You can edit by ear, or by judging what sounds or looks right. But can you explain your editorial decisions? This class will give you the vocabulary and the solid understanding of grammar rules to explain your edits. A great confidence builder for professional editors, and a great introduction for those new to editing or proofreading.
During this live, interactive, instructor-led class you will learn the basic vocabulary and rules of English grammar, with a focus on problem areas in the language.
Parts of speech and Parts of a Sentence
- The 8 Parts of Speech
- The 5 Basic Sentence Patterns
- Recognizing Sentence Fragments and Run-On Sentences
Clauses and Phrases
- The 4 Types of Clauses
- The 5 Types of Phrases
Punctuation
- Commas with Introductory Elements
- Commas with Interrupting Elements
- Colons
- Semicolons
- Other punctuation marks upon request: Hyphens, Apostrophes, Quotation Marks, Parentheses, Ellipsis, Dashes, and Brackets
Verb Tense, Mood, and Voice
- The 12 Verb Tenses
- The 3 Moods of the Verb
- Active versus Passive Voice
Subject-Verb Agreement
- The “And” Rule
- The “Or” Rule
- The Trouble with Indefinite Pronouns
- Handling Proper Nouns, Collective Nouns, and False Subjects
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
- More Trouble with Indefinite Pronouns
- Five ways around the “his or her” problem
Pronoun Case
- I versus Me, He versus Him, and Who versus Whom
- Understanding Possessives
Parallelism
- Parallel Structures in Lists
- Parallel Structures in Text
Modifiers
- Misplaced
- Dangling
- Ambiguous
Book: Abrams Guide to Grammar
About Your Instructor
Jennie Ruby is a veteran IconLogic trainer and author of Editing with Word 2007. Jennie specializes in electronic editing. At the American Psychological Association, she was manager of electronic publishing and manager of technical editing and journal production.
Jennie has an M.A. from George Washington University and is a Certified Technical Trainer (Chauncey Group). She is a publishing professional with 20 years of experience in writing, editing and desktop publishing.
