Some people were not taught basic grammar at school. Others were, but have since forgotten most of what they learnt.

This lack of understanding can lead to a writing style that is weak, unsure of itself, and prone to mistakes. Many writers lack confidence because they feel they do not have a firm enough grasp of the basics of the language they use every day. This can lead to embarrassment, criticism from colleagues, and even complaints from customers.

We examine, in a straightforward, step-by-step way, basic grammar - punctuation, spelling, sentence construction and other related areas.

At the end of the course, delegates often feel that they have learnt more in one day than they learnt over many years at school. Possibly for the first time, they have had an opportunity to ask questions, explore misunderstandings, and clear up areas of doubt or confusion.

Our trainers are English graduates who have a detailed understanding of the language.

The course programme is as follows.

• Introduction to the course
• Dictation exercise
• Parts of speech - nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions
• Punctuation: full stops, question marks, exclamation marks, commas, colons, semicolons, inverted commas, apostrophes, brackets, dashes, hyphens
• Sentences
• Paragraphs
• Lists and bullet points
• Wordcheck exercise
• Spellcheck exercise
• Other topics such as - whether to use who or whom, or will or shall?
• Summary and close

The course timings are:

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

All the sessions are a mixture of theory and practical exercises. Throughout the day, delegates will be asked to work on a series of exercises to reinforce what they have learnt.

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.

We occasionally run a special advanced grammar course.