EFFICIENT WRITING AWR102

Need to Improve Your Writing Skills?

This course is useful for people who wish to brush up on their writing skills, or to obtain basic skills which they should have, but did not develop properly while at school.

It aims to provide an understanding of how to write clearly and efficiently, and to communicate thoughts in the minimum number of words, and without any ambiguity.

How is your spelling and Grammar?
Do the words come easily or is it a struggle?

When you write, do the words flow easily, and make good sense; or is it something you need to work at? If writing is difficult for you (or maybe just slow); this course is for you It will help you to communicate better and more effectively in writing, whether at work, or in your private life.

Being able to write well is a very important skill in today's business world; more so than ever before. Business communications today are more than ever in writing, since the advent of computers, mobile phones and other modern technologies.

Duration: 100 hours

COURSE STRUCTURE

There are six lessons in this course - each with set tasks and assignments to complete:

1. Introduction - Find your existing writing skills; types of language and communication.

2. Basic Writing Skills ¬ Parts of speech, grammar and sentence construction.

3. Clear Wording - How to write clearly so there is no ambiguity and the reader understands.

4. Concise Wording - How to use concise wording to get maximum information across with a minimum of words.

5. Punctuation and Accuracy - Spelling and punctuation.

6. Planning what you write - How to plan out letters, stories, articles, etc.

How Do You Get To Write More Efficiently

Time is money in the world of business. Writing needs to be clear, concise and relatively fast. If any of these things are diminished; business productivity and profitability can be impacted.

You need to understand not only the words that can be used; but how to select and combine those words to make the best, unambiguous messages possible. Once you understand this, it is then a matter of practice and refinement; until efficient writing becomes more and more natural to you.

Start with Sentences

A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete idea. It can be as short as “Hello!” or quite long, as this sentence is.

Most sentences are made up of the following elements:

Words or groups of words that identify things, places, people or ideas
Words or groups of words that tell us more about these things, place, people or ideas
Words or groups of words that identify actions, acts of being or feeling
Words of groups of words that tell us more about action

These basic elements may be combined or joined into good sentences by using linking words or phrases. Their function is to connect parts of a sentence.

To summarise, the building blocks of a sentence are:

parts that identify or name things, states, actions or ideas
parts that modify (tell more about) them
parts that connect or link other parts

To write correct sentences in English, we must organise these elements in certain ways. Since every language has its own ways of structuring sentences, one of the rules we must learn when learning another language is how sentences are constructed in that language. If a sentence is not correctly structured, it might be understood, but it will be considered incorrect. Therefore, correct sentence structure is very important.

Clauses and Phrases

The main building blocks of sentences are groups of words that express related ideas. These are called clauses and phrases. The main difference between a clause and a phrase is the absence or presence of a verb and its subject:

A clause contains a finite verb and its subject. It expresses the main ideas in a sentence.
A phrase does not contain a finite verb and its subject, and cannot stand alone. It adds more information about (modifies) parts of the clause. A phrase may be part of a clause.

Phrases Phrases are named according to their function in a sentence.

Adjectival phrases function like adjectives. These modify (tell more about) a noun or pronoun. Adjectival phrases are in italics.

That is the dog with the injured shoulder.
The children, expecting to go to the beach, were excited.
I was dissatisfied with the talk presented this evening.

Adverbial phrases function like adverbs. They tell more about verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Adverbial phrases usually answer the questions: how, when, where, or why?

He cut the rope with a knife. (How)
My parents left after the concert. (When)
The scholars debated at the conference. (Where)I think they mainly disagreed because they did not understand each other. (Why)

Adverbial phrases usually begin with a preposition (with, after, at, because etc). They can also begin with an infinitive, as in the sentences below. Here, they answer the question Why?

To free himself, he cut the rope with a knife.

They met to discuss the impact of overfishing.

Noun phrases function like nouns. They identify a thing, place, person or idea. They answer the question What? Noun phrases usually begin with an infinitive or a gerund.

Walking in the forest is very relaxing (Note that the above noun phrase is the subject of the sentence).

I love to walk in the forest (noun phrase) in the evening (adverbial phrase).