Course Information

English. Develop your command of the English language with us.

In the age of AI and texting, grammar still matters. ChatGPT, Grammarly and spell checkers are no substitute for the human brain, because if you don’t understand traditional grammar yourself, you won’t recognise when AI gets it wrong. Clarity, credibility and connection are imperative for writers who need to use global English to communicate cross-culturally in a noisy, fast-moving digital world.

In this foundational grammar and punctuation course, you’ll spend a day learning all the basic concepts and principles of English grammar, which you might never have been formally taught. What do ‘subject’, ‘verb/s’ and ‘predicate’ mean? How do you use phrases, clauses and sentences to construct effective paragraphs? What are the nine parts of speech? What is the purpose of the punctuation marks, and is there more than one way to set up a bulleted list?

This course is for you if you work with words and need to grasp the basics so you can identify errors and justify your corrections. Using a list of the standard 'hard-copy editing' marks, you and your classmates will identify errors, correct sentences, justify your corrections and understand when more than one solution is acceptable.

Join us for a day of de-mystifying a ‘key learning area’ that hasn’t been systematically taught in Australian schools since 1972!

Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• identify basic concepts and principles of English grammar and punctuation
• define and explain key terminology
• justify your corrections to your own writing and anyone else’s
• undertake drafting and copy editing
• solve some of the common problems that all readers and writers encounter.

Content

The main topics covered include:

• subject, verb/s and predicate
• active and passive voice
• construction of English
• the punctuation marks
• the nine parts of speech
• rules and conventions
• easy ways to solve common problems
• the standard marks that professional editors use to edit hard copy.

Intended audience

The course is suitable for anyone who works with words in a professional, business or educational setting.

Prerequisites

The only prerequisite for this course is reasonable fluency in the English language. The course is pitched at the level of people who wish to improve their written English and justify the choices they make.

Delivery mode

This course is a face-to-face, presenter-taught workshop.

Delivery style

Delivery is in the form of both an explanatory lecture and a hands-on workshop that includes interactive group exercises.

Before the course

Please bring a four-colour pen – blue, red, green and black – and an A4-size ruled writing pad.