Grammar and Proofreading Course

Table of contents

1. Cover Page
2. Title Page
3. Copyright Page
4. Contents
5. About This Course
6. How to Take This Course
7. Pre-Test
8. 1 Why Worry About Grammar and Proofreading?
   1. A Manager’s Writing Process
   2. How to Improve Your Writing
   3. Two Common Writing Problems that Waste Time and Money
      1. Procrastination
      2. Impulsive Writing
      3. Ways to Avoid These Problems
   4. The Three C’s and PAT: Keys to Get You Started
9. 2 A Concise Style
   1. Concise: Why Less Is More
   2. The Professional Writing Process
   3. Editing for Conciseness
      1. How to Begin
      2. Why Wordiness Harms Your Message
10. 3 Grammar Basics: Words and Sentences
    1. Our Approach to Grammar
    2. Our Objective
    3. The Building Blocks of the Sentence: Words
    4. Basic Parts of the Sentence
       1. The Subject
       2. The Predicate
       3. Compound Subjects and Predicates
    5. Incomplete Sentences: Sentence Fragments
       1. No-Subject Fragments
       2. No-Verb and Incomplete-Verb Fragments
       3. Extra-Information Fragments
       4. Dependent-Word Fragments
    6. Correcting Sentence Fragments
       1. No-Subject Fragments
       2. No-Verb and Incomplete-Verb Fragments
       3. Extra-Information Fragments
       4. Dependent-Word Fragments
    7. Exceptions to the Rules Governing Sentence Fragments
11. 4 Correct Sentences and Paragraphs
    1. Why the Correct Sentence Is Essential
    2. The Complete Sentence
    3. Run-On Sentences
       1. Correcting Run-On Sentences
       2. Avoiding Run-On Sentences
    4. Paragraphs: Groups of Sentences
       1. Appearance Is Critical
       2. What Makes a Paragraph?
       3. Transitional Words in Action
       4. Repetition as a Transition and Link
12. 5 Correct Grammar: Agreement and Word Placement
    1. A Background of Verb Use
    2. Verb and Pronoun Agreement
       1. Agreement: Person and Number
       2. Common Errors in Verb and Pronoun Agreement
       3. Collective and Plural Nouns and Verbs
       4. Collective and Plural Nouns and Pronouns
       5. Review
    3. Unity of Words
       1. Opening Words
       2. Distance from Words Modified
       3. Modifiers that Go Two Ways
       4. Dangling Modifiers
       5. Split Infinitives and Verb Phrases
13. 6 Punctuation Essentials: What You Need to Know
    1. Punctuation: The Professional Touch
    2. The Comma
       1. Comma Rule One: Join Independent Clauses
       2. Comma Rule Two: After Introductory Material
       3. Comma Rule Three: Items in a Series
       4. Comma Rule Four: Two with Interrupters
       5. Comma Rule Five: Standard Practice
       6. Commas and Time
    3. The Semicolon and the Colon
       1. The Semicolon
       2. The Colon
    4. The Dash
    5. Parentheses
    6. The Apostrophe
    7. End Punctuation
14. 7 Mechanics and Miscellaneous Punctuation
    1. Mechanics
    2. Capitalization
       1. Capitalize All Proper Nouns and Proper Adjectives
       2. Overcapitalization
    3. Numbers
       1. Numbers that Begin a Sentence
       2. Multiple Numbers in a Sentence
       3. Number Usage According to Standard Practice
    4. Abbreviations
       1. Standard Abbreviations
       2. Latin Words and Phrases
       3. Abbreviations to Avoid
       4. Abbreviations and Standard Practice
    5. The Slash Mark
    6. The Ellipsis Mark
    7. Quotation Marks
       1. Quotations and Periods and Commas
       2. Quotations and Semicolons and Colons
       3. Quotations and Question Marks, Exclamation Points, and Dashes
       4. Overuse of Quotation Marks
    8. Italics
       1. When Not to Use Italics
       2. When to Use Italics
    9. Brackets
    10. The Hyphen
        1. The Hyphen as a Divider
        2. The Hyphen as a Joiner
    11. Multiple Punctuation Marks
    12. Punctuation and Writing Dilemmas
    13. The Grammar Hotline
    14. Writers Deserve Help
15. 8 Proofreading for Clarity
    1. Clarity of Meaning: Is It Down PAT?
    2. Parallelism
    3. Shifts in Tense, Mood, and Voice
       1. Shifts in Tense
       2. Shifts in Mood
       3. Shifts in Voice
    4. Word Order and Sentence Variety
       1. Sentence Variety
       2. Word Order
    5. Common Word Pitfalls
       1. Good and Well
       2. Who and Whom
       3. I and Me
    6. Words that Can Lead to Trouble
    7. Negative Words and Repetitive Words
16. 9 Proofreading for Words and Precision
    1. Proofreading and the Writing Process
    2. Word Choice
       1. Stuffy Language, Cliches, and Jargon
       2. Know Your Audience
       3. Eliminate Excess
       4. Writing Tone and Style
       5. Word Choice Review
    3. Spelling Words Correctly
    4. Proofreading Is Essential
       1. Proofreading Errors and Their Impact
       2. How Errors Happen
       3. Gaining Some Distance to Enhance Proofreading
       4. Typographical Errors
17. Wrap-Up
18. Bibliography
19. Post-Test
20. Index
21. Footnote
    1. Chapter fm06
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