This text was adapted by The Saylor Foundation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License without attribution as requested by the work’s original creator or licensee. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 1 Preface Business English for Success is a creative solution to a common challenge across Business Communication courses: Business English or Business Presentations? Some classes place an equal emphasis on oral and written communication, and if that is the case for you please let me direct you to our free online text Business Communication for Success. If, however, your class places the emphasis squarely on written communication and writing proficiency then this book is for you. The Business English course and corresponding text often starts with a solid foundation in written communication with several opportunities to both review the fundamentals as well as to demonstrate mastery and move on to more challenging assignments. Our students are sometimes learning English as they enter a business program and benefit from the attention to the basics. At the same time this course often articulates as a course-equivalent for English or fulfills a writing requirement for a degree program. This range provides the instructor with both challenges and opportunities that Business English for Success can address. We open the text with a discussion on the sentence and then break it down into its elemental components, before reconstructing them into effective sentences with paragraphs and larger assignments. This step-by-step approach, with many exercises and opportunities for reinforcement along the way, provide a clear path to student- centered learning. A note to the instructor Business English for Success provides instruction in steps, builds writing, reading, and critical thinking, and combines comprehensive grammar review with an introduction to paragraph writing and composition. Beginning with the sentence and its essential elements, this book addresses each concept with clear, concise, and effective examples that are immediately reinforced with exercises and opportunities to demonstrate learning. If you start your course with a quick familiarization of reference materials, including a dictionary, thesaurus, and grammar manuals, I encourage you to go to the Online Writing Lab at Purdue University for the free tutorial here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/738/02/ Each chapter that follows allows students to demonstrate mastery of the principles of quality writing. With its incremental approach, this book can address a range of writing levels and abilities, helping each student prepare for the next writing or university course. Constant reinforcement is provided through examples and exercises, and the text involves students in the learning process through reading, problem solving, practicing, listening, and experiencing the writing process. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 2 Each chapter also has integrated examples that unify the discussion and form a common, easy-to-understand basis for discussion and exploration. This will put students at ease and allow for greater understand and demonstration of mastery of the material. Tips for effective writing are included in every chapter, as well. Thought-provoking scenarios provide challenges and opportunities for collaboration and interaction. These exercises are especially helpful for working with groups of students. Clear exercises teach sentence and paragraph writing skills that lead to common English composition and business documents. Business English for Success also offers a separate chapter for English Language Learners. This chapter focuses on word order, negative statements, count and noncount nouns and articles, verb tenses, modal auxiliaries, prepositions, slang and idioms. Starting in Chapter 9 "Effective Business Writing": Effective Business Writing, the discussion applies lessons learned from the previous foundational chapters into common business issues and applications. From paraphrasing and plagiarism to style to the research process, the expectations increase as several common business documents are presented, including text messages and e-mail (and netiquette), memorandums and letters, the business proposal, business report, resume, and the sales message. Business English for Success provides a range of discussion, examples, and exercises, from writing development to mastery of the academic essay, that serve both student and instructor. A note to the student Writing is often a challenge. If you were ever challenged to express yourself via the written word, this book is for you. I encourage you to explore it, use the exercises as opportunities to learn new skills, and most of all, to be successful in your achievement of your course objectives and goals. This text is available free online and is the result of the dedication of many professionals who share the common goal of increasing access to educational materials for all students. Please thank your instructor for choosing an open source text. Features • Exercises are integrated in each segment. Each concept is immediately reinforced as soon as it is introduced to keep students on track. • Exercises are designed to facilitate interaction and collaboration. This allows for peer-peer engagement, development of interpersonal skills, and promotion of critical-thinking skills. • Exercises that involve self-editing and collaborative writing are featured. This feature develops and promotes student interest in the knowledge areas and content. • There are clear internal summaries and effective displays of information. This contributes to ease of access to information and increases students’ ability to locate desired content. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 3 • Rule explanations are simplified with clear, relevant, and theme-based examples. This feature provides context that will facilitate learning and increase knowledge retention. • There is an obvious structure to the chapter and segment level. This allows for easy adaptation to existing and changing course needs or assessment outcomes. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 4 Chapter 1 Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence? 1.1 Sentence Writing Learning Objectives 1. Identify the components of a basic sentence. 2. Identify the four most serious writing errors. Imagine you are reading a book for school. You need to find important details that you can use for an assignment. However, when you begin to read, you notice that the book has very little punctuation. Sentences fail to form complete paragraphs and instead form one block of text without clear organization. Most likely, this book would frustrate and confuse you. Without clear and concise sentences, it is difficult to find the information you need. For both students and professionals, clear communication is important. Whether you are typing an e-mail or writing a report, it is your responsibility to present your thoughts and ideas clearly and precisely. Writing in complete sentences is one way to ensure that you communicate well. This section covers how to recognize and write basic sentence structures and how to avoid some common writing errors. Components of a Sentence Clearly written, complete sentences require key information: a subject, a verb and a complete idea. A sentence needs to make sense on its own. Sometimes, complete sentences are also called independent clauses. A clause is a group of words that may make up a sentence. An independent clause is a group of words that may stand alone as a complete, grammatically correct thought. The following sentences show independent clauses. All complete sentences have at least one independent clause. You can identify an independent clause by reading it on its own and looking for the subject and the verb. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 5 Subjects When you read a sentence, you may first look for the subject, or what the sentence is about. The subject usually appears at the beginning of a sentence as a noun or a pronoun. A noun is a word that identifies a person, place, thing, or idea. A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. Common pronouns are I, he, she, it, you, they, and we. In the following sentences, the subject is underlined once. In these sentences, the subject is a person: Malik. The pronoun He replaces and refers back to Malik. In the first sentence, the subject is a place: computer lab. In the second sentence, the pronoun It substitutes for computer lab as the subject. In the first sentence, the subject is a thing: project. In the second sentence, the pronoun It stands in for the project. Tip In this chapter, please refer to the following grammar key: Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 6 Compound Subjects A sentence may have more than one person, place, or thing as the subject. These subjects are called compound subjects. Compound subjects are useful when you want to discuss several subjects at once. Prepositional Phrases You will often read a sentence that has more than one noun or pronoun in it. You may encounter a group of words that includes a preposition with a noun or a pronoun. Prepositions connect a noun, pronoun, or verb to another word that describes or modifies that noun, pronoun, or verb. Common prepositions include in, on, under, near, by, with, and about. A group of words that begin with a preposition is called a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase begins with a preposition and modifies or describes a word. It cannot act as the subject of a sentence. The following circled phrases are examples of prepositional phrases. Exercise 1 Read the following sentences. Underline the subjects, and circle the prepositional phrases. 1. The gym is open until nine o’clock tonight. 2. We went to the store to get some ice. 3. The student with the most extra credit will win a homework pass. 4. Maya and Tia found an abandoned cat by the side of the road. 5. The driver of that pickup truck skidded on the ice. 6. Anita won the race with time to spare. 7. The people who work for that company were surprised about the merger. 8. Working in haste means that you are more likely to make mistakes. 9. The soundtrack has over sixty songs in languages from around the world. 10. His latest invention does not work, but it has inspired the rest of us. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 7 Verbs Once you locate the subject of a sentence, you can move on to the next part of a complete sentence: the verb. A verb is often an action word that shows what the subject is doing. A verb can also link the subject to a describing word. There are three types of verbs that you can use in a sentence: action verbs, linking verbs, or helping verbs. Action Verbs A verb that connects the subject to an action is called an action verb. An action verb answers the question what is the subject doing? In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are action verbs. Linking Verbs A verb can often connect the subject of the sentence to a describing word. This type of verb is called a linking verb because it links the subject to a describing word. In the following sentences, the words underlined twice are linking verbs. If you have trouble telling the difference between action verbs and linking verbs, remember that an action verb shows that the subject is doing something, whereas a linking verb simply connects the subject to another word that describes or modifies the subject. A few verbs can be used as either action verbs or linking verbs. Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 8 Although both sentences use the same verb, the two sentences have completely different meanings. In the first sentence, the verb describes the boy’s action. In the second sentence, the verb describes the boy’s appearance. Helping Verbs A third type of verb you may use as you write is a helping verb. Helping verbs are verbs that are used with the main verb to describe a mood or tense. Helping verbs are usually a form of be, do, or have. The word can is also used as a helping verb. Tip Whenever you write or edit sentences, keep the subject and verb in mind. As you write, ask yourself these questions to keep yourself on track: Subject: Who or what is the sentence about? Verb: Which word shows an action or links the subject to a description? Exercise 2 Copy each sentence onto your own sheet of paper and underline the verb(s) twice. Name the type of verb(s) used in the sentence in the space provided (LV, HV, or V). 1. The cat sounds ready to come back inside. ________ 2. We have not eaten dinner yet. ________ 3. It took four people to move the broken-down car. ________ 4. The book was filled with notes from class. ________ 5. We walked from room to room, inspecting for damages. ________ 6. Harold was expecting a package in the mail. ________ Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 9 7. The clothes still felt damp even though they had been through the dryer twice. ________ 8. The teacher who runs the studio is often praised for his restoration work on old masterpieces. ________ Sentence Structure, Including Fragments and Run-ons Now that you know what makes a complete sentence—a subject and a verb—you can use other parts of speech to build on this basic structure. Good writers use a variety of sentence structures to make their work more interesting. This section covers different sentence structures that you can use to make longer, more complex sentences. Sentence Patterns Six basic subject-verb patterns can enhance your writing. A sample sentence is provided for each pattern. As you read each sentence, take note of where each part of the sentence falls. Notice that some sentence patterns use action verbs and others use linking verbs. Subject–Verb Subject–Linking Verb–Noun Subject–Linking Verb–Adjective Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org 10