Mastering Punctuation (Toefl, Ielts, Toeic, Business)

Improve your writing skills and test scores by mastering English punctuation

What you'll learn

Master use of commas in essay and report writing.

Master use of quotation marks and ellipses when quoting material and citing sources.

Master use of commas, hyphens, and periods involving dates, addresses, and compound adjectives

Develop a writing style with the use of semi-colons and colons instead of commas and periods.

Requirements

Intermediate level of writing in English

Description

This course covers every topic related to punctuation in English. A large portion of the course focuses on the comma, while other sections deal with citations and quoting. Minor details such as dates and addresses are included. The section on the comma shows the student how sentence structure determines how and when commas are used. The various kinds of dependent clauses and phrases requiring or not requiring commas are discussed. In the second section, the instructor shows how the comma, parentheses, brackets, and periods are used in both APA and MLA styles. This section is not meant to be a comprehensive review of the APA/MLA. The final section covers the context and style options for both semi-colons and colons so that the writer can be a more effective communicator and not rely solely on commas and periods. In this same section, the question mark, exclamation point, and hyphens are covered. At the end of nearly each section, an exercise is included that not only tests understanding of that lesson's material but also the previous content. When relevant, the instructor shows the differences between informal writing and formal writing and how certain punctuation marks differ depending on this level of formality.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction

Lecture 1 Introduction

Section 2: The Comma

Lecture 2 Conjunctions

Lecture 3 Phrases and Transitions

Lecture 4 Adjective Clauses

Lecture 5 Reduced Adjective Clauses

Lecture 6 The Comma Which

Lecture 7 Listing

Lecture 8 Adverb Clauses and Phrases

Section 3: Referring to Sources

Lecture 9 Quoted Speech

Lecture 10 Citations

Lecture 11 Ellipses

Section 4: The Nitty-Gritty Details

Lecture 12 The Question Mark and Noun Clauses

Lecture 13 The Semi-colon

Lecture 14 The Colon

Lecture 15 The Exclamation Point

Lecture 16 The Apostrophe

Lecture 17 The Minor Details

Professionals taking the TOEFL, TOEIC, or IELTS exams; University students needing improvement in their writing style; Businesspeople needing to improve writing skills for work.