AMA's Business Grammar Workshop

Clear, correct business writing distinguishes professionals from those who undermine their credibility with grammatical errors. Whether you need to refresh fundamental grammar rules or better understand the reasoning behind what you already know, this interactive and collaborative workshop offers the ideal solution. This course equips you with practical tools to master standard usage conventions in professional communication. Through hands-on exercises and group collaboration, you'll apply what you learn immediately and return to work with the confidence of a skilled business writer.

Who Should Attend:

Any professional seeking to strengthen their grammar skills and build confidence across all forms of business writing and communication.

What You Will Cover:

• Identifying common and uncommon grammatical errors
• Understanding and correcting verb errors, including tense, mood, and subject-verb agreement
• Distinguishing between adjectives and adverbs in context
• Constructing and analyzing grammatically sound sentences
• Recognizing and fixing dangling and misplaced modifiers
• Using active and passive voice appropriately
• Mastering exceptions to standard grammar rules

Learning Objectives:

• Write grammatically correct business documents with confidence
• Produce clear, concise sentences that convey your message effectively
• Edit for agreement between all parts of speech within sentences
• Apply simple, memorable techniques for proper grammar, usage, and punctuation
• Proofread business materials for grammatical accuracy
• Use standard English rules to evaluate and improve your own writing
• Locate and utilize excellent print and digital grammar resources

Course Outline:

Lesson One

Business Grammar Overview

• Understand key distinctions in grammar rules that commonly confuse writers
• Evaluate your current grammar knowledge and skill level
• Correct frequent errors found in business writing

Verbs: Tense and Agreement

• Locate excellent print-based grammar resources
• Identify and differentiate the eight parts of speech in English
• Fix verb tense and agreement mistakes in typical sentences

Adjectives and Adverbs

• Find reliable online grammar resources
• Recognize commonly confused adjective and adverb pairs
• Apply linking verb rules to choose the correct adjective or adverb

Lesson Two

Pronoun Usage

• Determine correct pronoun forms
• Develop strategies for navigating awkward grammar rules

Tricky Word Pairs and Groups

• Use memory techniques to recall distinctions between frequently confused words
• Select the appropriate word from common pairs and trios

Mechanics and Style

• Edit for proper capitalization, abbreviation, and number formatting
• Revise documents to correct errors in parts of speech and mechanical usage

Lesson Three

Sentence Construction

• Recognize and identify main sentence components
• Build and analyze grammatically correct sentences

Run-on Sentences and Fragments

• Identify common sentence structure problems
• Fix flawed sentences to improve clarity

Punctuation Rules

• Understand the purpose and proper use of each punctuation mark
• Select appropriate punctuation for various sentence types

Lesson Four

Phrases, Clauses, and Modifiers

• Distinguish between phrases and clauses in sentences
• Identify and fix dangling and misplaced modifiers
• Clarify unclear pronoun references
• Create parallel structure across words, phrases, and clauses
• Revise sentences from passive to active voice

Creating Your Grammar Improvement Plan

• Analyze how globalization and technology influence workplace English
• Identify your grammar strengths and areas for further development
• Build an actionable plan for ongoing grammar improvement