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Advanced grammar in-house course

This course is about the grammar of standard English, the language of print, education, business and the professions. We’ll touch on the way knowledge of grammar can help you write clearly, but this course is about grammar rather than plain English.

Our approach is traditional because if you were taught grammar in school, it was probably the traditional kind. The course should help you revise some familiar ideas and fill in the gaps in your knowledge.

We’ll look at the words we use and how we make sentences. We’ll discuss some of the ideas modern grammarians use, but the traditional method is still the best way to start.

Our approach is also systematic, because you need all the pieces of the jigsaw to complete the picture. You’ll be able to revise what you know, and fill in the gaps. And, you’ll find the course book a useful resource to keep.

Most of us write competently without being aware of the rules we are following. But sometimes we come across grammatical problems or can't see how to write clearly and concisely. Knowing how words fit together in sentences can help us write and edit other people's work, with more confidence.

We will look at the grammar of standard English, which is the language of business, government, education and the professions. Some of us lack confidence because we are not sure of the correct grammar.

Like any other technical subject, grammar has its own jargon which you have to learn how to use. But we always explain it clearly when we introduce it.

We will show you how to use punctuation to structure your sentences and make their meaning clearer, and how to punctuate lists.

The aim of the course is to give you a sound working knowledge of grammar, with the emphasis on clear and concise writing using plain-English principles.

The course will cover the following:

  • Basic grammatical ideas - number, person, inflection, agreement
  • Parts of speech - summary
  • Nouns - proper, common, concrete, abstract, countable, uncountable, collective, compound
  • Verbs - conjugation, tense, aspect, finite, infinite, formation, transitive, intransitive, mood, voice
  • Clauses - subject, predicate, object, complement
  • Conjunctions - co-ordinating, subordinating
  • Subordinate clauses
  • Pronouns - personal, possessive, relative, demonstrative, antecedent
  • Relative clauses - defining, commenting
  • Phrases - adverbial, adjectival, participial
  • Adjectives - comparison, possessive
  • Adverbs - comparison, particles
  • Building sentences - simple, compound, complex
  • Punctuation - full stops, question and exclamation marks, commas, colons, semicolons, inverted commas, apostrophes, brackets, dashes, hyphens
  • Layout and presentation - paragraphs, lists, headings, emphasis, alignment, justification, fonts, print size

The course is very intense – it’s not for the faint-hearted. But there will be plenty of time to practise clause analysis, and to discuss problems and some of the changes in standard English going on at the moment.

The course timings are:

Start 9.30am
Coffee 11am
Lunch 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Coffee 3pm
Finish 4.30pm

Ordering the Advanced grammar in-house course:

If you have any questions about this course, or if you want to make a booking, please phone Terri on 01663 744409 or email inhousetraining@plainenglish.co.uk.

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