Do you need to write more easily and effectively in English? This course will provide the tools to help you do just that. You will develop your personal voice in your writing. You will develop strategies to plan and produce clear, understandable text. You will learn and practice specific writing skills to use in different types of business communications including cover letters, mission and vision statements, proposals , instructions and reports. You will organize, design and write clear text for Power Point Productions. Writing skills include how to choose correct noun and noun modifiers; how to choose correct verb forms and tenses; how to write a variety of clauses and sentences. As you work through the course, you will complete self- and peer-evaluations. Many of the peer assignments will have 2 or more options so that you can choose the best path depending on your current situation. Through a combination of lectures, quizzes, supplementary resources, practice and performance, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to write well in English for your business and professional purposes.
How to Connect Ideas & Sentences
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From the course by Georgia Institute of Technology
Better Business Writing in English
64 ratings
From the lesson
Write Clear and Complete Reports
Learning outcomes: After this module, you will be able to increase your accuracy and appropriateness in written English and plan and produce a paragraph style report in English
Meet the Instructors
Amalia B. StephensLecturer
Georgia Tech Language Institute
[SOUND] Welcome to Module Three.
In this module you'll learn about and practice writing two documents,
importing for all kinds of businesses, processes and reports.
An important focus throughout this module will be on organizing your writing.
So your sentences connect smoothly and
your documents are easy to read and understand.
There are three lessons in this module.
In lesson one we'll look at how we connect ideas from one sentence to the next
when we write.
In lesson two, we'll look at the structures we use to organize and
write a process.
And in lesson three, we'll look at the parts of a paragraph to write clear and
easy to read reports.
Let's begin lesson one with a brief look at what a report is and
why it's important in business communications.
Then we'll focus on the steps you can take to develop easy-to-read reports.
At its most basic level, business people write reports to share information.
Their reports can be about any aspect of the business they need to share
with the people they work with.
These can include project reports, annual reports and survey reports.
As in all business communications, reports feature clear,
direct sentences and a focus on the reader.
And connecting the sentences in ways that make them easy to read and
to understand is key to this clear, direct writing.
Here are four ways we do this.
We repeat key words and phrases.
We use consistent pronouns.
We add transition words and phrases.
And we arrange our sentences in a logical order.
Let's look at each of these separately.
First, repeat key words and phrases.
When we do this, we make it easy for
the reader to know what the most important words in our text are.
Here are sentences from a sample report, look at the words that are repeated.
By repeating the key words,
the writer makes the most important information clear to the reader.
Next, to connect sentences, we use consistent pronouns.
This includes both personal pronouns like you, your, they, their and them.
And then the demonstrative pronouns, this, that, these, and those.
It also includes demonstrative adjectives, like this result,
that result, these results, those results.
Here are the same sentences.
Notice the highlighted words.
What does each refer to?
Our refers to ABC company.
Their and they to employees.
And these refers to the printers in the survey.
By using consistent pronouns, we eliminate wordiness and
ensure that the sentences in any text connect more smoothly.
The third way we connect sentences in a text
is to add transition words and phrases.
Do you remember when we practiced using transition words?
Yes, we looked at them in module one when we were creating compound sentences.
In English, we have many of this because they are so helpful for readers.
Let's look at some examples.
Our downtown office is centrally located and fully staffed.
Additionally, it's easy to reach on public transportation or by car.
We feature consistent, competent customer service.
In other words, our skilled employees are always available to answer your questions.
The survey pointed out inconsistencies in our procedures.
As a result, we made many changes.
As you can see in these examples, you can use transition words
within a compound sentence, as well as at the beginning of a new one.
Let's replace these transition words with new ones.
Which of these can you add to the sentences?
Yes, moreover works best in this sentence.
For this one, that is to say is the answer.
Consequently should be used here.
Transition words are a valuable tool for you as writer.
So practice using them everyday.
And try to include a few in every email or document you write.
Check out our resource materials to see a full length of transition words
that you can start using today.
Finally, we connect sentences by arranging them in a logical order.
This can be sequence order when we explain a process.
Group or type order when we classify or compare information.
And order of importance when we give reasons or effects.
Logical order is critical to helping readers understand our writing.
If our sentences are not in order, our document won't make sense.
Let's look at an article about Amazon.
Amazon has developed what it describes
as the world's most advanced shopping technology, Amazon Go.
The technology works via an app on a shopper's mobile device.
Basically, the app automatically checks in when shoppers enter the store.
People can shop as usual and the app scans what they bought as they leave the store.
What happens if the order of those sentences is changed?
This new paragraph is not clear and
less easy to find the main idea and the details that support it.
This is because it is not in logical order.
Therefore, maintaining logical order is one of the essential ways
to connect sentences in any text.
Let's review.
In this lesson,
we looked at four ways writers can connect sentences in reports and other documents.
These are repeat key words & phrases.
Use consistent pronouns.
Add transition words and phrases.
And arrange sentences in logical order.
By using these four key ways to connect your sentences, you will create
documents that are easy for your readers to read and to understand.
Check out the resource materials, start using what you've learned here in your
writing, and I'll see you in our next lesson.
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