Covering the basics of composition, this course is not an extended spelling test, rather a journey through some of the most interesting and yet commonly misunderstood parts of the English language. From the blankness of the first page, it takes students through the best ways to construct a document, to proof-reading and checking.

By understanding common mistakes, and giving pointers to finding misapprehensions and slang misuses, this course will leave students expressing themselves clearly, unambiguously and confidently.

Who should attend?

This course includes the following topics...

• White as the Driven Snow - Starting on the first page
• Punctuation marks - Run-on sentences, clauses and shorter sentences
• Paragraph - The readers' friend
• The subject - Which one is it?
• The Flower Borders - Ourselves and the Dixon of Dock Green syndrome
• Pruning - Slicing and dicing for best effect
• Spell checking - What it doesn't check
• Common spelling errors to watch out for - "i before e"
• Personally speaking - I, you and one
• Capitalisation Rules - Initially a good idea
• Plural and Singular Cases - and Nouns of multitude
• 'Phone Mistakes - Homophone errors; whether or weather or not
• Special Homophones - They're there, my dear
• Apostrophes - Possessives, Plurals and it's
• Metaphors or similes - Shaken or stirred, but not mixed
• Like - "I no like"
• Like - As if!
• Less or fewer?
• Elisions - If you do, get them right; if you can't, don't
• Comparatives - Big, bigger, biggest, really, really big, the most biggest, hyperbole and pleonasm
• Clichés - Avoid them like the plague
• Writing like speaking - Basically
• Traps for Teens and Oldies Alike - Comprising of

Our day-long course consists of instruction, exercises and guidance sessions, and includes a workbook/reference guide for each student to keep.

  Who should attend?     Anyone with a brief for writing letters, reports, e-mails, technical or consumer manuals intended for use outside the company.

1. Sales staff
2. Helpdesk, technical support or customer care staff
3. Accounting or key account support staff
4. Middle management

Please call or write to us for more details. If you have specific requirements, elements from individual courses can be brought together to form a bespoke day, tailored to your own requirements.