acts upon the verb. With passive voice, the subject receives the verb's action. In this course, we'll take an in-depth look at each of these voice types.

At its most basic level, a sentence contains a subject and a verb. So, what happens when we don't have a fully formed sentence? Or what if we have one that tries to cram in too much? That's exactly what we're going to talk about in this course: sentence fragments and run-on sentences. We'll learn about the different types of sentence fragments and the rare occasions when you might want to use them. We'll also learn about run-on sentences and how to avoid them.

You've probably heard someone excuse away a rude email or text by saying something like, "Tone is hard to read in text." But in reality, with a well-constructed sentence, that's not true. Writers have been imparting tone into their sentences since the written word began. The difference is that people focus on it less these days, likely because everyone's in such a hurry. But truth be told, it takes more time to explain what you actually meant in a quick email than it would have to write the sentence carefully with tone in mind in the first place. To that purpose, in this program we'll talk about what tone is and some tips and tricks for imparting a purposeful tone into your writing.

A well-organized piece of writing, no matter what kind it is, helps the reader follow the thread of your idea from opening to ending. Even something as commonplace as email can benefit from some forethought toward organization. How you organize your writing will depend some on what kind of writing it is. How you organize an email is going to be different than how you organize a novel. But the intent is the same. Get your thoughts in order so you can put them down on paper in a manner that's clear and coherent for the reader. In this course, we'll discuss the five ways to organize your writing.