The demand for good, clear writing is greater than ever. Whether your goal is career advancement, publication or simply self-satisfaction, mastering the fundamentals of grammar and mechanics is an important first step. Even experienced writers can benefit from a review of the basics—basics that may be preventing your work from getting serious attention from editors.
In this course you will:
- Learn the principles of grammar easy-to-understand language and reinforce them with numerous examples.
- Apply grammar skills through practical writing assignments
Course Structure
The workshop will consist of six one-week sessions. Each session will include online lectures and creative and practice exercises. You will have an opportunity to evaluate your own progress with online, self-graded "tests." Each session, you’ll submit an assignment to the instructor for private review, and optional writing assignments will be posted for group review and feedback. Throughout the workshop, you will be able to participate in asynchronous lecture discussion and encouraged to take advantage of ongoing informal discussions and self-directed writing exercises. (1.2 CEUs)
| Workshop length: |
Six Weeks |
| Textbook(s) to purchase: |
None required |
| Course Developer: |
Writer's Digest School |
| Tuition: |
$250.00 |
| Student Testimonials: |
"This is the most writing I've ever done in a career of taking writing classes. I felt encouraged to continue with writing, and that's what I was really looking for. The instructor understands how beginning writers feel. She also recognized that she was talking to adults and was never condescending."
—Robin Dougherty
"I was amazed at the end of class how much I had actually written over a 12-week period! It really helped me develop some discipline in writing. It was a great workshop with a very interesting mix of classmates and a good instructor."
—Michele Eakins
"This was an excellent experience for me. I hadn't written much in a while, and my purposes in taking the workshop were motivation and brushing up on the basics. I think it fulfilled those very well. Halfway through the course, I received a major writing assignment at work, and I was much better prepared for it—and confident about it—because of this workshop."
—Jeanne Davant
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Workshop Outline
Session One: The Eight Parts of Speech
You must be able to identify the parts of speech before you can learn to use them correctly: Noun, pronoun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection
Session Two: Pronouns
Case (subjective, possessive, objective); Noun–pronoun agreement
Session Three: Verbs
Subject–verb agreement; Verb tense; Mood of the Verb; Active vs. passive verbs; Verbals
Session Four: Adjectives & Adverbs
How to identify them and use them correctly—and effectively
Session Five: Phrases & Clauses
Recognizing phrases; Dependent clauses (adverbial, restrictive and nonrestrictive); Independent clauses; Punctuation of phrases and clauses
Session Six: Punctuation & Mechanics
Punctuation marks and their use; Spelling; Capitalization; Numbers