Grammar Review
Nouns & Pronouns
Plurals - Rules for spelling the plurals of nouns.
Possessives - Two techniques for forming possessive case.
Personal Pronouns - Guidelines for subjects and objects.
Indefinite Pronouns - Suggestions for matching number.
Relative Pronouns - Rules for use of relative pronouns.
Appositives - When to set them off with commas.
Verbs & Verbals
Types - Action verbs and linking verbs. Assembling verb phrases.
Parts - A technique to remember principal parts, with participles.
Tenses - Review of six tenses, with auxiliary verbs.
Agreement - How to make tense agree, and when to make it different.
Irregular Verbs - Remembering forms and tenses via sound patterns.
Verbals - The use of gerunds, participles, and infinitives.
Adjectives & Adverbs
Adjective Functions - Review of types that describe, identify, and quantify.
Adjective Comparisons - Overview of types that compare and rank.
Adverb Functions - A review of what adverbs modify, and how.
Adverb Forms - How adverbs are formed and defined.
Adverb Position - Where adverbs should be placed, and why.
Adverb Comparisons - How to use adverbs that compare and rank.
Prepositions & Conjunctions
Preposition Functions - How they link a relationship to another word.
Preposition Necessity - When the written word should not match common speech.
Preposition Usage - An overview of idiomatic uses, with common examples.
Preposition Endings - Debunking the rule that's not really a rule.
Coordinating Conjunctions - Creating loose connections between clauses.
Subordinating Conjunctions - Creating tight connections between clauses.
Clauses & Punctuation
Noun Clause - How dependent clauses function as nouns in sentences.
Adjective Clause - How dependent clauses function as adjectives.
Adverb Clause - How dependent clauses function as adverbs.
Dependent Clauses - Four ways to properly punctuate dependent clauses.
Comma - How to properly use the comma to isolate or to separate.
Colon - Four rules about when and how to use the colon.
Sentences & Choices
Sentence Parts - Overview of subject, predicate, complement, and object.
Sentence Patterns - Introduction to using nine basic sentence patterns.
Sentence Descriptions - Four purposes; five structures; compound sentences.
Choose Clarity - How to spot and fix the four top problems with clarity.
Choose Consistency - Five ways to arrange your writing in parallel.
Choose Narrative - Three ways to change passive voice to active voice.
Special Topics
Capitals - Important rules for when to capitalize words.
Abbreviations - How to properly abbreviate words, in four categories.
Quantities - Key guidelines about where to use digits or words.
Numbers - Overview of common errors in writing numbers with digits.
Time - Six rules about how to describe the time of day.
Money - How to write and punctuate numbers that represent money.
Author
The author of the Workplace Writing 101 series is Joseph W. Judge.
He earned degrees in engineering from Rensselaer and an MBA from Stanford. He worked in a variety of industries (power, petroleum, aerospace, software, government) in a variety of roles (engineer, analyst, manager, entrepreneur, consultant).
In the early 2000s, Mr. Judge taught a seminar, Writing with Clarity and Power in the Workplace, for the Stanford Continuing Studies Program. Since then he developed corporate workshops and now self-study workbooks to help people write better at work.