Business English – Writing for Work

Course Summary

Improve your English business writing skills in a friendly and supportive environment. 

Writing for business reasons in a language that is not your native tongue can be difficult. Simple spelling or grammatical mistakes can be embarrasing and asking for help can sometimes only add to the problem.

This course will provide you with the skills necessary to improve your English writing skills in the workplace. It will help you develop your workplace writing to express yourself clearly and quickly. It also covers grammar,  sentence construction and spelling. You will practice all forms of writing from emails to reports and proposals.

Course content:

• Writing clear emails.
• Writing structure, clarity and logic.
• Guidelines for clear letters and emails.
• Common mistakes and how to correct them.
• Getting to the point efficiently.
• Confused words and their true meanings.
• Comparison between formal and informal expressions in business.
• Reports: things to consider before you begin; how to structure a good report.
• Guidelines for procedures, proposals, tenders, ministerials.
• Editing checklist.

Grammar:

• Major spelling rules
• The use of articles (the, a, an)
• Cases: who-whom
• Misplaced clauses and introductory phrases causing confusion
• Verbs: tenses; when to use shall or will
• Voices: active and passive, subjunctive; when to use them, their purpose
• Sentence length, sentence structure and paragraphing
• Punctuation: how misuse creates misunderstandings
• Parallelism: the correct way to write in point form
• Understanding what prefixes and suffixes mean

Materials provided:

Comprehensive reference notes and worksheets will be handed out. No homework is expected, but students are welcome to bring in examples of their own written work for feedback from the teacher.

Because of the volume of handouts, it is recommended that you bring a ring-binder with cardboard dividers (5). You will be shown how to structure your folder for quick and easy reference for ongoing benefit.

Who is this course for?

This course is for students for whom English is not their native language and are currently working, or preparing to work, in a professional English-speaking environment. Your English does not have to be perfect but this is not a beginner’s course in English.

Delivered by:

Award-winning teacher Jacquie Wise has been in private practice since 1979, as a management consultant and trainer, psychotherapist and coach. Jacquie’s work across a wide range of industries has given her a keen understanding of key issues in both public and private sectors.  As a consultant, she has written many problem-solving reports to her clients, and has been engaged to edit major government tenders. She is also the author of a number of personal development books, two of them best-sellers. Jacquie is a Fellow of the Institute of Linguists and a Diplomate of the London Chamber of Commerce in Business Communications.

Next Steps:

Please also see Business English – Speaking for Professionals which focuses on speaking in the workplace.