Write Better Right Now
This online training course will teach you writing techniques that will help you write powerful and persuasive reports, memos, proposals, emails, and the list goes on. To write like the pros, you must structure your sentences strategically, putting the right types of words in the right places. Nouns, verbs, clauses, passive voice, contractions−yep . . . grammar! We know this triggers horrible memories from your high school English classes. But let's face it, you are more committed now than you were then. After all, your professional reputation rides on your ability to communicate clearly and effectively.
Course Outline
1. Introduction
Meet Ed Good and his band of merry "AI" assistants. These assistants are built with artificial intelligence and will help Ed teach the course. No one wants to listen to one person talk for 6 hours! Ed will set the table and then the fun begins.
2. Meet the Mighty Verb
Transitive Verbs, Active and Passive Voice, Intransitive Verbs, The No-Action Verbs, The Verb "To Be", Linking Verbs, Auxiliary Verbs (Primary and Modal), and Where to Put Adverbs in Compound Verbs.
Three exercises with answers.
3. See What Verbs Can Do
The Conjugated Verb, The Infinitive Phrase, Splitting Infinitives, Present Participial Phrase, Past Participial Phrase, One-Word Verbal Adjectives.
Four exercises with answers.
4. Choose Your Nouns Carefully
The Trap of Nouniness, The Trap of Fuzziness, Let Abstractions Act.
Two exercises with answers.
5. "To Be" or Not "To Be"
E-Prime Language, Swatting Your "Be's," Edit the Lawyers, Kicking the "Be" Habit.
Two exercises with answers.
6. Use Passives Strategically
Origin of the Passive Voice, Only Transitive Verbs Have "Voice," How to Fom the Passive Voice, A Conjugation in the Passive Voice, Beware the Conventional Wisdom, Where the Passive Voice "Is Preferred"
(8 situations), Beware the Addiction.
One exercise with answers.
7. The Power of Short Words
Here’s What Experts Say, Your Writing Statistics, The Flesch Reading Ease Scale, Your Average Word Length, MS Word - Your Flesch Number, Numbers Don’t Lie, Yes, Less Is More - Use Short Words.
One exercise with answers.
8. Less Is More - Cut Clauses Down to Phrases
Clauses and Phrases, Three Types of Dependent Clauses, Words Starting Adjective Clauses, The Difference Between "That" and "Which," "Who vs. Whom," Phrases - 6 Byproducts of Clause Cutting, "Which Hunt," Two Power Structures You Must Use, Do Writers Really Use Noun Absolutes?, When Should You Use a Noun Absolute.
Three exercises with answers.
9. Eleven Rules on Writing Killer Sentences
We won't spoil this one for you!
Two exercises with answers.
10. Conclusion
See you next time!