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Business Grammar B

asics

BGB/1010

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Table of Contents

Introduction ........................................................ vii

Parts of Speech.................................................... 1

Lesson 1 ................................................................................................... 3

Recognizing the Eight Parts of Speech ......................................... 3

The Eight Parts of Speech .............................................................. 3

Nouns .............................................................................................. 3

Pronouns ......................................................................................... 4

Verbs ............................................................................................... 5

Adverbs ........................................................................................... 5

Adjectives ........................................................................................ 6

Conjunctions ................................................................................... 6

Interjections ..................................................................................... 7

Prepositions .................................................................................... 7

Lesson 2 ................................................................................................. 13

Nouns ...................................................................................................... 13

Using Nouns Correctly .................................................................. 13

Lesson 3 ................................................................................................. 18

Adverbs and Adjectives .................................................................... 18

Using Adverbs and Adjectives ...................................................... 18

Troublesome adjective-adverb pairs ............................................. 20

Irregular adjectives ........................................................................ 25

real/really ....................................................................................... 26 bad/badly ....................................................................................... 27 good/well ....................................................................................... 27

Lesson 4 ................................................................................................. 28

Verbs ....................................................................................................... 28

Using Verbs Correctly ................................................................... 28

Voice ............................................................................................. 28

Mood ............................................................................................. 28

Verb tenses ................................................................................... 29

Irregular verbs ............................................................................... 34

Irregular verbs ............................................................................... 36

Working With Words ........................................... 41

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Lesson 1 ................................................................................................. 42

Prefixes and Suffixes ......................................................................... 42

Rules for Constructing Prefixes and Suffixes ............................... 42

General rules ................................................................................. 43

Rule 1 ............................................................................................ 49 Examples ...................................................................................... 49 Exceptions ..................................................................................... 49 Rule 2 ............................................................................................ 50 Examples ...................................................................................... 50 Rule 3 ............................................................................................ 50 Examples ...................................................................................... 50 Rule 4 ............................................................................................ 51 Examples ...................................................................................... 51 Rule 1 ............................................................................................ 55 Examples ...................................................................................... 55 Exceptions ..................................................................................... 55 Rule 2 ............................................................................................ 56 Examples ...................................................................................... 56 Exceptions ..................................................................................... 56

Lesson 2 ................................................................................................. 57

Forming Plurals .................................................................................... 57

Rules for Forming Plurals ............................................................. 57

Lesson 3 ................................................................................................. 63

Forming Possessives ......................................................................... 63

Rules for Forming Possessives .................................................... 63

Basic guidelines ............................................................................ 67 Irregular plurals ............................................................................. 68 Personal pronouns ........................................................................ 68 Joint possession............................................................................ 69 Separate possession .................................................................... 69 Gerunds ........................................................................................ 69 Compound nouns and noun phrases ............................................ 70 Attributives versus possessive ...................................................... 70

Lesson 4 ................................................................................................. 71

Basic Rules For Spelling ................................................................... 71

Basic Spelling Rules ..................................................................... 71

Becoming a better speller ............................................................. 73

Words ending in silent e ................................................................ 75 Words ending in y ......................................................................... 75 Plural nouns .................................................................................. 75 Nouns ending in s, x, ch, sh, z ...................................................... 75

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Nouns ending in f, fe, ff ................................................................. 76 Nouns ending in o ......................................................................... 76 Silent letters .................................................................................. 77 Words containing ie or ei .............................................................. 78 Adding suffixes .............................................................................. 78 Words ending in y, k or x .............................................................. 79 Memorization ................................................................................. 80 Learn prefix and suffix rules .......................................................... 80 Practice pronunciation .................................................................. 81 Other guidelines ............................................................................ 81

The Mechanics of Writing .................................. 85

Lesson 1 ................................................................................................. 86

Abbreviations ....................................................................................... 86

The Correct Use of Abbreviations ................................................. 86

Titles and names ........................................................................... 86

Location and time .......................................................................... 87

Units of measure ........................................................................... 88

When to include periods ............................................................... 89

When to use capital letters ........................................................... 89

When to use i.e. or e.g. ................................................................. 89

When to use a or an ...................................................................... 90

Lesson 2 ................................................................................................. 97

Capitalization ....................................................................................... 97

The Correct Methods of Capitalization ......................................... 97

Headings, lists, and colons ........................................................... 97

Names and titles ........................................................................... 99

Places, events, and other entities ............................................... 100

Sentences ................................................................................... 103 Dialog .......................................................................................... 103 Questions .................................................................................... 104 Lists – unnumbered .................................................................... 104 Lists – numbered ........................................................................ 104 Lists – bulleted ............................................................................ 105 Colons ......................................................................................... 105 Headings in title case .................................................................. 106 Headings in sentence case ......................................................... 106 Official corporate titles ................................................................ 107 Occupational titles ....................................................................... 108

Lesson 3 ............................................................................................... 113

Numbers ............................................................................................... 113


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Writing Numbers ......................................................................... 113

Basic rules ................................................................................... 113

Special rules ................................................................................ 114

Punctuation ...................................................... 129

Lesson 1 ............................................................................................... 130

End Punctuation ................................................................................ 130

End Punctuation Marks ............................................................... 130

The period ................................................................................... 130

The question mark ...................................................................... 131

The exclamation point ................................................................. 132

Lesson 2 ............................................................................................... 138

Commas ................................................................................................ 138

Using the Comma Correctly ........................................................ 138

Correct usage .............................................................................. 138

Incorrect usage ........................................................................... 140

Lesson 3 ............................................................................................... 146

Connecting and Separating Marks .............................................. 146

Using Connectors and Separators .............................................. 146

Semicolons .................................................................................. 146

Colons ......................................................................................... 147

Dashes ........................................................................................ 148

Lesson 4 ............................................................................................... 154

Other Punctuation Marks ............................................................... 154

Using Other Punctuation Marks .................................................. 154

The apostrophe ........................................................................... 154

Parentheses and brackets .......................................................... 156

Quotation marks .......................................................................... 157

Lesson 1 ............................................................................................... 168

Sentence Structure .......................................................................... 168

Sentence Parts, Phrases, and Clauses ...................................... 168

Direct and indirect objects ........................................................... 169

Subject and object complements ................................................ 170

Phrases and clauses ................................................................... 170

Lesson 2 ............................................................................................... 180

Subject-Verb Agreement ................................................................ 180

The Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement ....................................... 180

Titles or names of companies ..................................................... 184 Joined by and .............................................................................. 185 Linked by or or nor ...................................................................... 185

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Collective nouns .......................................................................... 185 Measurements ............................................................................ 185 Indefinite pronouns ..................................................................... 186 Questions .................................................................................... 187 Use of here, there, and it ............................................................ 187 Compound subjects .................................................................... 188

Lesson 3 ............................................................................................... 189

Pronouns and Antecedents ........................................................... 189

Rules of Agreement for Pronouns and Antecedents .................. 189

Agreeing in gender ...................................................................... 189

Agreeing in person ...................................................................... 190

Agreeing in number ..................................................................... 191

Lesson 4 ............................................................................................... 194

Common Sentence Errors .............................................................. 194

Sentence Fragments, Comma Splices, and Modifiers ............... 194

Sentence fragments .................................................................... 194

Comma splices and run-on sentences ....................................... 195

Misplaced and dangling modifiers .............................................. 196

Identifying sentence fragments ................................................... 199 Correcting sentence fragments ................................................... 200 Comma splices............................................................................ 201 Run-on sentences ....................................................................... 202 Guarding against comma splices and run-on sentences ........... 202

Lesson 1 ............................................................................................... 206

Commonly Confused Word Pairs .................................................. 206

Recognizing Commonly Confused Word Pairs .......................... 206

Similar sounding words ............................................................... 206

Similar meaning pairs ................................................................. 208

Lesson 2 ............................................................................................... 219

Commonly Misused Verbs and Other Words ........................... 219

Recognizing Commonly Misused Verbs and Other Words ........ 219

Commonly misused verbs........................................................... 219

Other misused terms ................................................................... 221

Lesson 3 ............................................................................................... 227

Idiomatic Use of Prepositions ...................................................... 227

Using Prepositions Idiomatically ................................................. 227

Glossary ............................................................................................... 237

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Introduction The Business Grammar Basics course consists of 6 modules as follows: Parts of Speech Working with Words The Mechanics of Writing Punctuation Sentence Construction Common Usage Errors The first module defines the functions of the eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions. In particular, it focuses on how to use them effectively, and correctly. And it provides special focus on nouns, adverbs, adjectives, and verbs, including verb tenses. When you have finished the course, you'll have the necessary building blocks to develop your writing skills. . Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

• recognize the parts of speech in given sentences • recognize the correct use of nouns in given sentences • recognize the correct use of adjectives and adverbs in given sentences • recognize the voice and mood of given verbs • match the sentences with the verb tenses they contain

The second module explains how to use words correctly, including some key rules on how to spell correctly. It covers rules for properly constructing prefixes and suffixes. In addition, the course describes how to form plurals and possessives correctly. And it presents spelling rules and tips to help you become a better speller. Knowing the rules, as well as the exceptions, when it comes to details like these will make you a more confident writer and leave a good impression on your readers. Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

• recognize how to correctly construct prefixes and suffixes • recognize how to form plurals correctly • identify examples of correctly formed possessives • recognize basic spelling rules that govern the spelling of given words

The third module presents the basic rules for using capital letters, abbreviations, and numbers. It covers abbreviations of titles, names, locations,


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and countries, as well as how to capitalize direct quotes, titles, names of organizations, and product names, among other elements. In addition, you will be introduced to the forms and uses of numbers with dates and time, money, fractions, and symbols.

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to: • recognize how to use abbreviations correctly • recognize examples that use correct capitalization • recognize the correct use of numbers in given examples

The fourth module reviews the standard rules and guidelines for using punctuation appropriately. You'll start by reviewing how to correctly apply end punctuation, including the correct use and rules for periods, question marks, and exclamation points. You'll also find out how to correctly use commas, one of the most common punctuation marks. The course also describes rules for using different connecting and separating marks, such as colons, semicolons, dashes, and hyphens. In addition, it shows how to properly use apostrophes, parentheses, brackets, and quotation marks.

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to: • recognize examples of correctly applied rules for using end punctuation • recognize how to use commas correctly • identify sentences in which commas are misused • recognize how to use semicolons, colons, and dashes correctly • recognize how to use apostrophes, parentheses, brackets, and

quotation marks correctly The fifth module reviews basic sentence construction, including how to develop sentences that are logical, clear, and powerful – the basis of any sound business document. The course examines the parts of a sentence – the subject and predicate, for example – and distinguishes between phrases and clauses. It shows the importance of subject-verb agreement, as well as agreement between pronouns and their antecedents. You'll also find out how to identify and fix some of the most common types of sentence errors.

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to: • recognize the parts of a sentence • identify phrases and clauses in given sentences • identify sentences that have the correct subject-verb agreement • recognize examples of pronouns and antecedents that agree in person,

number, and gender • recognize how to fix sentence fragments • recognize how to fix comma splices and run-on sentences

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• identify the sentences with misplaced or dangling modifiers

The sixth module describes how to use commonly confused words correctly, including word pairs that sound alike and those that have related meanings. It also covers verbs that are often misused – for example, affect and effect or apprise and appraise. In addition, the course reviews some idiomatic combinations of verbs and prepositions that can be confusing. Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

• correctly use commonly confused word pairs • recognize the correct usage of commonly misused verbs and other

words • recognize the appropriate idiomatic expression to use in given

sentences You may use this manual to review and highlight important concepts as you progress through the course.

Enjoy your course!

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Parts of Speech The first module defines the functions of the eight parts of speech: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions. In particular, it focuses on how to use them effectively, and correctly. And it provides special focus on nouns, adverbs, adjectives, and verbs, including verb tenses. When you have finished the course, you'll have the necessary building blocks to develop your writing skills. The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: Recognizing the Eight Parts of Speech Lesson 2: Using Nouns Correctly Lesson 3: Using Adverbs and Adjectives Lesson 4: Using Verbs Correctly

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Parts of Speech

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Lesson 1

Recognizing the Eight Parts of Speech

The Eight Parts of Speech

o understand the basics of good grammar, you need to be familiar with the eight parts of speech. The parts of speech tell you how words function in a sentence,

rather than what words are or mean. Words can also be altered to function as different parts of speech.

Nouns

ouns are words that name things. They can be categorized into five groups:

• Common nouns name a generic type of person, place, or thing. Common nouns can be further divided up into count, abstract, or collective nouns.

• Proper nouns name unique people, places, or things, rather than identifying them based on the categories to which they belong. They always start with a capital letter.

• Count nouns express enumerable things. They occur in both singular and plural forms.

• Collective nouns – or mass nouns – refer to things that are normally countable, either because they are

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abstract or because they denote an indeterminate number of people or things.

• Abstract nouns name things you can't see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. They describe feelings, ideas, or concepts.

Pronouns

ronouns replace nouns. Using them can make sentences less cumbersome. Pronouns have different forms or cases, depending on how they function in a

sentence:

• Subjective pronouns replace nouns that act as the subjects in sentences. In other words, they replace nouns describing who or what performs the action described by a verb.

• Objective pronouns act as the objects in sentences. They replace nouns identifying who or what is the recipient of the action expressed by a verb.

• Possessive pronouns indicate ownership, or possession. The possessive pronouns my, our, your, his, her, its, and their can be used as adjectives to qualify nouns – as in "my report." Each possessive pronoun also has a corresponding independent form that can stand alone, without a noun. With the independent form, the thing possessed may be either an antecedent or something understood. The independent form can also be the subject or object of a verb.

Some personal pronouns are compounds that use the suffix self or selves. These pronouns are used for two main

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purposes – for emphasis, as in "I will do it myself ," or to refer to the subject of the verb, as in "They support themselves ." When they are used for emphasis, they are called intensive pronouns. When used to refer to a subject, they are called reflexive pronouns. A reflexive pronoun looks the same as an intensive pronoun but has a different function. It reflects the action that the verb describes by renaming the subject, whereas an intensive pronoun adds emphasis and gives force to a sentence. And intensive pronouns take the subjective case, whereas reflexive ones don't.

Verbs

erbs are commonly described as "action" words. That's because verbs typically describe the performance or occurrence of actions, as in runs or

writes. But verbs can also indicate a state of being or condition. Helping or auxiliary verbs combine with some verb forms. They may indicate tense or obligation, or provide other additional meaning. These combinations of helping verbs with other verb forms are known as verb phrases. Commonly used helping verbs are versions of the verb to be. These include am and is in the present tense, was and were in the past tense, and will in the future tense.

Adverbs

dverbs describe, qualify, limit, or modify verbs, adjectives, and sometimes other adverbs. You can classify adverbs into three types. Adverbs of time tell

you when something occurs. Adverbs of manner describe how something is done. And adverbs of place tell you where

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something occurs. Adverbs commonly end in the letters ly. Adverbs often modify verbs, but they can also modify adjectives, which are words that describe nouns. Adverbs can also modify other adverbs.

Adjectives

djectives describe nouns or pronouns. They answer questions such as Which one? What kind? or How much?

Conjunctions

onjunctions join words, phrases, or sentences. There are two types of conjunctions:

• Coordinating conjunctions join words or groups of words that are of equal importance – that is, independent elements.

• Subordinating conjunction introduces a clause that is dependent on the main clause of a sentence.

You may remember being taught at school that you should never start a sentence with a conjunction like And, But, or So. However, it's now generally considered acceptable to do this if a previous sentence makes it clear what the conjunction is referring to. It's also appropriate to start a sentence with a conjunction like Because or Since if the sentence begins with an introductory clause that modifies another clause that follows.

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Interjections

nterjections are words, phrases, or clauses that denote strong feeling or emotion. They're often followed by exclamation marks. Avoid using interjections in formal

business writing unless you're quoting someone directly.

Prepositions

preposition is a word or phrase that links an object to another word in a sentence to show the relationship between them. A preposition's object is usually a noun

or pronoun.

Different prepositions indicate different types of relationships:

• Prepositions such as on, above, and below identify spatial relationships – they specify where something is in relation to something else

• prepositions like before, after, at, and until indicate time relationships, and

• prepositions such as by, to, and with identify logical relationships

Being able to identify the eight parts of speech and use them correctly will help ensure your business writing is clear, professional, and effective.

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�Job Aid

Distinguishing the Parts of Speech

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the eight parts of speech and examples of their correct use.

Eight parts of speech

Parts of speech

Function Examples

Nouns Nouns are words that name something – for example, persons, places, things, ideas, or qualities. They're categorized into five groups: common, proper, count, collective, and abstract.

Common nouns: lamp, box, cupboard Proper nouns: Africa, Oklahoma, Stephen Count nouns: pencil, door, car Collective nouns: crew, herd, team Abstract nouns: trust, honesty, sympathy

Parts of Speech

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Parts of speech

Function Examples

Pronouns Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition.

Susan lost her keys. Ron and Paul will have their meeting now.

Verbs Verbs describe actions or states of being. Helping verbs clarify the tense of the main verbs in sentences.

He ran . Henry is hungry. Helping verb: She is typing a letter.

Adverbs Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives and other adverbs. They answer questions such as When? Where? Why? and How?

She deliberately ignored the request. The package will arrive soon . He very thoughtfully helped Gina carry her bags.


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Parts of speech

Function Examples

Adjectives Adjectives describe nouns or pronouns. They answer questions such as Which one? What kind? How many? or How much?

This is an ideal venue for the staff party. Please hand me a blank piece of paper.

Conjunctions Conjunctions join words, phrases, or sentences. There are two types: coordinating and subordinating. Coordinating conjunctions join words or groups of words of equal importance – that is, independent elements, such as two or more nouns, verbs, phrases, or clauses. A subordinating conjunction introduces a clause that's dependent on the main clause in a sentence.

Coordinating: Juanita and Mike are business partners. Subordinating: Construction will be put on hold until the rain stops.

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Parts of speech

Function Examples

Interjections Interjections are used to express emotion. They're inappropriate in formal business writing.

Ah! Now I know the answer. Wow! Can you believe that?

Prepositions Prepositions connect words or phrases and indicate the relationship between them.

I put the board against the wall. He told me about his new job.

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Lesson 2

Nouns

Using Nouns Correctly

ouns are an essential component of most sentences. Without them, there's little we could communicate. So it's no wonder these are the first group of words

young children learn.

Being able to identify different types of nouns can help you improve in three areas:

• capitalization becomes easier when you know how to spot proper nouns

• subject-verb agreement in a sentence depends on whether a noun is countable or noncountable, and

• being able to spot abstract nouns and replacing them with concrete nouns can often help you write more clearly and vividly

Whereas a common noun is the generic name of one thing in a class or group, a proper noun is the name of a person or the official name of a place or thing. So office or person is a common noun, but Simon is a proper noun. Proper nouns also include brand names, as in Scotch tape and Kleenex tissues. All proper nouns start with an initial capital letter. A common noun may become a proper noun. Moreover, sometimes a proper noun may be used figuratively and informally.

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When the correct form of a verb matches with the subject in a sentence, it's called subject-verb agreement. You'll be better able to apply the rules for subject-verb agreement if you can identify these types of nouns:

• count nouns, which name things that can be counted – like customers, chairs, or invoices, and

• noncount nouns, which name things that can't be or aren't usually counted – like advice, water, furniture, and wealth

Count nouns can be singular or plural, like brick or bricks and photo or photos. They then take the appropriate singular or plural verb forms. Noncount nouns are also called collective or mass nouns. When it is the subject of a sentence, a noncount noun usually takes a singular verb. However, if you express a quantity of units before a noncountable noun, it becomes countable and the verb must agree with the units. So tea on its own is a noncountable noun, but cups of tea are countable and take a verb in the plural form. Moreover, in a collective sense, a noncount noun may take either a singular or a plural verb form. A singular verb emphasizes the group; a plural verb emphasizes the individual members. Some collective never take the plural form. You must always use them with singular verbs. It's important to use definite and indefinite articles correctly with different types of nouns – in particular count and noncount nouns. An article comes before a noun or noun phrase. The article the, indicates that the noun identifies something definite, whereas the article a or an indicates that the noun is indefinite.

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You use the indefinite article a or an before a singular count noun when you mention it for the first time. Plural count nouns are never preceded by a or an. Also, noncount nouns don't take an indefinite article, except when you're referring to different types of something that's not countable. Noncount nouns that represent a collection or a mass may be preceded by a phrase that indicates quantity, such as a lot of, a little, or some. The definite article points to a definite object that is so well understood that it does not need description. A singular or a plural count noun may take the definite article. Noncount nouns may also take the definite article. You use the before a singular count noun in three situations:

• you have mentioned it before

• you identify it immediately before or after you state it, or

• it's unique or the only one in existence

You don't ever use the indefinite articles a or an before a proper noun. In general, you don't use the either, but there are exceptions - for example, with plural proper nouns and with the names of organizations. Business writing should always use words that have clear, concrete, and specific meanings so that the writing is easy to understand. Abstract nouns denote feelings, thoughts, concepts, or ideas. You may find them useful sometimes, mainly in the broad statements that set the course for your writing, but their meanings can be interpreted differently by different people. Concrete nouns name people, places, or things you can experience through at least one of your five senses. They can be clearly visualized and are less likely to


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cause confusion. Using them, along with more specific adjectives, can help you write more clearly. It's important to use nouns correctly in sentences. Being able to identify the different noun types can help you apply correct grammar and punctuation in your business writing. Proper nouns always start with an initial capital. Specific rules determine whether you must use singular or plural verb forms with count and noncount nouns. Also, particularly in business writing, replacing abstract nouns with more concrete ones can make your writing clearer and more vivid.

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�Job Aid

Types of Nouns

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the definitions and examples of proper, count, and noncount nouns.

Noun types

Noun type Description Example

Proper nouns

Identify specific people or places and always begin with a capital letter.

Jennifer, New Zealand

Count nouns

Identify entities that you can count. dictionary, cup, road

Noncount nouns

Identify entities that you either can't or wouldn't typically count.

research, bread, work


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Lesson 3

Adverbs and Adjectives

Using Adverbs and Adjectives

dverbs and adjectives give life to your writing, helping you to describe things more accurately and draw your readers in. When used correctly, they can make your

sentences stronger and clearer. However, using too many adjectives and adverbs can clutter your sentences and make them harder to understand. It's important to be concise, especially in business writing. So you need to use adjectives and adverbs only when they add real meaning.

Like including too many adjectives or adverbs, using them incorrectly can puzzle your readers and undermine your credibility as a writer. So it's important you know how to use them, as well as when to use them, in your writing. A characteristic of adjectives and adverbs is that you can use them in different forms to specify degrees of comparison. The three degrees of comparison are positive, comparative, and superlative:

• In the positive degree , an adjective or adverb describes the quality, quantity, or manner of one person or thing. In the sentence "Alice wrote a long letter," the word long is an adjective in the positive degree. In the sentence "Alice arrived early ," the word early is an adverb in the positive degree.

• In the comparative degree , an adjective or adverb compares the quality, quantity, or manner of two

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people or things. An adjective in the comparative degree is longer in the sentence, "Alice wrote a longer letter than Betty." An adverb in the comparative degree is earlier in the sentence "Alice arrived earlier than Betty."

• In the superlative degree , an adjective or adverb compares three or more people or things. It indicates that what's being described has a quality to a greater extent than anything it is being compared to.

The way you form the comparative and superlative degrees of an adjective or adverb depends on whether you have a one-syllable, two-syllable, or three-or-more-syllable word:

• one-syllable word – You usually add er to make the adjective comparative or est to make it superlative. The same applies to most one-syllable adverbs that do not end in the letters ly. Exceptions apply for some irregular one-syllable words, such as good and bad. These become better and worse rather than gooder and badder. You can use a good dictionary to find the correct forms of comparison for irregular adverbs and adjectives.

• two-syllable word – Some adjectives and adverbs with two syllables take the er and est suffixes, but most take more or most. And a participle used as an adjective - for example, boring – requires more or most before it. Sometimes, the way a word sounds will help you determine whether to use the suffix or the words more or most. For example, tranquilest does not sound natural, therefore most tranquil is probably the better form in this case. Consult a good dictionary to check if you are uncertain about which form to use. And remember, some adverbs and adjectives are irregular,


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so no rules guide their forms in the comparative and superlative forms.

• three-syllable word – You usually form the comparative with more or less, and the superlative with most or least.

Remember, when using the comparative and superlative forms, you should use either the er / est endings or the words more and most – but not both. And some adverbs and adjectives, by their definitions, are absolute and can't be compared.

Troublesome adjective-adverb pairs

ome adjective-adverb pairs can cause confusion. They account for many of the common usage errors with adverbs and adjectives, in writing and speech.

The adjective real is often used incorrectly in place of the adverb really – as in "John was real upset." This is incorrect because real in this context is modifying upset, which is an adjective – so the adverb really should be used. A simple way to check if you're using really and real correctly is to replace them with the word very. If the meaning of the sentence stays the same, you should be using the adverb really. But if not, use real. Confusion between the words bad and badly often arises when they are used with a linking verb. Whether these verbs are linking depends on their meaning in sentences. When the word after a verb modifies the subject, the verb is linking and the word should be an adjective, as in "The economy was bad in the first quarter." But when the word modifies the verb, it should be an adverb – as in "The plants grow badly

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in this rocky soil." If you were to write "The plants grow bad in this rocky soil," it would mean something different – that the plants somehow become bad. Similar confusion can occur between the adjective good and the adverb well.

• Good describes nouns or pronouns and means commendable, worthy, virtuous, or valid.

• The word well is most commonly used as an adverb, meaning to do something in a satisfactory way, skillfully, or in a kind way – as in "he treated her well."

The way adverbs and adjectives are formed differs depending on the intended degree of comparison. The three degrees of comparison are positive, comparative, and superlative. You usually form the different degrees based on the number of syllables in a word, although some adverbs and adjectives are irregular. It's important to avoid confusing certain adjective-adverb pairs, such as real and really, bad and badly, and good and well. Remembering which part of speech these words function as will help guide you in their correct use.


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�Job Aid Forming Comparatives and Superlatives

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the rules for constructing adjectives and adverbs in the comparative and superlative forms.

Adjectives and adverbs have three degrees of comparison: the positive, comparative, and superlative. A positive adjective denotes an object's quality without reference to the quality of any other object. Rules for constructing comparative and superlative forms: Number of syllables in the adverb / adjective

Example Comparative degree compares two people or things

Example Superlative degree compares three or more people or things

Example

One-syllable adjectives Most one-syllable adverbs that don't end in ly

strong soon

Add er stronger sooner

Add est strongest soonest

Parts of Speech

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Number of syllables in the adverb / adjective



Example

A participle used as an adjective requires more or most before it

amused

amusing

more amused more amusing

most amused most amusing

Two syllables, ending in anything other than y

caring often

Either add less or more before the word; or add er to the end of the word

more caring more often

Either add least or most before the word; or add est to the end of the word

most caring most often

Two syllables, ending in y

funny early

Replace the y with ier

funnier earlier

Replace the y with iest

funniest earliest

Three or more syllables

appropriately carefully

Add less or more before the word

more appropriately more carefully

Add least or most before the word

most appropriately most carefully


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Number of syllables in the adverb / adjective



Example

Some adverbs and adjectives, by definition, are absolute and can't be compared

never universally uniquely perfect dead impossible infinite then now on first finally here



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Irregular adjectives

Some exceptions to these rules are called irregular adjectives.

Examples of irregular adjectives

Irregular adjective Comparative form Superlative form

far further/farther furthest/farthest

good better best

bad worse worst

little less least

many more most


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�Job Aid

Confusing Adjective-Adverb Pairs

Instruction: Use this job aid to review a list of confusing adjective-adverb pairs, along with strategies for remembering how to use them correctly.

Confusing pairs

Adjective Adverb

real really

good well

bad badly

real/really

The adjective real is often used incorrectly in place of the adverb really – as in "John was real upset." This is incorrect because real in this context is modifying upset, which is an adjective. It is therefore correct to use the adverb really in this example – "John was really upset." To check if you're using the adverb really correctly, simply replace the adverb with the word very. If the meaning of the sentence stays the same, you've used the adverb correctly. If the meaning changes, you've used it incorrectly.

Parts of Speech

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Consider these examples: • "John is a real salesman." – This is correct.

• "John is a very salesman." – This is incorrect because very cannot replace real in this case.

bad/badly

Confusion between the terms bad and badly arises when there's no action verb in a sentence. In these cases, remember that adjectives are used to describe nouns or pronouns, whereas adverbs must be used to describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Consider these examples:

• Jane felt bad . (correct)

• Jane felt badly . (incorrect)

The word badly is an adverb. In this case, an adjective describing the noun Jane is required. Otherwise, the meaning in "Jane felt badly" is that Jane's sense of touch isn't working properly.

good/well

Good describes nouns or pronouns and means commendable, worthy, virtuous, or valid. An example is "This is a good report." The word well is most commonly used as an adverb, meaning to do something in a satisfactory way, skillfully, or in a kind way – as in "He treated her well ."


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Lesson 4

Verbs

Using Verbs Correctly

he verb is the most complicated part of speech. A verb changes form to express different information, including voice, mood, and tense.

Voice

he voice of a verb reveals the relationship between the subject and the action itself in a sentence:

• In the active voice, the subject comes before the verb.

• In the passive voice, the subject comes after the verb or may even be left out of a sentence.

In business writing, using verbs in the active voice can help you make a stronger impression. In the passive voice, helping verbs like "am" must be added to support a main verb. These can add to the length of sentences, and convey less energy and interest than action verbs.

Mood

he mood of a verb indicates the way in which the verb expresses an action or state of being. There are three types of moods:

T

T

T

Parts of Speech

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• You use the indicative mood to state something as a fact, describe something give factual details, or to ask questions.

• You use the imperative mood to issue commands or make requests. Sentences in the imperative mood usually have an understood "you" as the subject.

• You use the subjunctive mood when referring to a possible act or state.

Verb tenses

he tense of a verb reveals the time at which an act, state, or condition occurs or occurred. The three main divisions of time are present, past, and future. To form

verb tenses correctly, you need to know the principal parts of verbs:

• The plain form of a verb is the form you find in the dictionary.

• The infinitive is the part of the verb that in its plain form may be preceded by to.

• You form the present participle by adding ing to the plain form of the verb. A present participle is used with a “to be” verb to show that an action is in progress.

• The past participle is usually the same as the past tense form – it takes an ed or d after its plain form.

Regular verbs have basic forms that don't change when you form different tenses. Irregular verbs, however, change form in different tenses. There are so many variations of irregular verbs that if you are unsure about how to form a tense, you

T


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should check a good dictionary. The verb to be has more irregular forms than any other verb. The three major categories of verb tenses break down further into simple, perfect, and progressive tenses:

• The simple present tense indicates an action that is currently taking place, a recurring action, or something that is always true. To form this tense for regular verbs, you use the plain form of a verb – except when the subject is he or she, in which case you add an s.

• The past tense describes an act, state, or condition that occurred or existed at some point in the past. Regular verbs form their past tense by adding ed to the verb.

• The future tense indicates an expected act, state, or condition. This tense is formed by placing will before the plain form of the verb.

• The present perfect tense indicates that an act, state, or condition began in the past and may still be occurring. This tense uses the helping verb have or has along with the past participle of a verb.

• The past perfect tense indicates that an act, state, or condition was completed before another specified past time or past action.

• The future perfect tense describes an act, state, or condition expected to be completed before some other future act or time. This tense is formed by using will have with a past participle.

• The progressive tenses indicate actions that are still in progress. You form all these tenses using a form of the verb to be with the present participle. So the present

Parts of Speech

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progressive tense indicates continuing or progressive action. To form this tense, you use the present tense forms of to be – am, is , or are – with the present participle.

• The past progressive tense identifies an action that occurred for a certain amount of time in the past. To form this tense, you use was or were with the present participle. Last, the future progressive tense indicates an action that will be in progress at a certain time in the future. To form this tense, you use will be with the present participle.

It can be more difficult to form tenses correctly with irregular verbs. Common usage errors occur when using irregular verbs such as do, hang, and drink :

• In perfect tenses, the past participle of do – which is done – must be used.

• The verb to hang takes different past tense and past participle forms depending on the intended meaning.

• The past tense of drink is drank and the past participle is has drunk.

An auxiliary or modal verb – is a very irregular verb used with other verbs. Using different modal verbs can change the meaning of a sentence. One modal verb that doesn't vary in its form in either the present or past indicative is ought. Moreover, it has no infinitive form or present or past participle. The verb is the most complicated part of speech because it changes form to express information, including voice, mood, and tense. The voice of a sentence is either active or passive. In business writing, active verbs make stronger


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impressions and are more concise. Statements and questions are in indicative mood, and commands are in imperative mood. The subjunctive mood expresses hypotheses or wishes. Verb tenses reveal whether actions or states happened in the past, present, or future. To form verb tenses, you should know the plain forms of verbs, their infinitives, and their present and past participles. Verb tenses are divided into simple, perfect, and progressive tenses, each of which is formed differently. An auxiliary or modal verb is used with other verbs to indicate time or add other meaning.

Parts of Speech

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�Job Aid

Principal Parts of Verbs

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the principal parts of verbs.

To form verb tenses correctly, you need to know the principal parts of verbs. These include their plain form, infinitive, present participle, and past participle. Methods of forming a verb part

Part How to form this part Example

Plain form The plain form of a verb is the form you find in the dictionary

Manage Type Help

Infinitive The infinitive is the part of the verb that in its plain form may be preceded by to

To manage To type To help

Present participle

You form the present participle by adding ing to the plain form of the verb

He is managing He was typing


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Methods of forming a verb part

Part How to form this part Example

She is helping

Past participle

The past participle is usually the same as the past tense form – it takes an ed or d after its plain form.

He managed He typed She helped

Irregular verbs

Verbs are either regular or irregular in the way they form different tenses. When you form tenses using regular verbs, the plain forms of the verbs remain unchanged. For example, you simply add the suffix ed or d to form the past participle or the past tense. However, irregular verbs change form in different tenses. Although an irregular verb usually forms the present participle in the same way as a regular verb – for example, ride-riding or do-doing, there are no rules on how an irregular verb forms the past tense and past participle. So you have ride-rode-ridden and do-did-done. A good dictionary of usage or general dictionary is a vital resource.


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�Job Aid

Forming Regular and Irregular Verb Tenses

Instruction: Use this job aid to review how to form different verb tenses for regular and irregular verbs.

There are three categories of verb tenses: simple, perfect, and progressive tenses. Each category contains three subcategories: present, past, and future versions of the tense types. Forming verb tenses with regular verbs

Tense Present Past Future

Simple tense

Use plain form of verb, but add an s to the verb in third-person singular. Example: He uses the computer.

Add ed to the plain form of the verb.

Example: He used the computer.

Place will before the plain form of the verb. Example: He will use the computer.

Perfect tense

Use the verb have or has along with the past participle.

Use had with the past participle.

Use will have with the past participle.


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Forming verb tenses with regular verbs


Example: He has used the computer.

Example: He had used the computer.

Example: He will have used the computer.

Progressive tense

Use am, is, or are with the present participle. Example: He is using the computer.

Use was or were with the present participle. Example: He was using the computer.

Use will be with the present participle. Example: He will be using the computer.

Irregular verbs

The basic forms of irregular verbs change in different tenses. Examples of irregular verbs are become, begin, buy, do, come, forget, and say. Because there are so many variations of irregular verbs, the only way to learn them is by memorizing each one or by using a good dictionary to check their forms. Forming verb tenses with irregular verbs "do," "buy ," and forget


Simple tense I must do that soon.

I did that recently.

I will do that by next month.

Parts of Speech

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Forming verb tenses with irregular verbs "do," "buy ," and forget


I want to buy it. I might forget.

I bought it recently. I forgot.

I will buy it by then. I will forget.

Perfect tense I have done it. I have bought it. I have forgotten.

I had done that recently.

I had bought that recently.

I had forgotten.

I will have done that by next month. I will have bought that by next quarter. I will have forgotten that by tomorrow.

Progressive tense

I am doing that soon. I am buying it. I am forgetting about that.

I was doing that recently. I was buying it. I was forgetting.

I will be doing that in the future. I will be buying it next month. I will be forgetting about that.

Parts of Speech

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�Follow-on Activity

Evaluating Your Written Work

Instruction: Use this follow-on activity to analyze and evaluate your use of the different parts of speech in a piece of your writing.

Instructions for use : To use this tool, review a short piece of your own written work by answering the questions listed below. Then evaluate how well or how poorly you've used the different parts of speech. Make notes on how you can improve your areas of weakness.

• How many different parts of speech have you used? Try to identify examples of all these parts of speech. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Which part of speech have you used most frequently? ________________________________________________________________________________________

• Which parts of speech have you used rarely? ________________________________________________________________________________________


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• Which types of nouns did you use? _______________________________________________________________________________________

• Did you use any nouns incorrectly? ________________________________________________________________________________________

• Did you use adverbs and adjectives correctly? ________________________________________________________________________________________

• For the verbs in a particular paragraph, which

o voice have you used? ______________________

o mood have you used? _____________________

o tense have you used? ______________________

• How could you improve your writing, based on what you've learned about the parts of speech?

________________________________________________________________________________________

BGB/1010 41

Working With Words

The second module explains how to use words correctly, including some key rules on how to spell correctly. It covers rules for properly constructing prefixes and suffixes. In addition, the course describes how to form plurals and possessives correctly. And it presents spelling rules and tips to help you become a better speller. Knowing the rules, as well as the exceptions, when it comes to details like these will make you a more confident writer and leave a good impression on your readers. The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: Prefixes and Suffixes Lesson 2: Forming Plurals Lesson 3: Forming Possessives Lesson 4: Basic Rules for Spelling

MMMoooddduuullleee


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Lesson 1

Prefixes and Suffixes

Rules for Constructing Prefixes and Suffixes

refixes are a standard set of syllables that are added to the beginning of root words to change their meaning. Suffixes are a standard set of syllables that

are added to the ends of words to alter their meaning as well as their function.

You can break prefixes down into four categories, depending on their meanings. Prefixes can be used to indicate:

• quantity

• negation

• time, or

• direction or position

Suffixes can help you recognize which parts of speech certain words are. For instance, the addition of a suffix to a root word could change it from a verb to a noun. Another suffix could change the word to an adjective, whereas another might make it an adverb. The three categories of suffixes are as follows:

• noun suffixes are those that change the root word to a noun

• adjective suffixes change root words into adjectives, and

P

Working With Words

BGB/1010 43

• verb suffixes are added to root words to change them to verbs

So suffixes can be added to form nouns, adjectives, and verbs. And to form adverbs, you usually add the suffix ly.

General rules

sing prefixes and suffixes correctly requires not only that you know what they mean, but also which guidelines to follow when attaching them to root

words. In general, hyphens shouldn't be used when adding a prefix or a suffix to a word. There are some exceptions to the rule. Normally, the prefix mid doesn't require a hyphen, as in midday. However, when it's followed by a number, a hyphen must used. You should also use a hyphen when mid is followed by a proper noun such as mid-January or mid-Atlantic. When adding less or like to the end of a word, a hyphen has to be used if the addition results in three l's occurring in succession. The prefix re, meaning again, doesn't usually need to be followed by a hyphen. However, you should use a hyphen with it to distinguish the meaning of words with the same spelling. For example, you release a statement to the press, but you re-lease an apartment to a tenant. Another rule is to add hyphens to ensure clarity:

• compound words – When adding a prefix to a hyphenated or a spaced compound word, it is necessary to use a hyphen.

U


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• "self" words – A hyphen is added when self is used as a prefix. However, a hyphen is not required when self is the base word and it's followed by a suffix, as is the case with the word selfish.

• common elements – If you're using two or more prefixes with a common element, you use a suspending hyphen after each prefix to show its relationship to the common element. For example, "We completed pre-, mid-, and post -training assessments."

• capital letters – When you place a prefix in front of a word that begins with a capital letter, you have to use a hyphen. This would include words like mid-June and trans-American.

You should also add a hyphen when a prefix ends in a or i and the root word begins with the same letter. But typically, when the prefix ends with e or o and the root word begins with the same letter, you don't use a hyphen. There are some exceptions, however, including co-owner, co-opt, and de-emphasize. When in doubt, consult your dictionary. The trend in spelling has been away from the use of hyphens. Although it's a trend – not a rule – it may sometimes help, when deciding whether to use a hyphen, to remember that the trend exists. And if ambiguity or confusion results from not including a hyphen, then you should add it. When adding a prefix to a word, the spelling of the root word is not altered in any way. However, when adding suffixes to words, the spelling of the root word may change. Because of this, there are certain rules for adding suffixes to root words.

Working With Words

BGB/1010 45

One of these rules relates to the silent e that appears in such words as become, like, and give. This e has to be dropped from the root word when the suffix being added begins with a vowel. Exceptions to this rule are the words changeable and noticeable. In these instances, the silent e is maintained because it follows a soft g or c. In some cases, you'll keep the silent e when adding a suffix. The silent e is kept if the suffix begins with a consonant. An exception to this rule is the word argument, which is formed when the silent e is dropped from the verb argue before the suffix is added. Another rule for adding suffixes is that you change the y in a root word to i if the letter before the y is a consonant. You keep the y in the root word if the suffix begins with an i, as is the case when you add the suffix ing to the word cry to form crying. You also retain the y in a root word in certain one-syllable words and if the letter before the y is a vowel. Sometimes it's necessary to keep the y when a suffix is added to certain one-syllable words. If you add a suffix to the root word dry, you keep the y to form the word dryness, for example. The y is retained if the letter before the y is a vowel, as is the case with the root word annoy when you add a suffix to form the word annoyance. The only exceptions to the rule about vowels before the y include the one-syllable words day and say, in which case the y is changed to an i. The basic component of any word is its root. You can modify the meaning of the word by adding a prefix before the root or a suffix after it. Prefixes can alter the meaning of the root word by indicating quantity, negation, time, and direction or


46 BGB/1010

position. Suffixes change the part of speech of the word. They can do this in three ways – by changing the root word to a noun, to an adjective, or to a verb. There are several general rules you need to follow when adding prefixes and suffixes to root words.

Working With Words

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�Job Aid

Prefixes

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the meanings of prefixes and their use in different words.

Prefixes

Prefix Meaning Example

circum around circumnavigate

counter opposite to counterclockwise, counterweight

ex out, from exhale

hemi half hemisphere

hyper excessive hyperactive

hypo below, under hypodermic

in (also il, im, ir)

not, without; in, into, toward, inside

inappropriate, illegal, impossible, irresponsible

intra within intrastate, intranet

mega big megaphone

mis wrongly, bad misjudge, misdeed


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Prefixes

Prefix Meaning Example

over excessively, completely

overconfident

para beside parallel

peri around perimeter

re again rewrite, redo, return

semi half semicircle

sub below, under subterranean

syn with, together synchronize

un not; do the opposite of unacceptable, unplug

Working With Words

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�Job Aid

Rules for Prefixes

Instruction: Use this job as a guide to the rules for using prefixes.

Rule 1

It's generally not necessary to use a hyphen when adding a prefix to a root word.

Examples

• noncompliance

• copayment, and

• semiconscious

Exceptions

• Use a hyphen after mid when it's followed by a number – for example, mid -1960s or mid -20s.

• Use a hyphen when adding less or like to the end of a word if three l's occur in succession – for example, skull-like.


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Rule 2

Use a hyphen with the prefix re to distinguish meanings of words with the same spelling.

Examples

• Has John recovered from his illness?

• I have re-covered her school books twice.

• I will have to repress how I feel about this situation.

• I must re-press my shirt.

• Please relay the message quickly.

• Please make sure they re-lay the tiles.

Rule 3

Add hyphens to ensure clarity when using

• compound words

• self words

• common elements, or

• capital letters

Examples

• Compound words: non-interest-bearing

• Self words: self-image, self-examination, self-starter

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• Common elements: Make sure you finish the pre- and post-assessment.

• Capital letters: trans-Atlantic, pseudo-British

Rule 4

Use a hyphen when a prefix ends in a or i and the root word begins with the same letter.

Examples

• semi-invalid

• ultra-ambitious


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�Job Aid

Suffixes

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the part of speech for which some common suffixes are used.

Suffixes

Suffix Meaning Part of speech Example

ance quality, state action, process

noun relevance

ation that which is noun agitation

cy state of being noun democracy

ence quality, state; action, process

noun reference

er Person who noun teacher

ist relating to the person who performs a specified action

noun realist

Working With Words

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Suffixes


ion act, process; state, condition

noun discussion

ness state, condition, quality, degree

noun randomness

able capable of adjective portable

al pertaining to adjective logical

ful full of; characterized by

adjective wonderful

ible capable of adjective edible

ive like adjective quantitative

less not having adjective useless

ous full of adjective ludicrous

ly in a (specified) manner

adverb friendly

ate to make verb/noun/adjective regulate/emirate/craniate


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Suffixes


ed having the characteristics of; characterized by, having

verb/adjective increased/animated

en cause to be; come to be

verb deepen

ize to make verb enfranchize

Working With Words

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�Job Aid

Rules for Suffixes

Instruction: Use this job aid as a guide to the rules regarding the use of suffixes.

Rule 1

If a word ends in a silent e, you should drop the e if the suffix begins with a vowel.

Examples

• dose + age = dosage

• damage + ed = damaged

• fine + est = finest

• fame + ous = famous

Exceptions

The e is retained after a soft c or g to keep the sound of the consonant soft, as opposed to hard.

• replace + able = replaceable

Keep the e if the suffix begins with a consonant.

• like + ly = likely


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• care + ful = careful

• nice + ty = nicety

Rule 2

When adding a suffix to a word ending in y, change the y to an i if the letter before the y is a consonant.

Examples

• accompany + ment = accompaniment

• icy + er = icier

Exceptions

The y is retained when the suffix starts with an i.

• carry + ing = carrying

Keep the y if the letter before the y is a vowel.

• play + ful = playful

Keep the y when adding a suffix to some one-syllable words.

• shy + er = shyer

Working With Words

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Lesson 2

Forming Plurals

Rules for Forming Plurals

orming plurals can be tricky. But luckily, you can use several rules to guide you:

• the basic rule – The basic rule when it comes to forming plurals is to add the letter s to the singular form of the noun. This is the simplest and most straightforward rule. For example, the singular committee becomes the plural committees, league becomes leagues, menu becomes menus, and quota becomes quotas.

• rules relating to nouns ending in s, x, ch, sh, and z – When singular nouns end in s, x, ch, sh, or z, you add es to form plurals. Examples include the words businesses, faxes, sketches, and wishes. The only exception to this rule is the noun quiz. To make this plural, zes is added, forming the plural quizzes.

• rules relating to nouns ending in y – When a noun ends in a y that's preceded by a consonant, you form the plural by changing the y to an i and adding es. For example, liability becomes liabilities, copy becomes copies, and policy becomes policies. However, when a noun ending in a y is preceded by a vowel, the letter s

F


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is added to form the plural, as in the words attorneys, boys, and delays.

• rules relating to nouns ending in f, fe, and ff – You form the plurals of nouns that end in f, fe, or ff by adding s, as in tariffs, beliefs, and safes. The exceptions related to this rule refer to words such as leaves, halves, selves, and wives. These plurals are formed by changing the f or fe to ve and then adding s.

• rules relating to singular nouns ending in o – You create the plural forms of singular nouns that end in o in two ways. First, if the o is preceded by a vowel, you add an s to form words such as stereos and ratios. But if the o is preceded by a consonant, you usually add es. For instance, hero and tomato become heroes and tomatoes.

Some special rules apply to three categories of nouns: • proper nouns , which name individual people or things

and should begin with a capital letter – The main rule for forming plurals of proper nouns is that the original spelling must not be altered. All that's added to the singular noun is an s. For example, "Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy " become the McCarthys, not the McCarthies.

• foreign nouns , which have been adopted from other languages, such as Greek and Latin, into the English language – Foreign nouns use different rules to form plurals. Words ending in o in the singular sometimes change to i in the plural. For instance, concerto becomes concerti. And singular foreign nouns that end

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in on or um receive an a to form the plural. So, criterion becomes criteria.

• irregular nouns , which include nouns surviving from Old English – Some nouns, especially those derived from Old English, are irregular because their plurals are formed by changing letters within the word or adding letters other than the usual s or e s. You're likely to be familiar with most of these words, but in cases where you are uncertain, you should refer to your dictionary.

Another area to consider is the plurals of hyphenated and open compound nouns. For hyphenated forms, you usually add an s to the element that is being pluralized – for example, fathers-in-law. In open compounds, the same applies – for example, accounts payable, rules of thumb, and notaries public. So, as a general rule, you attach the plural form of a compound word to the base element – the one that changes in number or the principal noun – regardless where the element falls in the term. If there is no clear principal noun, then the plural applies to the entire compound as in hand-me-downs or author critics. The only nouns that don't form plurals are noncount nouns. You don't add s to these types of nouns. Examples include bread, equipment, respect, and information. A common error in writing is to form plurals by adding an apostrophe s to the singular form of a noun. Remember that you use apostrophe s for possessive nouns, such as John's portfolio. It's not meant for creating plural nouns. However,


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you may find that certain handbooks teach the use of an apostrophe in the plural forms of numbers and letters. So, for example, in the sentence "She scored 10's in all quizzes," the score 10's contains an apostrophe, but it doesn't have to. This method of forming plurals is not formally agreed upon. You can follow several rules for creating plurals from singular nouns. The basic rule is to add s to the singular form of the noun. When singular nouns end in s, x, ch, sh, or z, you add e s to form plurals. Nouns ending in a y that are preceded by a consonant are formed by changing the y to an i and adding es. The plurals of nouns that end in f, fe, or ff are formed by adding s.

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�Job Aid

Rules for Forming Plurals

Instruction : Use this job aid as a guide to the rules for forming plurals.

Forming plurals

Rule Example

When singular nouns end in s, x, ch, sh, or z, add es to form plurals.

compass – compasses box – boxes church – churches wish – wishes buzz – buzzes

When singular nouns ending in y are preceded by a consonant, change the y to i and add es.

butterfly – butterflies liability – liabilities


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Forming plurals

Rule Example

When singular nouns ending in y are preceded by a vowel, add s.

monkey – monkeys boy – boys

With singular nouns that end in f, fe, or ff, add s. surf – surfs safe – safes riff – riffs

With singular nouns ending in o and preceded by a vowel, add s.

studio – studios

With singular nouns ending in o and preceded by a consonant, add es.

veto – vetoes

When forming plurals with proper nouns, the original spelling must not be altered and the only addition should be s.

McKenna – McKennas Hadley - Hadleys

With foreign nouns ending in on or um, change the on or um to a.

honorarium – honoraria

Create plurals of hyphenated and compound nouns by adding s to the part of the word that will change in number.

sister-in-law – sisters-in-law rule of thumb – rules of thumb

Working With Words

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Lesson 3

Forming Possessives

Rules for Forming Possessives

he possessive case indicates not only simple ownership but also other relations. It can denote source or origin as well as description or classification

possessive case also replaces an of phrase – for example, one month's salary is the same as the salary of one month. You use an apostrophe to indicate the possessive case. Two general rules apply for most nouns:

• For singular nouns, you add apostrophe s to form the possessive. The same rule applies to irregular plural nouns. You also apply the rule to indefinite pronouns like someone, anyone, no one, and everyone. Finally, you apply this to nouns – usually creative names – that end in punctuation marks. For instance, the possessive form of Yahoo!, the Internet search engine, is Yahoo!'s.

• For plural nouns, you can add the apostrophe without the s. For instance, you add only an apostrophe to the plural managers in the sentence "The managers' evaluations have been positive."

The general rules for possessives cover most proper nouns in both singular and plural form, as well as numbers and letters.

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A rule of thumb for forming possessives is that you don't change the spelling of the noun itself – you always add something to it to form a possessive. Some nouns that end in s can take an extra syllable when they become possessive. So to match the pronunciation, you add apostrophe s instead of just the apostrophe. For example, you'd write "The witness's statement is strong." Here, witness's is pronounced witnesses. You can also leave out the s, as in "The witness' statement is strong," and pronounce the possessive. Consistency is the key, but the s after the apostrophe, as in witness's, is preferred because it represents the more common pronunciation. Personal pronouns are often wrongly given apostrophes when they're made possessive. They don't actually take an apostrophe – their spelling changes completely. It is the most common pronoun to be given the apostrophe incorrectly. The word its is the possessive form of it. The possessive its is often confused with it's, where the apostrophe is used to form the contraction for it is. Mastering the guidelines for using the apostrophe in different possessive structures will improve your business writing in several areas:

• With separate ownership – when two or more nouns possess something separately – you use the possessive form with each noun. For example, Sarah's and Etienne's projects refers to Sarah's project and also Etienne's project. With joint ownership , you use the possessive of only the last noun. So if Sarah and Etienne are working on a joint project, you make only

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the second name possessive, as in Sarah and Etienne's project.

• You can also use the possessive form to modify a gerund – a verb ending in ing – that is used as a noun. There are several ways to use this construction, and it often creates confusing or awkward sentences. But if you decide to use it out of personal preference, there's a good rule of thumb to help you avoid errors. The rule-of-thumb is to use this construction only in one particular instance – when the word before the gerund can be replaced with a possessive pronoun. This could be a personal pronoun such as I, you, or they, or any proper noun or name. While this rule has several exceptions, it should help you avoid most errors.

• In compound nouns and noun phrases, you make the final word possessive – for example, a team member's reaction. However, when a compound noun is plural, as in the bank accounts' balances, it's often best to use an of phrase instead – so it becomes the balances of the bank accounts. With more complex compound nouns, it's even more important to use the of phrase. Rather than writing editors-in-chief's responsibilities, you'd write the responsibilities of the editors-in-chief.

A fuzzy area in possessives is how to tell a possessive noun from an attributive noun – in other words, when it describes a following noun. For instance, in consumer advocate, consumer is used attributively to modify advocate. But take writers' conference, where writers is used possessively. Here you could leave out the apostrophe and write it attributively, but this isn't ideal. Generally, it's safer to retain the


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apostrophe. You omit the apostrophe – and use the attributive – only in proper names and where there's clearly no possessive meaning. Using the apostrophe to show possession involves several rules. The first is to add an apostrophe s for singular nouns to form the possessive. Second, you add just an apostrophe for plural nouns and nouns ending in s. Personal pronouns don't take apostrophes in the possessive case. When two or more nouns possess something separately, you use the possessive form with each noun. But when joint ownership exists, you use the possessive with the last noun only. You can use the possessive form to modify a gerund, but only when you can replace the word before the gerund with a possessive pronoun. In compound nouns and noun phrases, you only use the possessive case with the final word.

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�Job Aid

Rules for Forming Possessives

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules for forming possessives.

Several guidelines can help when using the apostrophe to show possession.

Basic guidelines

Two basic guidelines refer to nouns that don't end in s, and nouns that do.

• For singular nouns like employee, you add apostrophe s after the noun, as in the employee's salary.

• For plural nouns like directors, you just add an apostrophe after the noun, as in the directors' signatures.

Two main exceptions to the above guidelines are irregular plurals and personal pronouns.


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Irregular plurals

Irregular plurals that don't end in s take an apostrophe s when you make them possessive, for example, the media's impact, the women's opinions, and the children's toys.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are often wrongly given apostrophes when they're made possessive. They don't actually take an apostrophe – their spelling changes completely.

Possessive forms of singular personal pronouns

Personal pronouns Possessive case

I my, mine

you your, yours

he, she, it his, her or hers, its

Possessive forms of plural personal pronouns

Personal pronouns Possessive case

we our, ours

you your, yours

they their, theirs

The possessive form of it is its, not to be confused with it's, which means it is.

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Joint possession

To signify joint possession, usually by two or more people, you make the second or last noun possessive, as in "Success was due to Jenny and Alex's efforts."

Separate possession

To signify separate possession, you make both nouns possessive and the object noun can come after either noun. In the following example, the object of the sentence – the object noun – is the word results. It's correct to say either "Jenny's results and Alex's are excellent" or "Jenny's and Alex's results are excellent."

Gerunds

Possessives can modify gerunds – verbs used as nouns, such as consulting in the example "Jim's consulting takes up all his time."

A gerund may take the possessive form in contexts where, if a pronoun were used, it would be in the possessive case. For example, in the sentence "The manager's revealing the company's negligence resulted in a lawsuit," you could use his in place of the manager's. The gerund is the word revealing.

The possessive with gerund is becoming less common in contemporary business writing. It's most often used when the word before the -ing form is a proper name or personal noun, but there are many exceptions, and its use depends on personal preference.


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Compound nouns and noun phrases

In compound nouns and noun phrases, make the final word possessive – for example, a team member's reaction and the former director's comments.

For plural compound nouns, as in the bank accounts' balances, use an of phrase instead – so it becomes, the balances of the bank accounts.

With complex compound nouns, use the of phrase. Rather than editors-in-chief's responsibilities, you'd write the responsibilities of the editors-in-chief.

Attributives versus possessive

An attributive noun is a noun that describes a following noun, such as consumer in consumer advocate.

The attributive can often be written as a possessive instead. For instance, you could say writers' conference or writer's conference.

Generally, only use the attributive for proper names and where there's clearly no attributive meaning, as in Publishers Weekly, or for singular nouns, as in state highways.

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Lesson 4

Basic Rules For Spelling

Basic Spelling Rules

omputer spell checkers are good at picking up actual spelling errors. But they're limited; they can't pick up the very common error of confusing words with similar

spellings. You might already be familiar with some of the rules for spelling, such as those that apply when you add suffixes to words that end in a silent e and in y, as well as rules for forming plurals. For example, for words that end in y, you change the y to i when you need to add es or ed. So comply becomes complies and complied. You may find spelling difficult because many words contain silent letters, other than e, for example:

• silent b, as in debt, subtle, and doubt

• silent c, as in obsolescence, acquaintance, and indict

• silent g, as in foreign, freight, sign, height, strength, and through

• silent k, as in knight, knock, and know

• silent i, as in liaison, praise, and achieve

• silent n, as in hymn, column, and condemn

• silent p, as in psychology and pneumonia

• silent t, as in mortgage, listen, and often

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Some people find that mnemonics – or memory aids – are useful in remembering how to spell words that contain silent letters. You can also use pronunciation aids to help you remember the spellings of words. A useful memory aid is the phrase i before e, except after c. When a word has an i and an e together after any letter other than c, you spell the word with ie. Examples of this rule are achieve, yield, and retrieve. If it follows a c, you normally use ei, as in perceive, deceive, and receipt. There are several exceptions to the ie rule. When the word sounds like a as in weigh, the e comes first. Other examples are neighbor, reign, and feint. And exceptions when you have an ie after the c are science, ancient, and financier. A rule that applies when you add a suffix to a word is that you double the final consonant. There are two particular instances when you do this:

• single syllable words that end with vowel and consonant – When a one-syllable word ends in one vowel followed by a consonant, and the suffix begins with a vowel, you double the final consonant. So scan plus the suffix ing becomes scanning – you double the n.

• multisyllable words with accented final syllable – Whether you double the final consonant sometimes depends on how the word is pronounced. If there's more than one syllable and the last syllable is accented – and the suffix begins with a vowel – you double the final consonant. For instance, occur becomes occurred when you add ed and occurrence when you add ence.

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You don't double this final consonant if it's a y, k, or x. So buy becomes buying, and the past tense of fix is fixed. Many other exceptions trip people up when a suffix is added. For instance, the plural of bus is buses.

Becoming a better speller

ou can become a better speller by following some tips. Remember that you just have to memorize some words. Many words have odd spellings or don't adhere

to the rules. Examples include coolly, woolly, embarrass, harass, calendar, and itinerary. Words like yacht, buoy, and quay can be tricky too because their spelling differs from the way they're pronounced. Remembering two basic rules, one for adding prefixes and the other for adding suffixes, will go a long way in helping you to spell better. The rule for prefixes applies in every instance, whereas the rule for suffixes applies to one tricky suffix ending:

• When you add a prefix, you don't drop letters from the original word. So equal becomes unequal.

• When you add the suffix ful to a word, you always end with only one l. So hope becomes hopeful.

Another useful way to help your spelling is to improve the way you say words. For example, to help you remember that separate has two a's, pronounce it as "sep-a-rate." Other words that you pronounce as they're spelled are asterisk, boundary, and Arctic. You can become a better speller by doing certain things:

• keep a list of difficult-to-spell words and review it often

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• use a dictionary whenever you're not sure

• use memory aids – for example, visualize a word that you struggle with

• try to learn a new word, even if it's just one a day

• play word games and do crossword puzzles

Several basic spelling rules can help you become a better speller. Some apply to words ending in silent e and words ending in y. The rule i before e except after c helps you know whether to use ie or ei in a word. Other rules apply to adding suffixes to words that end in consonants and memorizing exceptions and words that contain other silent letters. You can help yourself learn to spell better by recognizing that some words must be memorized, knowing rules for adding a prefix and suffix, and improving your pronunciation. Knowing your weaknesses, using a dictionary, and reviewing difficult words will also help.

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�Job Aid

Basic Spelling Rules

Instruction : Use this job aid to review some basic spelling rules.

Several basic spelling rules will help you to master spelling.

Words ending in silent e

When a word ends in a silent e, the e is dropped if the suffix you're adding begins with a vowel. Two exceptions to this are noticeable and changeable. And you keep the e if the suffix begins with a consonant.

Words ending in y

With a noun ends in a y preceded by a consonant, you form the noun's plural by changing the y to i and adding es. But when the y is preceded by a vowel, you add only the letter s, and no other changes are made.

Plural nouns

The basic rule when it comes to forming plurals is to add s to the singular form of the noun.

Nouns ending in s, x, ch, sh, z

When a singular noun ends in s, x, ch, sh, or z, you add es to form the plural.


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Nouns ending in f, fe, ff

You form the plural of a noun that ends in f, fe, or ff by adding s, as in beliefs, safes, and tariffs. The exceptions related to this rule include halves, leaves, selves, and wives. You form these plurals by changing the f or fe to ve and then adding s.

Nouns ending in o

You create the plural forms of nouns ending in o in two ways. If the o is preceded by a vowel, you add an s, as in stereos. If the o is preceded by a consonant, you usually add es, as in cargoes, heroes, tomatoes, and mosquitoes.

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�Job Aid

Additional Spelling Rules

Instruction : Use this job aid to review some additional spelling rules.

Some common troublesome areas of spelling are silent letters, words that have ie and ei combinations, and adding suffixes to words.

Silent letters

Words with silent letters can cause trouble when trying to spell them. You may need to memorize the spelling of those words. Common silent letters include

• b, as in debt, subtle, subpoena, and doubt

• c, as in fluorescent, obsolescence, rescind, acquaintance, and indict

• g, as in foreign, freight, sign, lightning, paradigm, height, weight, strength, through, rough, and sigh

• k, as in knight, knock, know, and knowledge

• i, as in liaison, brain, praise, siege, and achieve

• n, as in autumn, hymn, column, and condemn

• p, as in psyche, psychological, pneumatic, and pneumonia

• t, as in mortgage, listen, bankruptcy, and often


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Some people find that mnemonics – or memory aids – are useful in remembering how to spell words that contain silent letters. For instance, you can remember the word freight by thinking of it as f r and the number eight. Together, that spells freight.

Words containing ie or ei

The basic rule to follow for the ie or ei combination is "i before e except after c."

Examples:

• i before e – achieve, retrieve, belief, yield, thief

• e before i – perceive, deceive, conceive, receive, receipt

Exceptions to this rule, which use the ei combination after a consonant other than c, include:

• weight, neighbor, sleigh, freight, reign, forfeit, seize, seizure, either

And exceptions that use the ie combination after c include • science, conscience, ancient, financier

Adding suffixes

Many words can be harder to spell when you add a suffix to them. Sometimes you double the final consonant first, before adding the suffix, and other times you don't. When a single syllable word ends in one vowel and a consonant, and the suffix begins with a vowel, you double the final consonant.

• scan + ing becomes scanning – you double the n

• ship + ing becomes shipping – you double the p

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It the word has more than one syllable and the last syllable is accented, and the suffix begins with a vowel, you double the final consonant. For instance, occur becomes:

• occurred when you add ed

• occurring when you add ing

• occurrence when you add ence

Words ending in y, k or x

Don't double the final consonant if it's a y, k, or x. So buy becomes buying, fix becomes fixing, and work becomes working.


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�Job Aid

Better Spelling Tools

Instruction : Use this job aid to review some tools and guidelines for developing better spelling.

Several tools and guidelines will help you to improve your spelling.

Memorization

Memorize difficult words or contrasting spellings, such as: • coolly and woolly

• embarrass and harass

• calendar and cellar

• itinerary, and

• fluorescent

Learn prefix and suffix rules

Learn two rules for adding prefixes and suffixes. The rule for prefixes applies in every instance, whereas the rule for suffixes applies to one tricky suffix ending:

• to add a prefix, don't change the spelling of the root word, and

• to add the suffix ful to a word, you always end with only one l – hope becomes hopeful and care becomes careful

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Practice pronunciation

Practice pronouncing words accurately. Commonly misspoken words include asterisk, boundary, and Arctic.

Other guidelines

• Keep a list of words that are difficult to spell and review it often.

• Use a dictionary whenever necessary.

• Use memory aids such as visualizing words you struggle with.

• Learning a new word each day, playing word games, and doing crossword puzzles will also help your spelling.


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Writing Analysis Checklist

Instruction: Use this follow-on activity to analyze your business writing in order to help you improve it.

Instructions for use : To use this tool, consider a sample of your own writing, such as an article, a report, or a memo. Using the table, answer the questions to help you analyze and improve your writing.

Writing analysis questions

Question Your analysis

Have you broken rules regarding prefixes or suffixes?

Row 2 Column 2

Have you created plurals correctly?

Row 3 Column 2

Have you formed possessives correctly?

Row 4 Column 2

Have you applied all the basic spelling rules?

Row 5 Column 2

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Writing analysis questions

Question Your analysis

What areas do you find the most difficult in writing? Is it perhaps when to use a hyphen with a prefix, or how to form the possessive of a plural noun?

Row 6 Column 2

What can you do to improve in these areas?

Row 7 Column 2

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The Mechanics of Writing

This module of the course presents the basic rules for using capital letters, abbreviations, and numbers. It covers abbreviations of titles, names, locations, and countries, as well as how to capitalize direct quotes, titles, names of organizations, and product names, among other elements. In addition, you will be introduced to the forms and uses of numbers with dates and time, money, fractions, and symbols.

The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: Abbreviations Lesson 2: Capitalization Lesson 3: Numbers

MMMoooddduuullleee


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Lesson 1

Abbreviations

The Correct Use of Abbreviations

bbreviations are shortened forms of words or phrases. They're sometimes used in business documents to save time and space. But overuse and inconsistent

use can make a document hard to follow. Two simple rules govern the use of abbreviations: "If in doubt, write it out" and "Be consistent."

Titles and names

hen using such social titles, you always use the abbreviation. Professional and academic designations follow an individual's full name and

comma. Similarly, you use the full name with name suffixes like Jr. and Sr. A civil or military title is spelled out if used with just a surname. They are abbreviated if used with full names. You spell out the titles Reverend (Rev.) and Honorable (Hon.) if they are preceded by the. But they are abbreviated when the doesn't precede the title. The title is usually omitted when just the surname is used. It's generally accepted that you do not use a title and a designation before and after a name. Names that include the title esquire (Esq.) never take any other title, either before or after the name. Titles such as Rev., Mr., and Dr. should

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always precede a name. In some cases, designations can be used without a proper name, particularly if they signify or substitute for a person. It's not general practice to abbreviate given names, unless you are following a personal preference. And when Saint is part of a personal name, the individual's preference should be followed when deciding to use the abbreviation or not. The title Ms. is commonly used in three instances: if a woman prefers it to Miss or Mrs., if a woman's marital status is unknown, or if the marital status is irrelevant. In all but the most formal documents, you should abbreviate the names of well-known businesses and organizations, including labor unions, societies, associations, and government agencies. You may abbreviate parts of a company's name, such as Company, Corporation, and Incorporated.

Location and time

he names of countries are always spelled out in running text. The names of U.S. states are always spelled out when standing alone and preferably – with

the exception of D.C. – when following the name of a city. Although it's becoming more common to abbreviate the United States to U.S. when used as a noun, it's more acceptable to use the abbreviation only as a modifier. You should avoid abbreviating city names and prefixes of geographic names. Exceptions are sometimes made for

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names beginning with Saint when it's permissible to abbreviate the location prefix. The location name in an address on an envelope or a list may be abbreviated. However, these abbreviations are confusing when you use them in the main body of a business document and should always be spelled out. You're probably familiar with the abbreviations a.m. – which stands for ante meridiem or before noon – and p.m. – post meridiem or after noon. And it's often appropriate to abbreviate time zones such as Atlantic Standard Time (AST) or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). You can also abbreviate units of time. The days of the week and names of months can also be shortened. However, you should avoid abbreviating days and months unless you need to save space, in a sales chart for example.

Units of measure

bbreviated measurements typically appear on charts and tables. Abbreviations for units of measure are the same in the singular and the plural. Remember to

include a space between the number and the abbreviation. You typically don't use periods in abbreviations of units of measure. The one exception to this rule is the abbreviation for inches, which takes a period. When a measurement is used as a modifier, you include a hyphen between the amount and the abbreviated unit of

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measurement. If the unit of measure is spelled out, a hyphen shouldn't be used.

When to include periods

or abbreviations that consist entirely of capital letters, you don't include periods. Abbreviations that appear in lowercase letters usually include periods. Units of

measure are exceptions to this rule. If an abbreviation consists of the first part of a word, then a period is generally included after the abbreviation. If an abbreviation ending in a period falls at the end of a sentence, then it is unnecessary to include a second period after the abbreviation.

When to use capital letters

sage is the determining factor in whether abbreviations – other than those standing for proper names – use capital letters. But some guides point

out that noun forms are typically uppercase as in the case of CEO, for example, whereas adverbial forms are lowercase, such as the abbreviation for revolutions per minute.

When to use i.e. or e.g.

he abbreviation i.e. stands for the Latin term id est and means that is or in other words. You use it when you want to specify or clarify something.

You typically use e.g. – which stands for the Latin term exempli gratia, for example – in expressions similar to including

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When to use a or an

n general, the indefinite article a typically precedes words beginning with consonants, whereas an precedes vowels. With abbreviations, this varies depending on

pronunciation – whether the starting sound of the abbreviation sounds like a consonant or a vowel. Acronyms are read as words and – except when used as adjectives – aren't usually preceded by a, an, or the. Abbreviations are sometimes used in business communications when they represent a shortened form of a word or phrase. In some cases, the letters forming the abbreviation are pronounced as a word. These abbreviations are known as acronyms. Most abbreviations fall into four general categories: titles and names, locations, time, and units of measure. Rules or guidelines can help you use abbreviations correctly. Keep in mind these two general rules: "If in doubt, write it out" and "Be consistent."

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�Job Aid

Rules for Abbreviating Titles and Names

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the rules for abbreviating titles and names.

Title and name abbreviations

Rule Example

Always abbreviate social titles, whether with the full name or with only the surname.

Ms. Rita Zimmerman; Mr. Goldberg; Dr. Ortiz; Mrs. Cruz; Ms. Flores

You add professional designations after an individual's full name. Remember to include a comma after the name and before the designation.

Simon Franco, Ph.D. or Anneka Patel, M.D.

Do not use both a title and a designation.

Dr. Yvette LeBlanc or Yvette LeBlanc, M.D. but not Dr. Yvette LeBlanc, M.D.

With civil or military titles, spell out the title when used with the surname alone, but with full names, you can abbreviate most titles.

General Patton Gen. George S. Patton


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Rule Example

Do not use abbreviated titles on their own. However, you may use a professional designation on its own.

Incorrect: "We need to hire a Dr." Correct: "We need to hire a doctor." Correct: "We just hired an executive MBA." Correct: "I will finish my MBA next year."

When abbreviating someone's name, you should always take your cue from the individual's preferences.

If you are communicating with Colin Francis Thorne, but you've never seen or heard of him abbreviating his name to Col. F. Thorne, then you shouldn't abbreviate his name in this way.

Never use Esq. (the abbreviation for esquire) when any other title is given.

Jonathan Alvarez, Esq. (not Mr. Jonathan Alvarez, Esq.)

The title Ms. is commonly used in three instances: if a woman prefers it to Miss or Mrs., if a woman's marital status is unknown, or if the marital status is irrelevant.

"Dear Ms. Butler, I only know you by reputation, but I'm sure that ... "


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Rule Example

If a name contains the word Saint, it can be abbreviated to St. but only if the person in question prefers this.

Eugene St. John or Loretta Saint James

In all but the most formal documents, you may abbreviate the names of well-known businesses and organizations, including labor unions, societies, associations, and government agencies. Familiar acronyms are also acceptable. The style for these abbreviations is usually all capital letters with no periods.

FBI AFL-CIO MIT IBM CBS NASDAQ

Abbreviating parts of a company's name can also be appropriate. *Remember to abbreviate a company's name based on the way the company refers to itself.

Co. Corp. Inc. Ltd. Bro. or Bros. &


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�Job Aid

Rules for Abbreviating Locations and Time

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the rules for abbreviating locations and time.

Abbreviations of location and time

Rule Example

Spell out the names of countries in running text.

We set up offices outside the United States, and in Italy, China, and Australia.

It's becoming more common to use the abbreviation U.S. as a noun, but it's more acceptable to use it only as an adjective. You should always use the periods in this abbreviation.

The company closed its offices in the United States because of changes to U.S. regulations on foreign-owned businesses.

Prefixes of most location names – for example, Fort, Mount, South, or Port – shouldn't be abbreviated. An exception is sometimes made for names beginning with Saint and where space needs to be saved.

St. Louis Fort Collins Mount Vernon


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Abbreviations of location and time

Rule Example

Use the abbreviations a.m. and p.m. to designate times before noon and after noon.

9 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Abbreviate time zones. AST (Atlantic Standard Time) GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) PST (Pacific Standard Time)

You can abbreviate units of time but you typically spell them out unless you're using them in a chart, a list, a calendar, or informal writing.

Months: Jan., Feb. Days of the week: Sun., Mon. Hours: hr. or h Minutes: min. or m Seconds: sec. or s


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�Job Aid

Rules for Abbreviating Measurement

Instruction: Use this job aid to review the rules for abbreviating measurements.

Abbreviation of measurements

Rule Example

Abbreviations for units of weight and measure rarely include periods. One exception is the abbreviation of inches.

14 in. (inches) 14 km, 10 m, 33 kg, 9 mm

Some units of measure are abbreviated using a single letter as a symbol.

3 T (tablespoons) 45°F (Fahrenheit) 1 L (liter) 45°C (Celsius)

Abbreviations for units of measurement never take an s to indicate the plural.

1 m or 12 m, not 12 ms

If a term of measurement is used as a modifier, you should add a hyphen between the number and the unit.

A 15-ft board A 45-in. blade


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Lesson 2

Capitalization

The Correct Methods of Capitalization

n contemporary usage and business writing, you use uppercase letters mostly to highlight parts of written text and to emphasize important words. The first rule of

capitalizing is to always start a sentence with an uppercase letter. This takes precedence over every other capitalization rule. You also capitalize the first word of any expression, including a fragment used as a complete thought. You should also capitalize a sentence that's used as dialog within another sentence. In addition, you capitalize the first word of a question within a sentence.

Headings, lists, and colons

here are two ways of capitalizing headings: • Title case , where you capitalize all or most of the

words, is most often used for titles of books, chapters, and documents.

• Sentence case , where you apply the standard rules for capitalizing sentences, is often used for headings of sections within documents.

You can choose which case you prefer, as long as you are consistent.

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When using title case, you always capitalize the first and last word of a title. Another generally accepted rule is to capitalize most other words, including all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and certain conjunctions. Another rule of title case is that prepositions and the articles a, an, and the are usually lowercase, unless they're the first word of a title. There are two exceptions when you do capitalize prepositions:

• when they're stressed, and

• when they're used as adverbs or adjectives

You don't capitalize words that are coordinating conjunctions. And you don't capitalize to in infinitive verb forms. For sentence case, you capitalize only the first word in a title, the first word in a subtitle, and any proper name. Several general rules apply for capitalizing the first word in vertical lists, depending on the format:

• numbered – Each list item begins with an uppercase letter.

• unnumbered – List items begin with a lowercase letter when each item continues or completes a sentence. However, if a full sentence followed by a colon introduces the list and the list items are full sentences, each list item begins with an uppercase letter and ends with the appropriate punctuation.

• bulleted – Each list item starts with a lowercase letter. Bullets are visual markers to highlight the start of new


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items so capitalization here is the same as in unnumbered lists.

You use a colon to introduce an element or a series of elements illustrating or amplifying what has come before the colon. You capitalize the first word after a colon when the colon introduces two or more sentences, or when it introduces a speech within dialog or an extract. But when a colon is used to introduce extra information within the sentence, you don't capitalize the first word after the colon unless it's a proper name.

Names and titles

hen you capitalize people's names, every part of the name takes a capital letter. You also capitalize all initials or abbreviations of names. And when you

use the name of an organization in your business documents, follow the organization's use of capitalization in its name. In general, most titles – whether civil, military, religious, or professional – are capitalized when they come immediately before a personal name. However, titles are usually lowercase when they come after a name or are used in place of a name. In business, senior employees are sometimes given official titles, such as president, director, or chairman. When an official title precedes a name, you capitalize it. If you're using a person's name after the title as an appositive – a word or phrase that renames or identifies the noun – you don't capitalize the title. Likewise, when the title

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comes after a name or replaces it completely, you don't capitalize it. You never capitalize the article in formal titles. Some companies capitalize official titles when they're used without the person's name in internal documents. In general, they should not be capitalized if they follow or replace a person's name. Official titles can be used with a last name alone. Titles referring to occupations are almost never capitalized. This applies wherever the title is used: before, in place of, or after a name. Occupational titles can't be used with a last name alone. You sometimes capitalize common nouns that substitute for proper nouns. This is usually the case in policy statements and legal contracts when you need to refer to longer proper nouns. Substitute terms should be defined early in the document.

Places, events, and other entities

ontinents, countries, cities, oceans, and other places that appear on maps are always capitalized. And words derived from place names – proper adjectives

– are also capitalized. When referring to U.S. states, you capitalize the word state only when it follows the name of the state. If you use a capitalized geographical term that is made up of more than one word as an adjective, you don't hyphenate it. However, if a proper noun is used as a hyphenated

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adjective, you capitalize only the adjective derived from the proper noun. Topographical names and sections of a country are also capitalized. You capitalize the names of buildings and monuments. Names for important contemporary and historical events are generally capitalized. You also capitalize some:

• formal organizations, including companies and groups like non-profit organizations, movements, and athletic groups

• internal departments of companies

• government entities, and

• products, trademarks, brands, and creative names

You always capitalize: • days and months

• acts, treaties, and official documents, and

• the words Internet and Net

You don't capitalize compass points and terms derived from them if they simply indicate direction or location. You also don't capitalize the seasons. You capitalize the start of sentences and dialog and questions within sentences. Various rules apply to capitalizing numbered, unnumbered, or bulleted list items. How you choose to capitalize headings, outlines, and titles depends mostly on the case you're using – either title case or sentence case. All proper nouns are capitalized.


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Abbreviations of proper nouns are also capitalized, as are names derived from proper nouns.


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�Job Aid

Basic Rules of Capitalization

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the basic rules of capitalizing sentences, headings, and lists.

Sentences

You always capitalize the first letter of a sentence.

You also capitalize the first word of any expression, including a fragment, used as a complete thought.

Examples:

• Every employee has a role.

• Maybe.

Dialog

You should capitalize a sentence that's quoted as dialog within another sentence. However, if there's a break in the dialog and it's then resumed, you shouldn't begin the continued piece of dialog with a capital letter.

Examples:


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• "I will be reviewing the bonus situation sometime this month."

• "The Finance Department," the manager said, "must begin preparing for the annual audit."

Questions

When a complete question is part of a sentence, you should begin the question with a capital letter.

Example:

• Integrity in business means asking yourself, What is the right thing to do?

Lists – unnumbered

You shouldn't capitalize unnumbered list items.

Example:

Success in selling involves:

Lists – numbered

You capitalize items after the period in numbered lists.

Example:

The three factors of success are:

1. Ability

2. Persistence

3. Discipline


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Lists – bulleted

Bulleted lists are like unnumbered lists. You don't capitalize the items.

Example:

To succeed, you should:

• have clear goals

• know your abilities

• try to keep learning

Colons

You use a colon to introduce an element or a series of elements illustrating or amplifying what has come before the colon. You capitalize the first word after a colon when the colon introduces two or more sentences, or when it introduces a speech within dialog or an extract.

When a colon is used to introduce extra information within the sentence, don't capitalize the first word after the colon, unless it's a proper name.

Examples:

• A manager should remember this: Power and authority are different things. They shouldn't confuse the two.

• Authority requires good leadership skills: the ability to motivate, to listen actively, and to assess performance objectively.


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Headings in title case

In title case, you capitalize all words, except prepositions of fewer than four letters, articles (e.g., the, a, and an), conjunctions (e.g., and, but, for, and or) and the infinitive verb to.

You always capitalize the first and last word in a title.

Examples:

• The Art of Sales

• Meeting the Client Halfway

• Strengths to Focus On

• What to Look for in a Client

• Convince Your Clients but Don't Lose Them

• How to Win the Sale

Headings in sentence case

For sentence case, you capitalize only the first word in a title, the first word in a subtitle, and any proper name.

Examples:

• Insurance policies in practice

• Principles of business

• Would you buy this?

• Operations in the United States


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�Job Aid

Capitalization for Names and Titles

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the basic rules of capitalizing names and titles.

When you capitalize people's names, every part of the name takes a capital letter – including first, middle, and last names. You also capitalize all initials or abbreviations of names. There are different rules for capitalizing titles of dignitaries, official corporate titles, and occupational titles.

Most titles are capitalized when they come immediately before a personal name. However, titles are usually lowercase when they come after a name or are used in place of a name. These general rules apply for official titles in business but differ a little for occupational titles.

Official corporate titles

• When an official title precedes a name, you capitalize the title.

E.g., Chairman Adam Polanco opened the meeting.

• When you use a name as an appositive, to describe a title, you don't capitalize the title.


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E.g., The company chairman, Adam Polanco, opened the meeting.

• Likewise, if the title is appositive to the name, you don't capitalize it.

E.g., Adam Polanco, the chairman, opened the meeting.

• If the title replaces the name completely, you don't capitalize it.

E.g., The chairman opened the meeting.

• You never capitalize the article – a, an, or the – in formal titles.

Occupational titles

You don't capitalize occupational titles, such as technician, engineer, scientist, analyst, or writer. This applies wherever the title is used: before, in place of, or after a name.


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�Job Aid

Capitalizing Places, Entities and Products

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the basic rules of capitalizing places, events, and other entities.

Rules for capitalizing places, entities, and produc ts

Category Rule Example

Internal departments of companies

If a company has applied official names to its internal departments, you capitalize the names.

the Sales Department the Finance Department

Proper adjectives

Capitalize proper adjectives, or words derived from place names or from other names or proper nouns.

American French Shakespearian Lutheran

Common nouns used as part of proper nouns

The names of streets, avenues, squares, parks, and the like are capitalized.

Central Park is a popular tourist destination.


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But the generic form is lowercased when used alone.

I have a house on Fellowship Lane. You need to go to the end of the lane before you can see it.

Hyphenated adjectives

If you use a capitalized geographical term that's made up of more than one word as an adjective, don't hyphenate it. However, if a proper noun is used as a hyphenated adjective, you capitalize only the adjective derived from the proper noun.

North Atlantic wind North Dakota wildlife Italian-speaking tour guides African-origin artworks

Geographical places

Place names for continents, countries, cities, oceans, and other places that appear on maps are always capitalized.

Asia Brazil Cleveland Atlantic Ocean Grand Canyon


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Important places, buildings, parks, and monuments

Capitalize names of places of value, buildings, parks, mountains, and monuments.

Empire State Building White House Wall Street

Government entities

Government entities are always capitalized.

the Senate the Department of Defense

Products, trademarks, brands, and creative names

You capitalize the names of all products, trademarks, brands, and any official creative name. This applies to anything that's been given a unique name, such as a book, article, song, or painting.

Velcro Tupperware Hoover The Art of Selling Mona Lisa

Important events

Capitalize names of important or well-known events and holidays.

Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day

Formal organizations

You always capitalize the full name of official or formal organizations, including

Easy Nomad Travel Better Business


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companies, and groups like non-profit organizations, movements, and athletic groups.

Bureau Chamber of Commerce Environmental Protection Agency

Days and months

Days and months should be capitalized.

Tuesday March

Official documents

You should capitalize the first letters in the titles of acts, treaties, and official documents

the Clean Air Act Civil Rights Charter the Kyoto Accord

Official terms for the world wide web

You should capitalize official terms for the world wide web.

Internet the Net

Compass points and terms derived from them

You don't capitalize compass points and terms derived from them if they simply indicate direction or location. You also don't capitalize the seasons.

The hikers are heading west to get to the lake. The manufacturing process should begin this spring.


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Lesson 3

Numbers

Writing Numbers

nowing the rules for writing numbers has several advantages:

• you'll write documents containing numbers that are easy to read and understand

• you'll avoid using misleading or confusing numbers in your documents, and

• you'll effectively convey the importance of the numbers

In documents like technical and economic reports, research papers, and performance assessments, the significant numbers must catch the reader's eye. But in nontechnical documents, or high-level reports and correspondence, values can often be expressed in words.

Basic rules

simple rule you can follow when it comes to numbers is to spell out numbers one to ten and use numerals for all others. However, whether you follow this rule or

not can depend on a number of factors:

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• Is the number an approximation or a precise quantity? – You always spell out imprecise or indefinite. But when you're sure of the exact value of a number.

• Is the number large or small? – In general, you write long numbers in numerals because, in some cases, they take many words to write out. They're also easier to read as numerals. In addition, you can use a combination of numerals and words to express very large numbers, especially when they are fractional – for example, 2.4 million. And like any large round number, sums of money are expressed by a mixture of numerals and words.

• What context does it appear in? – You almost always use numerals for very important numbers, such as exact amounts of money and scientific values. This helps to avoid errors and makes the numbers stand out on the page.

• What if a sentence contains more than one number – one that should be written in numerals and the other in words? – In this case, you use the most convenient form – usually numerals – for both. An exception to all the rules is that you always spell out a number that begins a sentence.

Special rules

hen it comes to writing out times, you should keep in mind a couple of guidelines.

• Use numerals when you want to emphasize exact

times.

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• With the abbreviations a.m. and p.m., you typically use numbers. However, if the time is followed by o'clock, you spell out the time in words.

• Numerals should never be used to express noon or midnight.

• If you're using the 24-hour clock, don't include periods between the numerals representing hours and minutes. You write "The unit will make camp at 2100 and will be on the move again at 0500."

• When you write dates, remember that years are expressed in numerals, except at the start of a sentence.

• For specific dates, you use cardinal numbers, even though these may be pronounced as ordinals, as in "The meeting is on December 18."

In the United States, you typically write the date in the sequence "month day, year" with the month in words. The day and year are in numerals, separated by a comma. So you write "We started on June 12, 1996." But when you exclude the day, the month and year go together without a comma, as in "We started in June 1996."

You can write time periods, such as decades, in numerals, as in the 1990s. And you can refer to a decade less formally by writing just the decade, preceded by an apostrophe, as in the '80s and '90s. Or you can write out the decade – the nineties. A point to remember is that time periods are plural, so you don't use an apostrophe before the final s. In the case of particular centuries, you can spell them out and use lowercase letters. It's also acceptable to use numerals.


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When it comes to money, numerals are better because they tend to be clearer and quickly understood. You can use numerals for all amounts of money – small or large.

When working with fractions, you spell out simple fractions, use numerals for mixed-number fractions, and use numerals for decimal fractions. So you write out the fraction three-quarters but use numerals to express six and one-half yards – if the fraction doesn't appear at the start of a sentence. And you use numerals for decimal fractions such as 2.3 or 0.75.

When deciding whether or not to use a hyphen in spelled-out fractions, these guidelines may help:

• when to use the hyphen – The basic rule is that when you spell out an independent fraction, which is considered a single quantity, you hyphenate it – for example "One-third of the employees attended." You also hyphenate fractions that are extremely small, such as "She won by three-hundredths of a second."

• when not to use the hyphen – When individual parts of a quantity are in question, you don't use the hyphen. For example, "The chart is divided into four quarters."

While you write out most independent fractions, there is one exception to keep in mind. If the fraction is part of an adjective – it describes a measurement, for example – you express it in numerals to make it easier to understand. Rules also apply when you are using numbers with abbreviations, such as m for meter and km for kilometer, and with symbols like the percent sign and the degree sign. The basic rule is that you always use numerals if the number is followed by a symbol or abbreviation.


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The advantages of knowing how to write numbers are that the numbers in your documents will be easier to read and understand, will not be misleading or confusing, and will get their meaning across effectively. In technical reports, important numbers are usually written in numerals. In business writing, they're sometimes written in words; it depends on the context, how large the numbers are, and whether they are precise or approximations. One rule you might follow is to write out numbers of ten or less in words, and those above ten in numerals. Guidelines can help you use numbers with dates and times, as fractions and decimals, and with symbols.


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�Job Aid

Basic Rules for Writing Numbers

Instruction : Use this job aid review the basic rules for using numbers in business communications.

One simple rule you should follow when it comes to numbers is to spell out numbers of ten or less and use numerals for all others.

However, whether you follow this rule or not can depend on a number of factors. For example, is the number an approximation or a precise quantity? Is it large or small? What context does it appear in?

Basic number rules


Beginning a sentence

You always spell out a number that begins a sentence.

Forty people attended the service.

Value Spell out numbers of ten or less. Write numbers greater than ten in numerals.

We have ten orders to fill today. She won 15 of 20 cases last year.


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Basic number rules


Precision Use words when you're unsure of a number or when you have indefinite numbers. Use numerals for exact or precise numbers.

We have several million potential customers. We need 788 units by Wednesday.

Context Numerals stand out in text, so use them to highlight important numbers.

The company's profit was up by over $885,000 last quarter.

Convenience Long numbers use many words to spell out, and they're more difficult to read in words, so you express them in numerals.

We've manufactured 38,430,938 units since the company started.

Combinations and high numbers

Combine numbers and words when writing very big numbers like millions, billions, and trillions.

We've shipped over 3 million orders to date.

Consistency When a sentence contains more than one number, apply the most convenient form – words or numerals – consistently.

Each of the 10 employees made over 50 sales last month.


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Basic number rules


Of the 450,000 developers in the country, 65% work from home.


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�Job Aid

Special Rules for Writing Numbers

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules for writing dates, times, money, fractions, and numbers with abbreviations and symbols.

Writing numbers


Dates You write years in numerals, except when they appear at the start of a sentence.

1997 Nineteen eighty was the company's first year of manufacturing.

Time periods Time periods such as decades can be written in numerals or words. You don't use an apostrophe before the final s. In the case of particular

the 1990s the '90s the nineties

twentieth century


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Writing numbers


centuries, you can spell them out and use lowercase letters. It's also acceptable to use numerals.

or 20th century

Times With a.m. and p.m. you use numerals. If the time is followed by o'clock, you spell out the time in words. Numerals shouldn't be used to express noon or midnight.

9 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 8:32 p.m. ten o'clock

Money You use numerals so the value is clear. You use numerals for small and large amounts. For estimates, you use numerals. For unstated and indefinite values, you use words.

The product costs $3,248.91. The share is selling at 75 cents. I estimate the cost will be $4,800. The loss will run into the millions.


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Writing numbers


Mixed-number fractions

A mixed-number fraction occurs when fractions are greater than one. You write them using numerals, except when the number begins a sentence.

There are 2 ½ reams of paper at the printer. It starts in 3 ¼ hours.

Independent fractions

An independent fraction is a number less than one. While you spell out most independent fractions, there's one exception to keep in mind. If the fraction is part of an adjective, one that describes a measurement, for example, you express it in numerals to make it easier to understand. You don't add a hyphen between the fraction and the unit of measurement when the unit is spelled out. When you spell out an independent fraction, which is considered a single quantity, you hyphenate it. When individual parts of a quantity are in question, you don't use the hyphen

We used three-fifths of our supply. Two-thirds were used up during the project. The 2/5 meter plank of wood should fit nicely. Three-fifths of the voters agreed. The chart is divided into four quarters.


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Writing numbers


Decimal fractions

For decimal fractions, you use numerals. A zero usually comes before the decimal point, particularly if quantities greater than one appear in the same context.

The index is 1.28. The performance was 3.66 times greater. 2.3; 0.9

Abbreviations When a number is followed by an abbreviation, you use numerals.

The speed limit is 55 mph. I'll cut 3 cm off the edge of the sheet.

Symbols Symbols like % are normally used in technical documents and tables. In business writing, you typically spell out percent, and always spell it out when it ends a sentence.

20% 30% 50% The stock is down ten percent.


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Rules for hyphenating fractions

How you write it

Rule Example

Hyphenated When you spell out an independent fraction, you hyphenate it. You hyphenate fractions that are extremely small.

One-third of the employees attended. We need to decrease the volume by four-fifths. She lost the race by two-thousandths of a second.


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Abbreviations, Capitalization and Numbers

Instruction: Use this follow-on activity to consider how you've dealt with abbreviations, capitalizations, and numbers in your own business writing.

Instructions for use : To use this tool, consider your approach to writing, taking into account how you wrote before the course, and how you'd apply what you've learned in the future. The selection of questions will help you do this.

Business writing analysis

Question Aspects to consider Your response

Up until now, have you been capitalizing correctly?

Sentences, dialog, and questions Names and titles Headings Places and products

Have you been using abbreviations correctly?

Titles Organizations


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Business writing analysis

Question Aspects to consider Your response

Time Location Units of measure Articles

Have you been expressing numbers correctly?

Basic rules Times and dates Fractions Significant numbers Abbreviations and symbols

How would you approach this area differently now?

Abbreviations

How would you approach this area differently now?

Capitalization

How would you approach this area now?

Numbers

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Punctuation

In this module you'll review the standard rules and guidelines for using punctuation appropriately. You'll start by reviewing how to correctly apply end punctuation, including the correct use and rules for periods, question marks, and exclamation points. You'll also find out how to correctly use commas, one of the most common punctuation marks. The course also describes rules for using different connecting and separating marks, such as colons, semicolons, dashes, and hyphens. In addition, it shows how to properly use apostrophes, parentheses, brackets, and quotation marks. The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: End Punctuation Lesson 2: Commas Lesson 3: Connecting and Separating Marks Lesson 4: Other Punctuation Marks

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Lesson 1

End Punctuation

End Punctuation Marks

ll sentences need to be ended with either a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. These punctuation marks indicate the end of a sentence,

separate thoughts, and keep ideas moving cohesively toward a conclusion. They help the reader move in the same direction toward that conclusion.

The period

he period – also referred to as the full stop – is one of the most commonly used punctuation marks in the English language. Periods are used:

• to close declarative, imperative sentences, and indirect questions

• in single-word abbreviations

• after a number in a list or outline

• in Internet addresses, and

• to indicate an ellipsis, which is the omission of a word, phrase, line, paragraph, or more from a quoted passage

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Punctuation

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The question mark

uestions come up every day in business. It's when you have to communicate questions in writing that problems can arise. Question marks

• are always used after direct questions

• are not used after indirect questions, which report what someone has asked but not in the form of the original question

• are occasionally used to indicate surprise or skepticism

• are not used when a request is politely disguised as a question, and

• are never combined with other question marks, exclamation points, periods, or commas.

You can also use question marks in the following types of sentences:

• statements – Question marks can turn statements into questions. For example, the statement "He finished the report yesterday" may be turned into a question that indicates surprise or doubt – "He finished the report yesterday?"

• elliptical questions – Elliptical questions are questions that refer back to other questions or statements. Elliptical questions are incomplete in that they can't stand on their own but rely on other parts of the statement for their meaning.

• questions within a sentence – Question marks are most commonly used at the end of sentences, but they can also be used within a sentence. A question might end with a question mark, but the sentence as a whole

Q


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ends with a period. For example, "The question, how can we finish on schedule? was on everyone's mind."

• questions in a series – Each question in a series should be followed by a question mark.

• questions in quotes – You place a question mark inside quotes only when it's part of the quoted matter. But the question mark follows quotes when the entire sentence is a question.

• question marks within parentheses – You can use question marks within parentheses to indicate doubt about the correctness of a number, date, or other fact. But you should avoid using a question mark within parentheses to express sarcasm or irony.

The exclamation point

n exclamation point marks an emphatic comment or indicates excitement. You can use it in two ways:

• to show emphasis or strong feelings – An exclamation point tells the reader that you are emphasizing a statement or that you have strong feelings about what you are saying – as in the example "We need to succeed!" Interjections, or exclamations – which are words, phrases, or clauses that denote strong feeling – often end in exclamation points. For example, "Wow! That meeting was long."

• with questions that functions as exclamations – An exclamation point is also a valid ending for a rhetorical question, or a question that is essentially an

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Punctuation

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exclamation – for example "How could you do that!" Rhetorical questions don't require answers; they emphasize a point. For example, "Can you believe that was the final result!"

A caveat is that you should use exclamation points sparingly. Otherwise, they won't be effective. If you succeed in building the excitement into your sentences, you won't need an exclamation point to tell the reader how to read them. End punctuation marks indicate the end of sentences, and they separate thoughts. They also keep your ideas moving cohesively toward a conclusion by helping the reader move mentally in the same direction toward that conclusion. End punctuation marks are the period, question mark, and exclamation point. The period's primary purpose is to end a sentence. Question marks are always used after direct questions, and exclamation points suggest excitement or add emphasis to a sentence.

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�Job Aid

End Punctuation Rules

Instruction: Use this job aid to review when to use end punctuation.

Rules for using the period

Rule Example

To end a sentence We'll speak with the external stakeholders tomorrow afternoon.

To indicate an abbreviation

Mr. Green is the CEO of Callinsure Corp.

Following a number in a list

1. Plan 2. Budget 3. Execute

In Internet addresses www.google.com

To indicate words, sentences, and longer sections left out of quoted material

Full sentence: "The takeover negotiations, which were reported in the August 12 edition of The New York Times, came to an abrupt end when the parties could not agree on a price."


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Rule Example

With ellipsis: "The takeover negotiations ... came to an abrupt end when the parties could not agree on a price."

To indicate unfinished thoughts

If only...

Rules for using the question mark

Rule Example

After a direct question Where are the instruction manuals?

To indicate surprise or skepticism

What? The writers are striking?

For statements as questions

You want me to believe that?

With elliptical questions

How did she manage that? With an interpreter?

With questions within sentences

The question "What is going on?" was on all our minds.

With a series of questions

Is the presentation ready? What time is the meeting? Can you distribute the presentation before the meeting?

Inside quotation marks She asked, "Where is the project schedule?"

Punctuation

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Rule Example

Outside quotation marks

Which of the employees wrote the article "Techniques for Successful Selling"?

Within parentheses to indicate doubt

The folder is on Susan's desk (?).

Rules for using the exclamation point

Rule Example

To show emphasis or strong feelings

I'm utterly perplexed at his audacity!

To end rhetorical questions Was that project awesome or what!


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Lesson 2

Commas

Using the Comma Correctly

ommas are used more often than any other punctuation mark, so it's really worth your effort to learn how to use them correctly. The placement of

commas can change the entire meaning of a sentence. Commas make your writing easier to understand and serve several major functions:

• They make your writing easier to understand because they create boundaries between ideas, which makes them more clear.

• They indicate pauses or changes in mental direction, which makes it easier for readers to follow.

• They demonstrate your professionalism by showing that you care about the details in your writing, as well as the reader's comprehension.

Correct usage

ommas separate parts of a sentence in three ways:

• commas separate the main elements of a sentence

o Most introductory clauses are separated from main clauses by commas. An introductory clause

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may be a subordinate clause, a verbal phrase, or a prepositional phrase. A single word or a very short introductory phrase doesn't usually require a comma, except to avoid misreading.

o Transitional expressions such as currently or in fact used at the start of a sentence are followed by commas. And expressions such as fortunately and in other words, which provide comments, explanations, or other supplementary information, are followed by commas as well.

o You also use a comma to separate main clauses connected by a coordinating conjunction.

• they set off nonessential elements within a sentence

o These elements – also referred to as nonrestrictive elements – are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. They also don't limit a word to a particular individual or group.

o However, restrictive or essential elements in a sentence aren't set off with commas. They limit the word they refer to and cannot be omitted without leaving the meaning too general.

o Clauses and phrases that act as adjectives and adverbs may be either nonrestrictive or restrictive. But only nonrestrictive ones are set off with commas. An appositive renames a noun just before it. Many of these are nonrestrictive

• they separate elements in a series

o You place commas between all items in a series – that is, between three or more items of equal importance. The basic rule is that commas


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separate each word or phrase listed consecutively in a series.

o You also use commas to separate two or more adjectives that equally describe or modify the same word. If you have two or more adjectives before a noun and you could – without affecting the meaning – connect those adjectives with and, you normally separate them by commas.

Incorrect usage

he comma is often used incorrectly or not used when it should be. Four rules may help keep you from misusing commas:

• don't separate a subject and its verb – Never use a comma to separate the subject of a sentence from the verb. This applies even when the verb and predicate come first.

• don't separate a verb and it object or complement – The object of a verb is the target of the action indicated by the verb. For example, in the sentence "I hit the ball," ball is the object of the verb hit. You shouldn't put a comma after the verb and before this object.

• don't separate pairs joined by a coordinating conjunction – When linking elements with a coordinating conjunction, you don't use a comma except when the elements are main clauses. So you shouldn't have a comma after wrote in the sentence "She wrote and took photographs for the local paper." This sentence includes an example of a compound predicate – or two verbs that share the same subject.

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• don't use a comma after a conjunction – Coordinating and subordinating conjunctions are not followed by commas. For example, you don't put a comma after but in the sentence "She was early, but she had to prepare the room for the meeting." And you wouldn't put a comma after although in the sentence "Although the price has gone down, it's still not worth the money."

The main purpose of the comma is to separate thoughts in a sentence. The comma serves three other common functions or uses in a sentence – to separate the main elements of a sentence, to set off nonessential elements within a sentence, and to separate elements in a series.


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�Job Aid

Three Main Uses of Commas

Instruction : Use this job review the three main uses of commas, with examples.

To separate the main elements of a sentence

When it applies Example

After an introductory clause After we finish our work, we'll come to the barbecue.

Between two independent clauses

The presentation was very good, but not many people attended it.

To set off nonessential elements within a sentence

When it applies Examples

Nonessential elements, including appositives and "which" clauses

Barbara, who complains a lot, performed below average. Craig, the project team lead, is in charge. The project schedule, which was finalized last Monday, is missing.

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To separate elements in a series

When it applies Example

Between all items in a series - that is, three or more items of equal importance

The notepads, pens, staplers, and pencils are in the cupboard.

Between two or more adjectives that equally describe the same word

She was a loyal, hard-working member of the team.


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Following Comma Rules

Instruction: Use this follow-on activity to find out how well you implement comma rules.

Instructions for use : To use this tool, examine some business documents you've written (or read, if you’ve not written any) and consider whether you (or the author) have followed the rules for using commas.

1. Have you used a comma to correctly separate the main elements of your sentences?

• after introductory clauses ____________

• between two independent clauses ____________

2. Have you used a comma to set off nonessential elements in sentences?

• for explanatory elements _____________

• for "which" clauses ____________

• for appositives ____________

•

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3. Have you used a comma to set off elements in a series?

• with words or phrases listed consecutively within a series ____________

• between two or more adjectives modifying the same word ____________

4. In general, how do the commas in your document help the reader understand your sentences?


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Lesson 3

Connecting and Separating Marks

Using Connectors and Separators

ou can use various punctuation marks to connect and separate elements within sentences. These punctuation marks have similar functions, and it can

sometimes be difficult to figure out which is most appropriate to use.

Semicolons

emicolons can join complementary main clauses that are not linked by a coordinating conjunction. They can also connect ones that are related by a conjunctive or

linking adverb or other transitional expression. Semicolons are used to join main clauses in two situations:

• they're not joined by a conjunction – Semicolons join balanced sentences or clauses.

• they're related by a conjunctive adverb – Semicolons should be also used with two main clauses that are linked by a conjunctive adverb, such as furthermore, in fact, or however, as well as by other transitional expressions, including words like currently, finally, or as a result. They can also replace these words. The position of the semicolon between main clauses doesn't change. However, the conjunctive adverb or transitional

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expression can be placed in different places within the clause.

Sometimes you can use a semicolon to separate main clauses that are joined by a conjunction. This is the case if the clauses are complicated or contain internal punctuation, such as commas. Similarly, you can use semicolons to separate items in a series if they're long or contain commas.

You shouldn't use a semicolon to separate subordinate clauses or phrases from main clauses. Doing so will create a disjointed sentence. And you also shouldn't use a semicolon to introduce a series or an explanation. Colons are used for this purpose.

Colons

ou can use colons in several types of sentences:

• an explanation – for example, We made many mistakes: the underlying reason for all of them was that we didn't think about the customer.

• a series – for example, The following issues are on the agenda for the meeting today: appraisals, sick leave, and deadlines.

• a quotation – for example, The report starts out positively: "We can increase sales by 10% this year."

• a greeting – for example, Dear Mr. Smith:

When a colon is used within a sentence, the first word following the colon is lowercased, except when it's a proper

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noun. When a colon introduces two or more sentences, however, the first word following the colon is capitalized. It's also capitalized if the colon introduces a quote, a speech in dialogue, or an extract.

And you should use a colon only at the end of a main clause. For example, don't use it after a verb or a preposition.

Dashes

dash is used mainly to indicate sudden changes in tone or thought. It's also used to set off some sentence elements. More specifically, dashes can set

off the following:

• digressions – Dashes can mark a point in a sentence where someone deviates from the original point. They may indicate an abrupt change in thought or content.

• afterthoughts – Dashes can also provide additional information.

• concluding explanations – A clause following a dash can provide a concluding explanation of what's stated in the previous clause. Note that a dash sets off a concluding explanation more informally and more abruptly than a colon does.

• nonessential elements – Dashes are used to add additional descriptive phrases or clauses to a sentence. They may be used in place of commas or parentheses to set off nonessential elements in a sentence.

Dashes are especially useful when the descriptive content has internal punctuation. You should use a pair of dashes

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when the content element interrupts a main clause. It's not a good idea to use too many dashes in your writing – it can lessen their effect and create a jumpy quality in your writing.

A dash isn't typically used with other punctuation marks. Sometimes a question mark or an exclamation point may precede a dash – but never a comma, a colon, or a semicolon, and rarely a period. In addition, you usually include spaces before and after a dash. However, some prefer not to add a space on either side. Either way is acceptable.

Commas, semicolons, colons, and dashes are punctuation marks that connect and separate words, phrases, clauses, and sentences. They have similar yet different functions that can depend on the meaning you want to convey and the type of sentence you write. Knowing when and when not to use these punctuation marks will help you clarify what you want to communicate.


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�Job Aid

Semicolons, Colons and Dashes

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules and examples for using connecting and separating marks.

Semicolons

Rules Example

Connect and separate independent clauses or sentences

We should all pay attention to our dress code; it's important to look professional.

Replace or appear before conjunctive adverbs

We have spent enough time on this task; unfortunately, we still have other work to complete.

Link a series within a sentence

The briefcase contained a letter, addressed to Joanne; two files, one blue and one green; and a stapler, with no staples in it.

Do not use a semicolon to separate subordinate clauses or phrases and the main clauses

They told us yesterday; we must arrive early for work.

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Semicolons

Rules Example

Do not use a semicolon to introduce a series or an explanation

We value the following; good customer service, integrity, and loyalty.

Colons

Rules Example

Introduce an explanation after a main clause

We eventually recovered the files on the computer: we thought we had deleted them by accident.

Introduce a series I took the following subjects in business school: economics, accounting, statistics, and computer science.

Introduce quotations The finance report stated: "We need to plan ahead."

Introduce a greeting Dear Madam:

Capitalize the first letter of the first word following a colon if it introduces two or more sentences

He highlighted three main objectives: First ... Second ... Third ...

Capitalize the first letter of the first word following a colon if it's a quotation

He wrote: "I am pleased to announce we have doubled our profits this year."


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Semicolons

Rules Example

Do not capitalize the first letter of the first word following a colon unless it's a proper noun

My colleagues came up with suggestions for my research proposal: the deadline was soon and I didn't have a topic yet. The meeting was cancelled today: Lisa, the chairperson, wasn't able to make it.

Do not use a colon after a verb or preposition

His two prominent virtues are: generosity and patience. I mailed my application forms to: Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Dashes

Rules Example

Set off digressions Where I work – in a very busy part of town – they're doing a lot of renovations.

Show afterthoughts Today staff members are going on a fun run – there will be refreshments afterwards.

Indicate concluding explanations

We cannot afford to waste resources – we must save where we can.

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Dashes

Rules Example

Add nonessential elements My desk lamp – which I bought last week – is now broken.

Use one pair of dashes when the element interrupts a main clause

My brief case – which was genuine leather – went missing yesterday.

Not typically used with other punctuation marks

He had a lot to say, – he talked too much.

Placing spaces before and after dashes is optional

The photos of the employees – which were taken last Friday – were put up in the meeting room today. The photos of the employees–which were taken last Friday–were put up in the meeting room today.


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Lesson 4

Other Punctuation Marks

Using Other Punctuation Marks

ou may consider the apostrophe, parentheses, brackets, and quotation marks to be unimportant compared to the punctuation marks used most

frequently, such as periods and commas. However, these four marks have important functions.

The apostrophe

he apostrophe is used to mark the possessives of nouns and some pronouns in several instances:

• noun doesn't end in an s – If a noun is singular and does not end in s, the possessive is formed by adding an apostrophe and an s. This also includes irregular plural nouns – for example media's – and indefinite pronouns – anyone's files.

• noun does end in an s – If a singular noun ends in s or the s sound, you form the possessive based on how the word is pronounced. If you naturally say two s sounds, then use the apostrophe s, as in James's. If you pronounce the word with only one s sound, just use the apostrophe on its own, as in employees'.

• pronounced s syllable is added – If a noun ends in s, and a pronounced syllable is added when the noun is

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changed to the possessive form, then add an apostrophe s. For example, "The witness's statement."

Letters and numbers can be replaced with apostrophes to create contractions or short forms of dates. The apostrophe is inserted where the letters or numbers are left out. Contractions shorten words or phrases to conserve space or to create a less formal tone in a document. And remember, because contractions aren't abbreviations, they aren't followed by a period. The following are all contractible elements:

• words – By established convention, letters can be left out to shorten words – international becomes int'l, for example. These types of contractions are used in informal writing and may be more common in formats that have very limited space – such as in addresses. The dictionary lists many common contractions, along with alternative spellings and, where appropriate, plurals.

• phrases – In conversational language, letters can also be left out to shorten certain phrases. For example, you are becomes you're and I have becomes I've.

• dates – An apostrophe is also used to replace numbers in a date. For example, the '60s instead of the 1960s. Remember that you don't use an apostrophe between the last number and the s.

• plurals – You can also use the apostrophe to form the plural with lowercase letters and abbreviations with two or more interior periods or with both capital and lowercase letters – as in Ph.D.'s and x's and y's.


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Remember that you never use an apostrophe with an s to make a plural noun from a singular noun.

Parentheses and brackets

lthough very similar, parentheses and brackets have different purposes:

• Parentheses are used to provide clarification of certain words that may appear to be vague or unclear. Or you use them to provide additional explanations, facts, and examples that may be helpful or interesting but aren't crucial to the meaning.

• You can use parentheses for afterthoughts .

• You use parentheses to add personal comments to your sentences.

Parentheses typically enclose material that is less closely related to the rest of the sentence than that set off by dashes or commas. So the content within parentheses is emphasized less than if it were set off by commas or dashes. And remember not to put a comma, semicolon, or period before a parenthetical expression. You use brackets in the following instances:

• use of the word [sic] – The word sic is Latin for in this manner. It's used in brackets to indicate that an error in the quotation appeared in the original and was not made by you.

• add clarifying material – If you need to clarify the words of the writer you quote, you place your additions in a pair of brackets.

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• indicate comments – The term emphasis added is used within brackets after a quote to indicate that you have emphasized a word or phrase within the original quote.

Finally, if you need to explain or comment on something within parentheses, then you use brackets.

Quotation marks

enerally, the double quotation mark is used to enclose a direct quotation, whether made by a person or taken from a piece of literature.

Double quotes are sometimes used to indicate a word is used in a special sense – as in "intelligent" robots. Writers sometimes put quotation marks around a word they're using with irony. This practice is discouraged in business writing. Quotation marks are also used around titles that are part of a published work. For example, the titles of book chapters, short stories, magazine articles, essays, poems, songs, lectures, and conference themes take quotation marks. Single quotation marks are used inside a statement that's already enclosed by double quotation marks. Specific rules apply when using other punctuation marks with quotation marks:

• periods and commas – Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark.

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• semicolons and colons – Semicolons and colons always go outside the closing quotation marks.

• question marks and exclamation points – You should place question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks only if they belong to the quotation. When a question mark or exclamation point applies only to the larger sentence, not to the quotation, place it outside the quotation marks.

The minor punctuation marks that often confuse people are the apostrophe, parentheses and brackets, and quotation marks. The apostrophe is used to mark the possessives of nouns and some pronouns. Parentheses can be used to clarify, indicate afterthoughts, and add personal comments. Brackets are used within quoted material. You use quotation marks to enclose a direct quotation.

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�Job Aid

Apostrophe Rules

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules for using apostrophes.

Apostrophe rules

Rule What to do Example

If the noun doesn't end in an s Add an apostrophe s

The owner's mandate is nonnegotiable.

If the noun does end in an s Only add an apostrophe

The companies' financial reports are due this Friday.

If the noun ends in an s and a pronounced s syllable is added when the noun is changed to the possessive form

Add an apostrophe s

The boss's office is over there.


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�Job Aid

Using the Apostrophe for Contractions

Instruction : Use this job to review the use of the apostrophe in contractions.

The apostrophe in contractions

Rule Example

Letters can be left out to shorten some words

Ma'am instead of madam Internat'l instead of international

Letters can be left out to shorten phrases

Didn't instead of did not Shouldn't instead of should not Can't instead of cannot Isn't instead of is not She's instead of she is They're instead of they are

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The apostrophe in contractions

Rule Example

Letters can be left out to shorten dates '80s instead of 1980s


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�Job Aid

Parentheses and Brackets

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules for using parentheses and brackets.

Parentheses

Rule Example

To clarify with an explanation, fact, or example

Since January, we've had to make considerable staff cutbacks (eight staff members were retrenched).

To indicate an afterthought

You will need to book the conference room for the presentation (don't forget to set aside time for questions).

To add a personal comment

According to the tabloids, Phlogistix is our greatest competition (I disagree!).

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Brackets

Rule Example

Use with [sic] to indicate that an error in the quotation appeared in the original and was not made by you.

According to the newspaper report, "The economy is emerging slowly [sic] out of the recession."

To add clarifying material not in the original quotation

"The memo [from last week] is on my desk."

To indicate comments that interrupt the direct quotation for special emphasis

Molly said, "The conference was poorly [emphasis added] organized."


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�Job Aid

Quotation Marks

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the rules for quotation marks.

Quotation marks

Rule Example

Used to enclose a direct quotation

Jenna said, "I want that completed by next Friday."

Used to indicate that a word is used in a special sense

He's working on a project to create "intelligent" robots.

Used to set off the titles of published works

The title of the article is "Management Times" and it was published last month.

Single quotation marks are used inside a statement that's already enclosed by double quotation marks

"My boss said to me, 'Please finish the report before you leave today.'"

Periods and commas always go inside the closing quotation mark.

John said, "Please bring your report to the meeting this afternoon."

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Quotation marks

Rule Example

Semicolons and colons always go outside the closing quotation marks.

The IT technician said "I did not format the hard drives"; yet it seems that he did install an anti-virus software application.

You should place question marks and exclamation points inside quotation marks only if they belong to the quotation.

Greg asked, "What time is the meeting?" Sally shouted, "We've reached our sales target!" Why is the CEO's report always placed in the cabinet marked "active"?

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Sentence Construction

In this module you’ll review basic sentence construction, including how to develop sentences that are logical, clear, and powerful – the basis of any sound business document. The course examines the parts of a sentence – the subject and predicate, for example – and distinguishes between phrases and clauses. It shows the importance of subject-verb agreement, as well as agreement between pronouns and their antecedents. You'll also find out how to identify and fix some of the most common types of sentence errors.

The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: Sentence Structure Lesson 2: Subject-Verb Agreement Lesson 3: Pronouns and Antecedents Lesson 4: Common Sentence Errors

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Lesson 1

Sentence Structure

Sentence Parts, Phrases, and Clauses

ll too often, badly structured sentences stand in the way of clear communication. Each sentence should have a logical structure with a clearly defined subject,

verb, and object. This ensures the reader can easily identify who's responsible for an action you describe, what the action is, and who or what is the recipient of this action. A sentence is made up of two main parts:

• a subject - The simple subject of a sentence is typically a noun or pronoun identifying the person or thing responsible for the action described by the verb. The complete subject includes this noun or pronoun, plus all the words that describe or modify it.

• a predicate - The simple predicate of a sentence is the verb – the word identifying the action taken by the subject. The complete predicate includes the verb and any other words that describe or modify it. The predicate provides information about the subject.

In some cases, a sentence doesn't identify a subject explicitly. It's important to identify the subject and verb in a sentence so you can make sure they agree in number. In most sentences, the subject comes before the verb. However, some sentences have an inverted subject/verb order, in

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which the verb comes before the subject. Sometimes this can make it tricky to identify the subject and predicate. Inverted subject/verb order may be used in different types of constructions:

• it's typically used in questions, and

• it may be used with here or there at the start of a sentence

Direct and indirect objects

verb may be followed by an object. More specifically, a transitive verb is followed by an object. This type of verb requires an object to complete its meaning. An

object is a noun or pronoun that identifies who or what is affected by the action of the verb. Intransitive verbs, on the other hand, don't take objects. Two types of objects can be used with transitive verbs:

• Direct objects identify who or what receives the action of the verb.

• Indirect objects identify to or for whom the action of the verb is performed.

A direct object answers the question what or whom about the verb. The answer will indicate what the direct object of the sentence is, if one exists. You can identify an indirect object by asking of the verb to whom? to what? for whom? or for what? Indirect objects are usually placed right before the direct object. They can also be complex – in other words, made up of the simple indirect object and all the words describing it.

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Sentences using intransitive verbs don't take any object.

Subject and object complements

linking verb connects the subject to an equivalent word in the sentence. The most common linking verbs are forms of the verb to be – is, was, and are.

The word or phrase that follows a linking verb is known as a subject complement, because it provides additional information about the subject. An object complement is similar to a subject complement, except that it provides additional information about the direct object in a sentence.

Phrases and clauses

ell-crafted phrases and clauses help ideas and thoughts flow naturally from one to another. A phrase is a group of related words that lacks either

a subject or a verb, or both. It acts as a single part of speech. There are three types of phrases:

• A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition – such as at, over, in, or along. The preposition is followed by its object, usually a noun or pronoun, and its object's modifiers.

• An appositive phrase provides additional information about a noun in a sentence. It follows immediately after a noun or noun phrase in order to define or further identify it. Gerund phrases and infinitive phrases can act as appositives.

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• A verbal phrase includes a verbal, which is a verb form that does not serve as a verb in the sentence, and any objects or modifiers.

There are three types of verbal phrases: • Participial phrases include either a past or a present

participle and any objects or modifiers. They always function as adjectives.

• A gerund is a verb ending in ing that functions as a noun. So gerund phrases include the gerund and any objects or modifiers. A gerund phrase can act like a participial phrase – the difference is that the gerund phrase functions as a noun and the participial phrase as an adjective.

• Placing to in front of a verb creates an infinitive , which can function like a noun, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.

Clauses are different from phrases in that clauses have a subject and a verb, whereas phrases lack either a subject or a verb, or both. Clauses can be either independent or dependent.

• An independent clause is also known as a main clause. It can stand alone as a full sentence. And you can join independent clauses using coordinating conjunctions, such as and or but.

• A dependent clause is also called a subordinate clause. It doesn't form a complete sentence but depends on a main clause. Subordinating conjunctions, like because, although, and after, or relative pronouns, such as who, which, or that, usually introduce dependent clauses.


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Proper sentence construction is an integral part of any communication. Your business documents and communications should contain sentences and text that are presented logically and clearly. To do this, you should be aware of the different parts that make up sentences. Being able to identify and knowing how to correctly use sentence subjects and predicates, direct and indirect objects, phrases and clauses, and subject and object complements can improve the quality of your writing. This in turn will ensure that your messages are conveyed as clearly as possible.

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�Job Aid

Parts of Sentences

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the parts of sentences and examples of each.

Parts of sentences

Part of sentence

Explanation Example

Simple subject

The noun or pronoun describing the person or thing responsible for the action described by the verb

In this sentence, Jane is the simple subject: Jane , the director of operations, called an urgent meeting.

Complete subject

The noun or pronoun describing the person or thing responsible for the action described by the verb, plus any words that modify or describe it

In this sentence, Jane, the director of operations is the complete subject: Jane, the director of operations , called an urgent meeting.


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Parts of sentences

Part of sentence

Explanation Example

Simple predicate

The verb in a sentence In this sentence, indicates is the simple predicate: The graph indicates that sales have gradually increased over the year.

Complete predicate

The verb and any words that describe or modify it

In this sentence, indicates that sales have gradually increased over the year is the complete predicate: The graph indicates that sales have gradually increased over the year .

Direct object A noun or pronoun identifying the recipient of the action described by a verb in a sentence; a direct object answers the question what or whom about the verb

In this sentence, the report is the direct object. Dylan submitted the report to Susan.

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Parts of sentences

Part of sentence

Explanation Example

Indirect object

A noun or pronoun identifying the recipient of a direct object in a sentence; to identify the indirect object, separate the verb from the sentence and ask of the verb to whom? to what? for whom? or for what?

In this sentence, Susan is the indirect object: Dylan submitted the report to Susan .

Subject complement

A word or phrase following a linking verb that provides information about the subject in a sentence

In this sentence, astounding is the subject complement: The result of the survey was astounding .

Object complement

A word or phrase that provides additional information about the direct object in a sentence

In this sentence, unfair is the object complement: The employees considered the new policy unfair .


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�Job Aid

Phrases and Clauses

Instruction : Use this job aid to review types of phrases and clauses.

Phrases

Phrase Description Example

Prepositional A prepositional phrase includes a preposition – such as at, over, in, or along. The preposition is followed by its object, usually a noun or pronoun, and its object's modifiers.

In this sentence, to is the preposition and the meeting is its object. We are going to the meeting .

Appositive An appositive phrase provides additional information about a noun or pronoun in a sentence. It follows immediately after a noun or noun phrase in order to define or further identify it.

Jennifer, the current HR manager , is leaving today.

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Phrases


Verbal A verbal phrase includes a verbal, which is a verb form that does not serve as a verb in the sentence, and any objects or modifiers. The three types of verbal phrases are participial, gerund, and infinitives.

Having been an accountant , Jack was good at working with finances.

Participial verbal phrase

Participial verbal phrases include either a past or a present participle and any objects or modifiers. They always function as adjectives.

Written last year , the book has become a bestseller.

Gerund verbal phrase

A gerund is a verb ending in ing that functions as a noun. So gerund phrases include the gerund and any objects or modifiers. A gerund phrase can look like a participial phrase; the difference is that the gerund phrase functions as a noun and the participial phrase as an adjective.

Knowing how to access the Internet for information is a valuable skill.


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Phrases


Infinitive verbal phrase

Placing to in front of a verb creates an infinitive, which can function like a noun, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.

To design a building is no easy task.

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Clauses

Clause Description Example

Independent An independent clause is also known as a main clause. It can stand alone as a full sentence. And you can join independent clauses using coordinating conjunctions, such as and or but.

All receptionists are attending training at 2 p.m., and they will be unavailable to answer the phones for the rest of the day. (Two independent clauses joined by and)

Dependent A dependent clause is also called a subordinate clause. It doesn't form a complete sentence but depends on a main clause. Subordinating conjunctions – such as because, although, and after, or relative pronouns, such as who, which, or that – usually introduce dependent clauses.

After Janine gave us clearance, we were able to enter.


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Lesson 2

Subject-Verb Agreement

The Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement

ou probably know that a basic principle for any sentence is that the subject and verb agree in certain areas:

• number – In any sentence, the correct form of a verb depends on whether the subject is singular or plural. And nouns that form irregular plurals – such as child/children – require a plural verb.

• person – A verb's person indicates whether the action or state is that of the person speaking – in other words, the first person, I or we ; the person spoken to – that is, the second person, you ; or the person or thing spoken of – the third person, he, she, it, or they.

Remember, the verb to be is irregular. The present tense third person singular – he, she, it – takes the verb is and the third person plural takes are. In the past tense, the singular verb is was and the plural is were. So, if a subject noun is plural, it will end in s, but the verb won't. On the other hand, if the subject noun is singular, it will not end in s, but the verb will. The only exceptions are nouns that form irregular plurals, such as woman/women – these still require a plural verb.

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Mistakes in subject-verb agreement can sometimes occur in longer sentences, when a subject and verb are separated by other words. In these cases, it's important you identify the subject and verb correctly. For example, in the sentence "The requirements stated in the catalog is unclear," the subject is requirements – not the catalog. This is a plural subject, so the plural verb are is required. Determining subject-verb agreement can be tricky when the subjects of sentences fall in any of different categories.

• titles of books, names of companies, or other entities – These are plural in form. When the subject is the title of a book or the name of a company or entity, the verb should be singular even if the title or the name is plural.

• subjects joined by and – If a compound subject connects two or more people, places, or things using the word and, the verb must be plural. This is true whether one or all subjects are singular. An exception is when the parts of a subject form a single idea or refer to a single person or thing. Then they take a singular verb – as in "Corned beef and cabbage is a favorite dish among Irish Americans." In addition, when a compound subject is preceded by each or every, the verb is usually singular. But a compound subject followed by each takes a plural verb.

• parts of a subject linked by or or nor – In instances where parts of a subject are joined by or or nor, the verb in the sentence should agree with the subject closest to it. And when one part of the subject is singular and the other plural, it's best to place the plural part closer to the verb.


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• collective nouns, some of which end in s – Collective nouns identify groups of people, animals, or things. Usually they are treated as single entities, so they agree with singular verbs. However, if the focus is on members of a group acting separately as individuals, a collective noun can sometimes take a plural verb. And sometimes collective nouns end in s and look like plurals.

• measurements or figures ending in s – Although measurements may identify multiple units, they are considered singular and therefore take singular verbs.

• indefinite pronouns – An indefinite pronoun is one that doesn't refer to a specific person or thing. When an indefinite pronoun is the subject of a verb, it's usually singular. However, sometimes it can have a plural sense. And there are some indefinite pronouns that can take either a singular or a plural verb – for instance, all, any, most, some, and none – depending on the context. For example, if none is followed by a singular noun, you should treat it as a singular. Then there are some that take only a plural verb, such as both, few, many, and several. Inverted sentences occur when the verb comes before the subject. This is most common in questions and in constructions beginning with there, here, or it and a form of the verb to be. It can also occur with a compound subject. Moreover, in sentences starting with there, you may use is before a compound subject when the first element in the subject is singular.

In any sentence, the subject and verb must agree in both number and person. Specific rules apply when the subject is a book title or company name, a compound subject, or a

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collective noun. Rules also apply when the subject is linked by "or" or "nor," is a measurement, or is an indefinite pronoun. Ensuring subject-verb agreement can be tricky when sentences are inverted.


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�Job Aid

Guidelines for Subject-Verb Agreement

Instruction : Use this job aid to review specific guidelines for ensuring subject-verb agreement in sentences.

In any sentence, it's important that the subject and verb agree, both in number and person. Special cases in which it may be difficult to determine subject-verb agreement include those in which the subjects of sentences are

• titles or names of companies

• joined by and

• linked by or or nor

• collective nouns

• measurements ending in s, and

• indefinite pronouns

Titles or names of companies

When the subject is the title of a book or the name of a company or entity, the verb should be singular even if the title or the name is plural. For example:

• Gleeson Associates is going out of business.

• War and Peace is Tolstoy's best-known work.

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Joined by and

When the subject of a sentence connects two or more people, places, or things using the word and, a plural verb is required:

• Every computer, laptop, and BlackBerry is accounted for.

• The manager and the team leader agree that the deadline should be moved.

Linked by or or nor

Where two subjects are joined by or or nor, the verb in the sentence should agree with the subject that appears closest to it:

• Neither Gillian nor the team leaders know about the problem.

• Either the team leader or the project manager knows the schedule.

Collective nouns

Collective nouns may be treated as singular or plural subjects. Just remember that a group that acts as a single unit takes a singular verb, and a group of individuals acting separately takes a plural verb. There are also times when collective nouns end in s and look like plurals – for instance, economics and statistics.

Measurements

Most measurements are considered singular and therefore take singular verbs:

• Three months is enough time for us to complete the project.


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• Two-thirds of the company has been laid off.

Indefinite pronouns

• Someone has misplaced the report.

• Both are useful

• None of the paper is left.

• None of the technicians are available.

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�Job Aid

Inverted Sentences

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the guidelines for ensuring subject-verb agreement in inverted sentences.

Inverted sentences are those in which the verb comes before the subject. This is most common in questions and in constructions beginning with there, here, it, or a form of be. Examples are: "Here are copies of the annual report" and "Are the demands of this job too stressful?"

Questions

An example of a grammatically incorrect question is "Is alpha testing and beta testing the same thing?" The subject in this question is "alpha testing and beta testing," which is plural. So the singular verb is must be replaced with are for agreement.

Use of here, there, and it

"Here is copies of the transcripts" is incorrect. The subject is copies, which is plural. So the sentence should read "Here are copies of the transcripts."


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Compound subjects

An example of a grammatically incorrect inverted sentence that contains a compound subject is "Available in the folder is transcripts and reports from the meeting." The compound subject in this sentence is transcripts and reports. This is plural and therefore requires a plural verb – are instead of is. The corrected sentence becomes "Available in the folder are transcripts and reports from the meeting."

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Lesson 3

Pronouns and Antecedents

Rules of Agreement for Pronouns and Antecedents

ronouns can substitute for expressed nouns or pronouns, especially to avoid needless repetition. A pronoun typically refers to an antecedent, which is an

earlier noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause in the same sentence. To ensure clarity in your sentences, you should make pronouns and their antecedents agree in gender, person, and number.

Agreeing in gender

epending on the antecedent, a pronoun can be any of the following:

• masculine – When referring to a noun that identifies a male, you use a masculine pronoun, such as he, his, or him.

• feminine – When referring to a noun that identifies a female, you use a feminine pronoun, such as she, her, or hers.

• gender-neutral – When referring to something that cannot be classed as male or female, you typically use the gender-neutral pronoun it. Using the pronoun it doesn't always mean the noun has no gender –

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sometimes, the gender is unknown or unimportant. Common-gender is a term sometimes applied to animate beings, the gender of which is indeterminable.

Traditionally, a generic he was used in cases where the gender was indeterminable or where you were using an indefinite pronoun that included both masculine and feminine genders. In almost all instances, the generic he is no longer acceptable. You can avoid using the generic he in one of three ways:

• include both masculine and feminine pronouns – It's appropriate to specify both masculine and feminine pronouns when an antecedent can refer to both genders. However, doing this often can make sentences tedious. It's a good idea to limit your use of he or she to once in a sentence.

• use a plural antecedent and pronoun – Often you can convert a sentence into the plural form without changing its intended meaning. You can then use a plural pronoun like their or they, which isn't gender-specific.

• avoid using a pronoun – You can often rewrite a sentence so no pronouns are necessary. This eliminates the problem of having to choose between gender-specific pronouns.

Agreeing in person

ronouns and antecedents must also agree in person. Remember, the first person refers to the person speaking – I ; the second person to the person being

spoken to – you ; and the third person to the person or thing spoken of – he, she, or it. You decide which pronoun to use

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based on which person the antecedent refers to – and whether it's in plural or singular form. To make pronouns agree in person, avoid switching from one person to another in the same sentence. You should keep the use of the personal pronouns consistent. For example, you shouldn't switch from the third person to the second person. When multiple antecedents differ in person and are connected by and, or, or nor, the pronoun must take the person of only one of the antecedents. The first person is preferred to the second, and the second person to the third. And if the pronoun refers to just one of the connected nouns or pronouns, it takes the person of that noun.

Agreeing in number

here the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must also be singular. Likewise, if the antecedent is plural, the pronoun must be plural too.

It all seems relatively straightforward, but there are some cases where pronoun-antecedent agreement can be less clear – for example, with antecedents that are joined by and, those joined by or or nor, an indefinite pronoun as antecedent, and collective noun antecedents. Where antecedents are joined by and, you usually use a plural pronoun. However, an exception is when the compound antecedent refers to a single entity. Another exception occurs when the compound antecedent follows

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each or every. In this case, you use a singular pronoun, even if the antecedent refers to a plural entity. When parts of an antecedent are linked by or or nor, you use the pronoun that agrees with the closest antecedent. And when two or more antecedents of different numbers are joined by or or nor, the pronoun's number agrees with that of the closest antecedent. If you can, you should recast the sentence so the plural antecedent comes last. This avoids an awkward construction. Confusion may arise when antecedent nouns are singular, of different genders, or of indeterminable gender. Agreement with the nearest antecedent may be misleading. You should recast the sentence in order to eliminate the need for personal pronouns. For indefinite pronouns as antecedents, you use a singular or plural pronoun – depending on which indefinite pronoun is used:

• singular – When each or anyone is the antecedent, the pronoun referring to it should be singular.

• plural – When both, few, many, or several are used as antecedents to other pronouns, you always use a plural pronoun.

Some indefinite pronouns – namely, all, any, more, most, and some – may be singular or plural depending on the word they refer to. Collective noun antecedents – like team, crowd, or family – take singular pronouns when they're acting as a unit.

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However, when the members of the group act separately, the pronoun is plural. Pronouns can substitute for expressed nouns or pronouns, especially to avoid needless repetition. A pronoun typically refers to an antecedent, which is an earlier noun, pronoun, phrase, or clause in the same sentence. To ensure clarity in your sentences, you should make pronouns and their antecedents agree in gender, person, and number.


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Lesson 4

Common Sentence Errors

Sentence Fragments, Comma Splices, and Modifiers

Sentence fragments

sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that is formatted like a whole sentence with an initial capital letter and end punctuation. You can identify sentence

fragments because they're usually incomplete for one of three reasons:

• they lack a verb

• they lack a subject, or

• they contain subordinate clauses not attached to complete sentences

You should generally avoid sentence fragments. However, it's acceptable to use them in some cases:

• as exclamations,

• in questions and answers

• as commands, or

• as transitional phrases

When you identify a sentence fragment, you can revise it by turning it into a complete sentence or combining it with the appropriate main clause. You could also revise a fragment by joining it to a previous sentence or by attaching a

A

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subordinate clause to the main clause to form a complete sentence.

Comma splices and run-on sentences

omma splices and run-on sentences can be serious mistakes because they usually force the reader to reread to get the correct meaning.

A comma splice occurs when two or more independent clauses are joined by a comma. If you can read the text on each side of the comma as a full sentence, a comma splice is present. You can correct a comma splice using one of several methods:

• join the independent clauses with a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction

• join the independent clauses with a semicolon

• make one clause subordinate, especially if one idea is more important than the other, or

• split the independent clauses into separate sentences, each ending with a period

Comma splices also occur when main clauses are separated by a comma that's followed by a linking adverb. Examples of linking adverbs are however, consequently, and finally. And comma splices also occur when main clauses are separated by transitional phrases, such as even so and in fact. Transitional phrases, along with linking adverbs, describe how two clauses relate in meaning.

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Run-on sentences are also called fused sentences. They occur when two or more independent clauses are placed together, without any punctuation or coordinating conjunction to join them. Like comma splices, run-on sentences can also be corrected by revising the punctuation or wording. To correct run-on sentences, you can use one of these approaches:

• add a comma and coordinating conjunction

• add a semicolon

• add a subordinating conjunction, or

• make the clauses into separate sentences

Misplaced and dangling modifiers

nowing where to place modifying words, phrases, or clauses is important because readers rely on the arrangement of words to tell them how those words

are related. If modifiers are not connected to the words they modify, they can be awkward, confusing, and even sometimes funny. There are two common errors made with modifying words:

• a dangling modifier , which is a modifier that doesn't logically describe anything in a sentence, and

• a misplaced modifier , which is a word or phrase that's placed too far from the noun or pronoun it's meant to modify – with the result that it modifies a different noun or pronoun instead

It's especially common for writers to misplace limiting modifiers, like just, exactly, only, and simply. To avoid

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ambiguity, you must always place a limiting modifier immediately before the word or phrase you want it to modify. Several types of phrases and clauses may be used incorrectly in sentences, resulting in dangling modifiers. They can occur at the beginning or end of sentences. These include the following:

• infinitive phrases – These phrases should be followed by a noun or pronoun identifying who determines the causes. Remember, dangling modifiers are particularly likely when the verb in the main clause is in the passive voice.

• prepositional phrases – These phrases should be followed by a noun or pronoun identifying who studied the report.

• elliptical clauses – An example of a sentence in which an elliptical clause is a dangling modifier is "When inspired, our research shows that writers are likely to beat their deadlines." The elliptical clause "when inspired" is meant to refer to writers, but instead it refers to "our research." The revised sentence is "When writers are inspired, our research shows that they are likely to beat their deadlines."

To correct a sentence that contains a dangling modifier, you can change the main clause so it clearly identifies the subject you mean to modify. Alternatively, you can rewrite a dangling modifier as a complete clause with its own subject and verb. You should avoid using sentence fragments, which are incomplete sentences. It's also important to use the correct punctuation or conjunctions to join independent clauses in


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sentences. Failing to do this, results in one of two types of errors – comma splices or run-on sentences. In addition, using modifying phrases or clauses incorrectly can result in either misplaced or dangling modifiers. In either case, it's important to revise sentences to make it clear what the phrases or clauses are meant to modify.

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�Job Aid

Sentence Fragments

Instruction : Use this job aid to review information about identifying and correcting sentence fragments.

Identifying sentence fragments

A sentence fragment is an incomplete sentence that's formatted like a complete sentence (with an initial capital letter and end punctuation). Examples of sentence fragments are "Gretchen is having a party tonight. Going later" and "Until the problems are resolved. Improve."

Sentence fragments are missing a subject or verb, or may be subordinate clauses not attached to complete sentences. These are some examples:

• "We should find someone who can make our case for us. The diplomatic CEO ." A verb is missing from this example.

• "I've been trying to contact someone about this for weeks. Talked to an unprofessional staff member but nobody called back!" A subject is missing from this example.

• "The minister made himself very clear. Until the matter was resolved ." This example contains a subordinate


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clause that must be attached to a dependent clause to make sense.

Although you should generally avoid using sentence fragments, it's sometimes appropriate to use them as exclamations, questions and answers, commands, or transitional phrases.

Correcting sentence fragments

To correct a sentence fragment, you need to add the missing component, such as a subject or a verb.

So you convert the example "Gretchen is having a party tonight. Going later" to "Gretchen is having a party tonight; I'm going later." Depending on your intended meaning, you might convert "The diplomatic CEO" to "The diplomatic CEO resolved the conflict."

In the case of a subordinate clause, you can rewrite the clause as a full sentence or combine it with the appropriate main clause. To do this, you remove the subordinate conjunction. For example, you may change the sentence fragment "Until the matter was resolved" to "The matter was resolved."

Sentence Structure

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�Job Aid

Comma Splices and Run-on Sentences

Instruction : Use this job aid to review information on comma splices and run-on sentences.

Comma splices

A comma splice occurs when two or more independent clauses are joined by a comma, without a coordinating conjunction. An example is "The computer crashed, it needs to be fixed."

You can use four methods to correct the comma splice in this example:

1. Join the two independent clauses with a coordinating conjunction and a comma: "The computer crashed, so it needs to be fixed."

2. Join the independent clauses with semicolon: "The computer crashed; it needs to be fixed."

3. Make one clause subordinate: "Because the computer crashed, it needs to be fixed."

4. Split the independent clauses into separate sentences: "The computer crashed. It needs to be fixed."


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Run-on sentences

Run-on sentences are also called fused sentences. They occur when two or more independent clauses are not joined without any punctuation or without a coordinating conjunction. An example is "I attended training it was interesting and helpful."

You can use four methods to correct this run-on sentence:

1. Add a comma and coordinating conjunction: "I attended training, and it was very interesting and helpful."

2. Add a semicolon: "I attended training; it was very interesting and helpful."

3. Add a subordinating conjunction: "Whenever I attended training, it was very interesting and helpful."

4. Separate the sentences: "I attended training. It was very interesting and helpful."

Guarding against comma splices and run-on sentences

Certain situations tend to encourage comma splices and run-on sentences. Five such situations are as follows:

• negative-positive clauses – This occurs when the first clause of a sentence is negative and the second clause is positive. An example is "Jane is not just a typist she is the office administrator."

• second clause additions – This occurs when the second clause of a sentence illustrates or adds details to the first clause. An example is "I did well, nobody beat my sales record last month."

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• transition words – This occurs when conjunctive or linking adverbs and other transition words, such as also, however, currently, and of course, are used in the second clause. An example is "The workload has increased, currently, we're receiving new projects every week."

• repetition – This occurs when the second clause's subject talks about the first clause's subject. An example is "Fernando was a great manager he understood his staff."

• linking – This occurs when the writer tries to join related ideas or abrupt sentences, which could stand on their own, into one sentence. An example is "I don't know what to do, the order is confusing, I can't understand it."

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Common Usage Errors

This module of the course describes how to use commonly confused words correctly, including word pairs that sound alike and those that have related meanings. It also covers verbs that are often misused – for example, affect and effect or apprise and appraise. In addition, the course reviews some idiomatic combinations of verbs and prepositions that can be confusing. The following lessons are covered in this module: Lesson 1: Commonly Confused Word Pairs Lesson 2: Commonly Misused Verbs and Other Words Lesson 3: Idiomatic Use of Prepositions

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Lesson 1

Commonly Confused Word Pairs

Recognizing Commonly Confused Word Pairs

nglish can be a confusing language. When you're not sure of a word's meaning – or the difference between two words – you should look it up in a dictionary.

Commonly confused words can be divided into two categories:

• words that sound the same or similar – When you hear someone use a word that sounds identical to another word, you know which word the speaker refers to because you contextualize it.

• words with similar or related meanings – People often confuse words that sound different yet have similar or related meanings. But in a technical or economic report, for instance, those differences in meaning can have negative implications if you don't use them properly.

Similar sounding words

he pronouns you, it, who, and they have forms that can be easily confused:

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• you – You are is contracted to you're, and the possessive form is your or yours.

• it – It is – and sometimes it has – is contracted to it's. The possessive form is its.

• who – Who is or who has is contracted to who's and the possessive is whose.

• they – They are is contracted to they're. The possessive form is their.

English has many word pairs that often create problems for writers and readers alike. Some examples of words that commonly get mixed up include the following:

• accept and except – Accept means to receive something favorably. Except is most commonly used to mean other than or with the exclusion of.

• elude and allude – Elude means to escape notice, perception, or often memory. Allude means to hint at or refer to something indirectly.

• imminent and eminent – Imminent is an adjective that means about to happen, or expected. It's often used in the sense of something hanging threateningly over one's head. Eminent means well-known and having a reputation as an expert. Eminent applies to a person.

• cite and site – Cite is a verb that means to make reference to something, usually to a source of information. Site is a noun meaning place or location.

• complement and compliment – A complement is something that completes or makes perfect. It can also be used as a verb, meaning to complete or supplement something. A compliment is an admiring remark or a


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sign of respect, honor, or praise, often directed at a person.

• principal and principle – The adjective principal means most important or influential. As a noun, you use it to refer to the person who has primary responsibility for an institution. But the noun principle is a basic law or doctrine. Principle may refer to a rule or code of conduct, or to someone who is an ardent supporter of a principle.

• capitol and capital – Capitol refers to the official place or building where government work is done. Capital means chief in importance or influence and refers to the most important town or city in an area.

• stationery and stationary – Stationery refers to office supplies such as pens, pencils, paper, and paperclips. Stationary is an adjective describing an object that isn't moving. A way to remember the difference between the two is to associate the er in stationery with the er in paper.

• a while and awhile – The two-word version a while is a noun phrase that follows the preposition for or in. The one-word version awhile functions as an adverb.

Similar meaning pairs

ome words are confusing because they have similar or related meanings.

• Ambivalent almost always applies to feelings or thoughts. It means having mixed feelings or

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contradictory ideas about something. If you feel ambivalent, you may be uncertain about which idea or approach to follow.

• Ambiguous means having more than one meaning, open to different interpretations, or even doubtful or indistinct.

It can help to remember that moods, characters, relationships, attitudes, and behavior – or anything deemed to contain contradictions – can be described as ambivalent. The word ambivalence is usually used in the context of a person whereas ambiguous applies most often to words and language.

Anxious and eager are often confused:

• Anxious means worried, tense, or suffering from anxiety.

• Eager means marked by enthusiastic or impatient desire or interest.

Continuous and continual are very similar in meaning – both describe duration:

• Continuous refers to something uninterrupted or constant.

• Continual refers to something intermittent or often repeated.

In other words, continuous indicates duration without interruption. And continual denotes duration that continues over a long period of time, but with intervals of interruption.


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Comprise and compose is a particularly troublesome word pair:

• To comprise means to be made up of or to include

• To compose means to make up, to constitute, or to form the substance of something.

The words fewer and less are often confused:

• You reserve fewer for countable things.

• And you use less for noncount nouns or amounts.

A guideline to help you remember this is to use fewer with plural nouns and less with singular nouns.

The difference between disinterested and uninterested can be obscure:

• Disinterested means impartial and unbiased

• Uninterested means unconcerned or bored.

It's usually appropriate to use myself when you have used I earlier in the same sentence. You are emphasizing your own role in the. A very common error is to use myself in place of the objective pronoun me or the subjective pronoun I, perhaps because it seems more formal.

Many words either sound similar or have related meanings. For instance, it's easy to mix up certain contracted pronouns with their possessive forms. Examples of similar sounding words that are sometimes confused are accept and except, elude and allude, imminent and eminent, and cite and site. Words with related meaning can also trip you up. A few examples include ambiguous and ambivalent, anxious and

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eager, continuous and continual, and comprise and compose.


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�Job Aid

Confusing Word Pairs

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the meanings and use of commonly confused word pairs.

Many words are difficult to use correctly because they're so similar to other words, either in sound or meaning.

Commonly confused pronoun forms

Pronoun Possessive form

Example Contracted form

Example

it its The team completed its assignment.

it's It's important for you to attend.

they their Their attendance at the meeting is imperative.

they're They're all attending the meeting.

who whose You're someone whose input is required at the meeting.

who's You're the one who's needed at the meeting.

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Example

you your That's your responsibility.

you're You're required at the meeting.



Meaning Example

accept To receive favorably

I accept responsibility for the project's failure.

except Other than or with the exclusion of

It's published monthly, except for March and August.

elude To escape notice, perception, or often memory

His name eludes me.

allude To hint at or refer to something indirectly

The CEO alluded to the possibility of expanding the business next year.

imminent About to happen, ready to occur,

The merger is imminent.


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Example

threatening, or expected

eminent Well known and respected; an expert

We're hiring an eminent scientist to head the Research Department.

cite To make reference to something

You must cite the documents you've drawn information from.

site A place or location

The building site is being prepared.

complement Something that completes or makes perfect

The skills of the new employees complement those of the existing team.

compliment An admiring remark or a sign of respect, honor, or praise, often directed at a person

He received a compliment on his managerial skills.

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Example

principal An adjective meaning most important or influential, or a noun meaning the person in charge of a school

The school has a new principal.

principle A basic law or doctrine

Women fought hard for the principle of equal rights.

capitol An official place or building where government work is done

The government officials returned to the capitol for the new session.

capital Chief in importance or influence; the most important town or city in an area; money, funds, or assets

I live in the capital city. I need capital to start the business.


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Example

stationery Office supplies used in paperwork

She ordered pens, pencils, paper, and paperclips from the stationery store.

stationary An adjective describing an object that is not moving

I drove past a stationary vehicle.

a while A noun phrase that follows the preposition for or in

We haven't had this problem for a while.

awhile An adverb denoting a period of time

We stopped there awhile.

Similar meaning words

Similar meaning word

Meaning Example

ambivalent Having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something

The customer is ambivalent about the architect's design for the house.

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Meaning Example

ambiguous Having more than one meaning, open to different interpretations, or doubtful or indistinct

His ambiguous pronouncements left his audience in the dark.

anxious Worried, tense, or suffering from anxiety

I'm anxious about the examination.

eager Marked by enthusiastic or impatient desire or interest

I'm eager to start planning the vacation.

continuous Uninterrupted or constant

Change is a continuous process.

continual Intermittent or often repeated

The growth in the investment has been continual.

comprise To be made up of or to include

The full pack comprises 52 cards.

compose To make up, to constitute, or to form the substance of something

The five sections that compose the report are well laid out.


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Meaning Example

disinterested Objective, impartial, and unbiased

You should be disinterested when conducting a performance appraisal.

uninterested Unconcerned or bored An uninterested manager shows a lack of respect toward the company and employees.

less Used for uncountable things

There was less traffic on the road this morning.

fewer Used when referring to countable objects

There were fewer cars on the road this morning.

myself If you've already used the word I, use the word myself

I myself wouldn't choose that one.

me If you're referring to yourself for the first time, you can use the word me

This appeals to me.

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Lesson 2

Commonly Misused Verbs and Other

Words

Recognizing Commonly Misused Verbs and Other Words

earning to use words correctly is important for several reasons:

• your word usage influences your readers' perceptions of you – and in the business world, good perceptions and reputations are vitally important

• careful word usage helps readers pay attention and value your message more, rather than ignore and disregard the message, and

• correct word usage makes your writing easy to read and understand

Commonly misused verbs

ome verbs tend to be misused more often than others:

• affect and effect – The verb affect means to influence or have an effect on. Affect is usually

used as a verb. You should note that in psychological terminology, affect is another word for a mental state or feeling. As a verb, effect means to make happen or

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produce. In business and generally, effect is usually used as a noun, meaning outcome or result.

• appraise and apprise – Appraise means to assess or to put a value on something. You can appraise the amount of something. Apprise means to inform or to tell. You apprise someone of something.

• lie and lay – As a verb, the main meaning of lie is to rest, recline, or stay in a horizontal position. Lie also means to have direction or extend. You should check your dictionary for the variety of ways that lie can be used. Lay is a transitive verb, which requires a direct object. It usually means to put or set down.

• imply and infer – To imply means to suggest something indirectly. Infer is a verb that means to draw a conclusion from facts or reasoning.

• deduce and deduct – To deduce means to reason from general principles to specific conclusions. It is similar in meaning to infer, which is listed as a synonym for deduce. The verb deduct means remove, reduce, or subtract. It's usually used in mathematics.

• precede and proceed – Precede relates to sequence. It means to come or go before in time. Proceed means continue doing or move along.

When to use can and when to use may also causes confusion.

• May suggests permission or possibility.

• Can traditionally applies to physical or mental ability and means to be able to. In less formal English, can

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also expresses a request for permission, but this usage is not recommended in formal writing.

To irritate means to annoy or to bother. Traditionally, aggravate means to worsen or intensify. A customer who complains excessively might aggravate your bad mood or your headache, but he doesn't aggravate – or intensify – you in the strict sense of the word. The bottom line is that if you mean to bother, use the word annoy or irritate, rather than aggravate.

Other misused terms

he old meaning of the word hopefully is in a hopeful manner, but its newer use as I hope and it is hoped seems to have gained some acceptance. Still, many

careful writers avoid the new meaning.

These two terms are also commonly misused:

• Literally means exactly as described. But people often misuse literally to emphasize something. The word shouldn't be used in a figurative sense.

• In lieu of means in place of or instead of. It doesn't mean in light of.

Irregardless is a word that is simply incorrect. The correct term to use is regardless, meaning without regard to, without consideration, or without taking into account.

The word unique means one of a kind. Something can't be very unique or a little unique – it either is or it isn't. This is an absolute term that is not gradable.

T


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Due to and because of are often confused. Due to is interchangeable with caused by or attributable to. When used as an adverb, due to is usually considered inferior to because of or owing to, which mean by reason of or on account of. It may help to remember that nouns are usually due to something, whereas verbs happen because of something.

The two-word expression all together does not have the same meaning as its one-word version altogether. Altogether means entirely, in all or in total amount, or considering everything. But if you say "The employees assembled all together in the boardroom," it means that the employees are together in the boardroom.

Using words correctly is important in business communication. Doing so helps to improve your readers' perceptions of you, ensures readers will pay attention to your message, and makes your writing easy to read and understand. Commonly confused verb pairs include affect and effect, appraise and apprise, and lay and lie. Other terms that writers often misuse include in lieu of, literally, unique, and all together.

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�Job Aid

Frequently Misused Verbs and Other Words

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the meanings of frequently misused verbs and other words.

Frequently misused verbs

Verb Meaning Example

appraise To assess, or to put a value on something

The company appraised the market share of its competitors.

apprise To tell, or to make someone aware

Please apprise me of any new developments.

lay To put or set down Lay the books on my desk.

lie To rest, recline, or stay in a horizontal position

Lie here for a while.

imply To suggest or hint He implied it would be better to leave.

infer To draw a conclusion from facts or premises

I inferred from the report that the project is behind schedule.

deduct To remove, reduce, or subtract

If that's no longer required, I'll deduct it from the budget.


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deduce To reason from general principles to specific conclusions

After comparing the specifications, I can deduce that this one is the better product.

aggravate To worsen or intensify Several labor strikes have aggravated the company's poor performance.

irritate To annoy or bother His behavior irritates me.

precede To come or go before in time

Careful planning should precede implementation.

proceed Continue doing or move along

We'll proceed with implementation when the planning is complete.

can A physical or mental ability

The technician can work on the problem tomorrow.

may Suggests permission or possibility

He may be finished this afternoon.

assure An assurance in order to remove doubt

I assure you this problem won't happen again.

ensure To make certain or guarantee

To ensure the project was completed on time, team members worked overtime.

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insure To protect against loss We insure our delivery vehicles against accidents.

In addition to the commonly misused verbs, several words and phrases are frequently misused.

Frequently misused words

Frequently misused word

Meaning Example

hopefully In a hopeful manner I watched the news report hopefully.

due to Interchangeable with caused by or attributable to

The improvement is due to our new quality control process.

because of As a result of Costs are higher because of increased demand.

in lieu of In place of, instead of I'll accept a compromise in lieu of leaving the negotiation.


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Frequently misused words

Frequently misused word

Meaning Example

irregardless Irregardless is not a word – use regardless, which means without consideration or without reference to

The project will go ahead regardless of the tight schedule.

literally Exactly as described The contract doesn't mean literally what it says.

unique One of a kind This is a unique opportunity.

all together All assembled in one place The employees are all together in the conference room.

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Lesson 3

Idiomatic Use of Prepositions

Using Prepositions Idiomatically

hen you compare things, do you compare them to each other or with each other? And would you say that something is different than, different from, or

different to something else?

The word that changes in each of these cases, than, from, and to, is a preposition, which is a word or phrase that links an object – a noun or a noun equivalent – to another word in a sentence to indicate the relationship between them.

More than one preposition can be used after a verb. And the choice of one over another is often idiomatic – in other words, it's been established through use rather than because of a rule.

But one general guideline for choosing a preposition is to use with when referring to people and another preposition for situations or things. Remember, though, this applies in some cases but not in all:

• you argue with a person, but over or about a situation or thing, and for or against a position

• you agree with a person, but agree to or on terms; also, you agree about something, meaning you concur, and

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• you differ with a person, but differ from is applied to a thing or quality, and you differ about, over, or on an issue

But in the case of the word occupied, the guideline about with doesn't apply. For example, the seat is occupied by a person, but you are occupied with a task or thing.

As you can tell from the examples given so far, idiomatic combinations of verbs, nouns, or adjectives with prepositions can be confusing because their meanings can change depending on context and because they have so many idiomatic uses. For example, you can make a comment about another person, but you can also comment to a person and comment on a situation or thing. And you can charge for a purchase and charge with a crime.

You use compare to primarily when highlighting similarities between things or when considering how alike they are. But you use compare with when focusing on the differences between things. You also use compare with when you want to discern both the similarities and differences between things.

When things are different, are they different from, different than, or different to each other? Generally, different from is the correct expression. Different from means the same as it differs from. In general, different from is preferable to different than. However, sometimes differently than is appropriate.

On the other hand, when things are the same, are they identical with or identical to one another? Identical with is preferred by some, but identical to is also acceptable usage.

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When do you use between and when should you use among? Between indicates one-to-one relationships and is usually used to compare two things. Among denotes undefined or collective relationships and is used where the emphasis is on distribution rather than individual relationships. However, you can use between for more than two objects if multiple one-to-one relationships are understood from the context. It's even appropriate when one thing is mentioned, but repetition is implied.

The expression center around is a common one, but you should avoid it, using instead center on or upon. Or you could use the phrase revolve around. And when you approve of something, you show favor toward it. Approve alone indicates official sanction.

More than one preposition can be used after a verb. And the choice of one over another is often idiomatic – in other words, it's been established through use rather than because of a rule. For example, when you compare things, you compare similar things to each other, and things that are unlike with each other.


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�Job Aid

Guideline for Commonly Misused Idiomatic Expressions

Instruction : Use this job aid to review the meanings and use of several commonly misused expressions.

Commonly misused expressions

Expression Guideline Example

agree with Refers to people I agree with you.

agree to Refers to things I agree to the terms of the contract.

argue with [a person] I argued with Martin about why the report was late.

argue over or about

[a situation or thing] We argued about politics.

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argue for or against

[a position] He argued against introducing overtime to get the work done.

differ with [a person] I differ with him on the issue.

differ from [a thing or quality] The new product differs from our competitor's.

differ about, over, or on

[an issue] Experts differ on the benefits of taking vitamins.

occupied by [a person] The seat is occupied by another person.

occupied with

[a task] He was occupied with the task.

comment about or to

[a person] He made a comment about the new employee.


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comment on [a situation or thing] She commented on the lack of resources.

charge for [a purchase] He was charged $8 for the poster.

charge with [a crime] He was charged with a felony.

compare with

Emphasizes differences Compared with your desk, mine is untidy.

compare to Emphasizes similarities This computer isn't much faster compared to mine.

different from

Different from is the preferred form (different to and different than are less common)

The two cultures are very different from one another.

identical with or to

Both are acceptable, though purists prefer identical with

The signature on the page is nearly identical with the one on the check.

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between and among

Between indicates one-to-one relationships. The word and in "between him and her" is usually used to compare two things; among denotes undefined or collective relationships and is used where the emphasis is on distribution rather than individual relationships

There's been a change between then and now. That's one problem among many.

center on Use this in place of center around The meeting centered on the need to hire more editors.

approve of Used to indicate favor He approved of the way she handled the meeting.


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�Job Aid

Problematic Words and Expressions

Instruction: Use this follow-on activity to review and practice using problematic words and expressions.

Instructions for use : To use this tool, think about and write down some words, word pairs, verbs, or idiomatic expressions that you're not completely sure of. Refer to a dictionary or a grammar book and record the meanings and examples of correct usage in the table.

Confusing words or expressions

Word or expression Meaning Example

Common Usage Errors

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Confusing words or expressions

Word or expression Meaning Example


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Simply writing down and practicing these words and expressions will help you use them correctly in future.

You may find it useful to create memory cards with each word or expression and its definition. Keep this follow-on activity at hand and record new confusing words and expressions as you discover them.

Glossary

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Glossary

A abbreviation The shortened form of phrases or words. abstract noun A noun referring to any object that can only be perceived by the mind, and not by any other senses. Examples are "loyalty" and "trust." active voice The voice in which a sentence identifies a subject before the verb. An example is "Mark is leading the mission." Also see passive voice . adjective A word that describes a noun or pronoun in a sentence. Examples are "black" in "black briefcase" and "long" in "long meeting."

adverb A word that describes a verb , an adjective , or another adverb in a sentence. Examples are "repeatedly," "very," and "really." antecedent The subject being referred to by a pronoun. In the sentence "The committee liked Jane's idea and invited her for a second meeting," for example, the pronoun "her" refers to the antecedent "Jane." apostrophe The punctuation mark, also known as a single quotation mark, used to form possessive nouns and contractions.


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appositive A type of noun phrase that can sometimes replace the noun entirely. B brackets Punctuation marks that enclose the word [sic], add clarifying material that's not in the original quotation, and indicate comments that interrupt the direct quotation for special emphasis. C capitalize To start a word with an uppercase letter. collective noun A noun that describes a group of things, animals, or people. Examples are "team" and "staff." colon A punctuation mark (:) that separates unequal sentence elements.

comma A punctuation mark (,) used principally to separate thoughts. comma splice A grammatical error in which two or more independent clauses are joined only by a comma, without a coordinating conjunction. An example is "The computer crashed, it had to go for repairs." common noun A noun that identifies a thing, animal, or person based on the general category to which it belongs. Examples are "businessman" and "machine." comparative form The second degree of comparison, in which adverbs or adjectives imply comparison between two entities. An example of an adverb in this form is "harder" in "He works harder than I do."

Glossary

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compound noun A noun consisting of more than one word. concrete noun A noun that identifies something you can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Examples are "stapler," "pencil," and "flowers." conjunction A joining word that links other words, phrases, or sentences, such as "and," "while," and "or." Also see coordinating conjunction and subordinating conjunction . coordinating conjunction A conjunction that joins two words or two independent sentences. Examples of which are "and," "but," "for," "or," "so," and "yet." D dangling modifier A grammatical error in which the subject a word or phrase is meant to modify has been left out of a

sentence. An example is "Having completed the report, the rest of my day is free." dash A punctuation mark (–) that sets off nonessential information, indicates a break in thought or afterthought, summarizes a sentence, or adds a descriptive element. Also known as the en dash. declarative sentence A sentence in the form of a statement. definite article The word "the." E ellipsis Periods that have been combined into a series of three (...). elliptical question An incomplete question.


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exclamation point A punctuation mark (!) that suggests excitement or emphasis in a sentence. F fragment A phrase or other part of a sentence that requires other words to complete it. H helping verbs Also known as an auxiliary verb, a verb that supports a main verb and clarifies its tense. Examples are "am," "are," "was," "were," "will," "have," "has," and "had." hyphen A punctuation mark (-) used to divide a word at the end of a line, replace words to avoid repetition, form compound words, and point out special pronunciations. I imperative mood The mood of a verb used to issue commands or make

requests. Examples are "Pick up that envelope," and "Please bring me some water." imperative sentence A sentence that gives advice or instructions, or expresses a request or command. inanimate object An object, thing, or force that is not alive. indefinite article The word "a" or "an." indefinite pronoun A pronoun that does not refer to a particular person or thing. indicative mood The mood of a verb used for basic statements and questions, such as "I'm going home," or "What time did you arrive?" indirect question A sentence that implies a question.

Glossary

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infinitive One of the principle parts of a verb . The infinitive form of a verb occurs when you use the basic form of a verb after a helping or auxiliary verb, such as "to," "do," "have," or "would." An example is "He said he would walk ." intensive pronoun A pronoun that directs the action of a verb back to the subject. It's the same as a reflexive pronoun but is placed directly after the subject in a sentence. Examples are, "I myself," "he himself," "they themselves," "you yourself," and "we ourselves." interjection One or more words used purely to express emotion and commonly followed by an exclamation mark. Examples are "Wow!" and "Oh dear!"

irregular verb A verb whose basic form changes in different tenses. Examples are "do" and "buy", which, for instance, become "did" and "bought." M misplaced modifier A word or phrase placed incorrectly in a sentence so that it modifies a noun or pronoun other than the one it's intended to. An example is "The letter sat on the desk that Jim had printed." mnemonic A memory aid. modal verb An auxiliary verb that indicates the mode of another verb. Examples are "might," "could," "should," "must," and "may." mood In terms of verbs, the form a verb takes depending on whether a sentence is indicative, imperative, or subjunctive.


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N nominative pronoun A pronoun that replaces the noun for a particular thing, person, or group of people. Examples are "I," "you," "he," "she," "we," "they," and "it." noncountable noun A noun denoting an entity that can't be or isn't typically counted. Examples are "water" and "air." noun A word that names one or more people, places, animals, or things. There are different types of nouns – common, proper, concrete, collective, and abstract. noun phrase A phrase comprising a noun followed by a description of the noun.

O objective personal pronoun A pronoun that replaces a noun acting as an object in a sentence. Examples are, "her," "him," "it," "me," "them," "us," and "you." occupational title The title of an occupation, such as "developer" or "manager." official title A formal title of respect held by a dignitary. Official titles start with uppercase letters, as in "President." P parentheses Two brackets enclosing a statement. Used to clarify, indicate an afterthought, or add a personal comment.

Glossary

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passive voice The voice in which the subject of a sentence follows the verb or is left out. An example is "The mission is being led by Mark." past participle One of the principle parts of a verb. A past participle shows that an action has been completed. Examples are "walked" and "talked." period A punctuation mark (.) that indicates the end of a sentence. positive form The first degree of comparison for adverbs and adjectives. An example is "hard" – "harder" is in the comparative form and "hardest" is in the superlative form.

possessive The state of a noun that indicates a relationship to another noun or object. The relationship can be one of ownership, location, possession, a description of the noun, character, or any other attribute. possessive noun The form of a noun when it has been modified to become possessive . possessive pronoun A pronoun that indicates possession. Examples are "hers," "his," "its," "mine," "ours," "their," and "yours." preposition A word that identifies a spatial, time-based, or logical relationship between other words. Examples are "in," "on," "over," "under," "before," and "after."


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present participle One of the principle parts of a verb . A present participle is used with a "to be" verb to show that an action is still in progress, or is incomplete. Examples are "I am walking," and "He was talking." pronoun A word that replaces a noun to avoid repetition. Examples are "I" and "him." proper noun A word that identifies a unique person or place. Examples are "Switzerland" and "Mrs. Robertson." Q question mark A punctuation mark (?) used after direct questions.

quotation mark A punctuation mark (") that encloses direct quotations.

R reflexive pronoun A pronoun that directs the action of the verb back to the subject. They are the same as intensive pronouns but are not placed directly after the subject in a sentence. Examples are "herself," "himself," "itself," "myself," "ourselves," "themselves," "yourself," and "yourselves." run-on sentence Also known as a fused sentence, a grammatically incorrect sentence in which two or more independent clauses are placed together but joined by any punctuation or coordinating conjunction. An example is "I attended the training I learned a lot." S semicolon A punctuation mark (;) used to separate equal and balanced sentence elements.

Glossary

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sentence fragment An incomplete sentence that is written as if it were a legitimate, complete sentence. It may be missing a verb or subject, or be a subordinate clause not attached to a complete sentence. An example is "Need to go later." spell checker A computer utility that checks the spelling of words. subject-verb agreement The condition in which the verb in a sentence matches grammatically to the subject. subjunctive mood The mood of a verb used to indicate a hypothetical situation or a wish. An example is "If the traffic is good, I should be home soon."

subordinating conjunction A conjunction that joins a dependent phrase to an independent sentence. Examples are "although," "as," "because," "how," "if," "until," and "when." substitution term The term, for instance, "Company," "Buyer," or "Seller," used in a legal agreement or other contract to replace a personal or company name. superlative form The third degree of comparison for adverbs and adjectives. It implies comparison to two or more other entities. An example is "hardest."


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T tense The grammatical form of a sentence that indicates whether an action occurred in the past, is happening at present, or will occur in the future. The forms of verbs change based on the tense used. There are three categories of tenses – simple, perfect, and progressive. trademark A symbol that has been registered to represent a product, and cannot be copied. V verb Words that identify actions or states of being. Examples are "write," "type," "is," and "were."

Documents

Business Grammar Basics - s3.amazonaws.coms3.amazonaws.com/Careertec/Manuals and Texts/Business/Business... · ... nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, interjections,