Grammar and punctuation courses
Remember how boring grammar lessons were at school? This is different. Receive practical training on how to use grammar to make your writing sing.
Grammar and punctuation training created for writers and editors
Grammar shouldn’t be about pedantry: it should be about making your writing as clear and compelling as possible.
Created by a writer for writers, this practical and down-to-earth grammar and punctuation workshop covers:
- why grammar and punctuation are important for readability
- how to use commas, colons, semicolons, apostrophes and other punctuation marks
- structuring sentences and paragraphs
- understanding subjects, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, clauses, phrases and more
- using strong verbs to make your writing evocative (and how to avoid nominalisations)
- how the active voice can tighten your writing (and knowing when to use the passive)
- how to apply everything you’ve just learnt to become a better writer (for example, you won’t just learn what participles are, but also when and how to use them)
- spotting and fixing common punctuation and grammatical mistakes.
There’ll be plenty of exercises throughout the course so you can put theory into practice.
Grammar and punctuation course options:
Customised staff training
It only takes one mistake to tarnish your reputation.
Relying on spell check or AI to fix grammar is a risky move: they make way too many mistakes. Instead, they’re tools that still need the people using them to understand wha tis and isn’t correct. After all, a single comma can change the meaning of a sentence, and AI – which works on probability – can’t tell which meaning is or isn’t correct (especially if you’re writing anything that isn’t predictable).
My customised training can be provided online or anywhere in Australia.
This punctuation and grammar course can be tailored to suit your needs and can also be combined with my editing course.
One-on-one sessions
When it comes to grammar and punctuation, everyone has their own quirks and foibles.
Some people struggle to know where to put a comma; others find themselves capitalising words seemingly at random.
That’s where personalised one-on-one sessions come in. I can tailor a session to suit you and your writing style. And, if you use AI, we can look at how to make that work for you (and avoid the many pitfalls and bad suggestions it often makes).
I see a wide range of clients, from leaders who don’t want to make embarrassing mistakes to those working in journalism, communications, marketing and PR.
Public grammar and punctuation course – live half-day webinar
I occasionally run public courses over Zoom, as well as in-person courses in Melbourne and Sydney.
Who's teaching this grammar workshop ... and how practical will it be?
I’m a former Sydney Morning Herald editor and UTS journalism lecturer with over 30 years of professional writing, editing and proofreading experience.
When I teach grammar and punctuation, I do so from a writer’s perspective. In other words, I won’t be teaching you pedantic grammar rules for the sake of it.
Instead, I’ll be showing you how you can use grammar to become a stronger, more confident writer.
If you're a professional who works in the media, marketing or communications, it's not good enough to rely on spellcheck or AI. Other people can, if they want: but you need to go further by truly understanding grammar and punctuation.
That's where this course comes in.
Need more information about this grammar and punctuation course?
Let me know if you have any questions or would like a quote.