
A welcome from the instructor.
I explain the best way to use this course.
Remove wasted words and fillers from your sentences.
Little words like "very" contribute nothing to sentences. Remove them for better clarity.
Stretchers are words that prolong sentences unnecessarily. Why use them?
These kinds of words sound "big" but don't help you communicate. Avoid them.
In this lecture, I respond to some questions students typically have about Economy.
In this video, I outline the nature of verbs and some problems with verbs.
The best verbs are concrete or strong, which means they evoke images immediately.
A step down from Concrete Verbs, Weak Verbs work -- sometimes -- but should be mostly avoided.
Dead verbs are the worst verbs because they provide no images for the reader. Avoid them most of the time.
Explains the outcomes of dead verbs on your writing.
The active voice word order is preferred over the passive voice. Learn why here.
Active voice word order is explained with a formula.
The passive voice word order is long and wordy -- see why.
Passive voice word order isn't just wordy, it can raise moral complications.
There are a few instances when using the passive voice word order is okay.
This lecture provides an overview of the importance of strong nouns.
Understand what a noun is and how some nouns are better than others.
Recognize how weak nouns are hurting your writing.
Recognize the function of a pronoun and how to best use them.
Understand that pronouns can cause problems in writing, particularly when they have an unclear reference.
A survey of the key ideas in this section.
See exactly what a clichés is and why it's such a problem in writing.
An examination of the reasons behind people's use of clichés.
Occasionally, it's okay to use a cliché. Learn about those instances in this lecture.
This lecture provides a final word on being original — it's not as hard as you think.
A quick overview of the key principles of parallelism.
Be able to see parallelism both in its surface and under the surface forms.
Add more verbs to your writing with verb lists.
Add more strong nouns to your writing with noun series.
Avoid sprinkling adjectives all over your writing by using -- occasionally -- adjective series.
Avoid peppering your writing with adverbs by using -- occasionally -- adverb series.
Preposition series can provide useful effects in writing.
Taking the "series" idea further, this lecture shows how you can combine grammatical elements to make more meaning in your writing.
A few final thoughts on parallelism as a technique.
An overview of the principles of sentence variation discussed in this section.
Five patterns that students can use to vary their sentences.
Recognize how to use short sentences for effect in action and in presenting important points.
The long sentence -- often called the freight-train sentences -- creates certain effects in writing.
See the contrast that occurs when a short sentence comes after a long one.
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Taught by a UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR, Dr. Duncan Koerber
What students say...
"Excellent--I rate it ten stars out of five." — Julie Heyer, Udemy Student
"Take this course - improve your writing — end of story!" — James Cochrane, Udemy Student
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"Information that you can apply right away." — Kim Ruby, Udemy Student
"I can tell he's passionate about his work and he shows it throughout the lessons." — Ana, Udemy Student
"I recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their writing." — Sheverley Maye, Udemy Student
"This is an especially useful and remarkably good course." — Avrohom Meir Greenhut,
Udemy Student
"The assignments forced me to become more objective and build better habits." — Marla Morris, Udemy Student
"The explanation of parallelism and its usage was simply amazing." — Bindu Midha, Udemy Student
Do you want to impress employers, editors, or online readers with your writing?
Do you want to get A grades on term papers and essays?
Do you want to become a good writer – in creative non-fiction, journalism, fiction, or academic writing – as quickly as possible?
The secret to this writing success is not studying 200 grammar and style points in the writing textbooks.
Instead, this course – designed by an experienced university professor and published author with Oxford University Press – shows you the sentence-level lessons you need to know to write well.
These are the 7 most common problems found in people’s writing.
These problems most likely lurk – like weeds – in your writing right now.
If you complete the lessons and exercises honestly and fully as outlined in this course, then your writing will improve in just a few weeks of intensive study. If you do not find this course helpful, you may request a refund within 30 days, no questions asked.
These lessons and exercises were designed and tested at the University of Toronto and York University with thousands of undergraduate students. Many students improved their grades by a whole grade category after completing these lessons, finding that this short list of key lessons provides clarity. Students have applied these lessons in the workplace to great success.
Join now and complete this course to produce writing that gets you the job, earns you an A grade, lands you a writing contract, or impresses that magazine or newspaper editor.
In this comprehensive course, I will help you:
See sentences more objectively;
Understand the factors that interfere with communication;
Remove dead language – such as dead verbs and weak nouns – from your writing;
Avoid embarrassing clichés;
Write more clear, direct, and precise sentences;
Use adjectives and adverbs more carefully, in targeted ways;
Write poetically and rhythmically with parallelism and sentence variation;
Add detail to your writing;
Become an original writer, not a copy.
Your writing transformation awaits...