English for Business Success

732 Pages·2012·33.21 MB·English

English for Business
Success
v. 1.0
This is the bookEnglish for Business Success(v. 1.0).
This book is licensed under aCreative Commonsby-nc-sa 3.0(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/
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Table of Contents
About the Author.................................................................................................................. 1
Acknowledgements............................................................................................................... 2
Dedications............................................................................................................................. 4
Preface..................................................................................................................................... 5
Chapter 1: Writing Basics: What Makes a Good Sentence?.......................................... 8
Sentence Writing............................................................................................................................................9
Subject-Verb Agreement.............................................................................................................................30
Verb Tense....................................................................................................................................................45
Capitalization...............................................................................................................................................53
Pronouns.......................................................................................................................................................59
Adjectives and Adverbs...............................................................................................................................70
Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers.............................................................................................................78
Writing Basics: End-of-Chapter Exercises.................................................................................................84
Chapter 2: Punctuation...................................................................................................... 90
Commas.........................................................................................................................................................91
Semicolons..................................................................................................................................................102
Colons..........................................................................................................................................................105
Quotes..........................................................................................................................................................110
Apostrophes................................................................................................................................................116
Parentheses.................................................................................................................................................120
Dashes..........................................................................................................................................................122
Hyphens......................................................................................................................................................123
Punctuation: End-of-Chapter Exercises...................................................................................................125
Chapter 3: Working with Words: Which Word Is Right? .......................................... 130
Commonly Confused Words......................................................................................................................131
Spelling........................................................................................................................................................145
Word Choice................................................................................................................................................158
Prefixes and Suffixes.................................................................................................................................166
Synonyms and Antonyms..........................................................................................................................174
Using Context Clues...................................................................................................................................180
Working with Words: End-of-Chapter Exercises....................................................................................186
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Chapter 4: Help for English Language Learners......................................................... 189
Word Order.................................................................................................................................................190
Negative Statements..................................................................................................................................197
Count and Noncount Nouns and Articles................................................................................................202
Pronouns.....................................................................................................................................................208
Verb Tenses................................................................................................................................................215
Modal Auxiliaries.......................................................................................................................................234
Prepositions................................................................................................................................................240
Slang and Idioms........................................................................................................................................247
Help for English Language Learners: End-of-Chapter Exercises...........................................................251
Chapter 5: Writing Paragraphs: Separating Ideas and Shaping Content ............. 254
Purpose, Audience, Tone, and Content....................................................................................................255
Effective Means for Writing a Paragraph................................................................................................274
Writing Paragraphs: End-of-Chapter Exercises......................................................................................292
Chapter 6: Refining Your Writing: How Do I Improve My Writing Technique? ..295
Sentence Variety........................................................................................................................................296
Coordination and Subordination..............................................................................................................316
Parallelism..................................................................................................................................................327
Refining Your Writing: End-of-Chapter Exercises..................................................................................336
Chapter 7: The Writing Process: How Do I Begin?..................................................... 339
Apply Prewriting Models..........................................................................................................................340
Outlining.....................................................................................................................................................356
Drafting.......................................................................................................................................................368
Revising and Editing..................................................................................................................................384
The Writing Process: End-of-Chapter Exercises.....................................................................................404
Chapter 8: Writing Essays: From Start to Finish........................................................ 407
Developing a Strong, Clear Thesis Statement.........................................................................................408
Writing Body Paragraphs..........................................................................................................................418
Organizing Your Writing...........................................................................................................................428
Writing Introductory and Concluding Paragraphs................................................................................435
Writing Essays: End-of-Chapter Exercises...............................................................................................443
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Chapter 9: Effective Business Writing.......................................................................... 444
Oral versus Written Communication.......................................................................................................446
How Is Writing Learned?...........................................................................................................................450
Good Writing..............................................................................................................................................456
Style in Written Communication..............................................................................................................462
Principles of Written Communication.....................................................................................................466
Overcoming Barriers to Effective Written Communication..................................................................472
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................477
Chapter 10: Writing Preparation................................................................................... 478
Think, Then Write: Writing Preparation.................................................................................................480
A Planning Checklist for Business Messages...........................................................................................486
Research and Investigation: Getting Started..........................................................................................498
Ethics, Plagiarism, and Reliable Sources.................................................................................................504
Completing Your Research and Investigation........................................................................................513
Reading and Analyzing..............................................................................................................................518
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................521
Chapter 11: Writing.......................................................................................................... 524
Organization...............................................................................................................................................530
Writing Style...............................................................................................................................................550
Making an Argument.................................................................................................................................560
Paraphrase and Summary versus Plagiarism..........................................................................................569
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................573
Chapter 12: Revising and Presenting Your Writing .................................................. 574
General Revision Points to Consider........................................................................................................576
Specific Revision Points to Consider........................................................................................................579
Style Revisions............................................................................................................................................590
Evaluating the Work of Others.................................................................................................................597
Proofreading and Design Evaluation.......................................................................................................601
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................606
Chapter 13: Business Writing in Action....................................................................... 608
Text, E-mail, and Netiquette.....................................................................................................................609
Memorandums and Letters.......................................................................................................................615
Business Proposal.......................................................................................................................................624
Report..........................................................................................................................................................630
Résumé........................................................................................................................................................637
Sales Message.............................................................................................................................................647
Additional Resources.................................................................................................................................651
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Chapter 14: APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting.................................... 653
Formatting a Research Paper....................................................................................................................654
Citing and Referencing Techniques.........................................................................................................671
Creating a References Section..................................................................................................................688
Using Modern Language Association (MLA) Style..................................................................................713
APA and MLA Documentation and Formatting: End-of-Chapter Exercises.........................................725
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About the Author
Scott McLean is an Associate Professor of Communication, including Journalism and
English, at Arizona Western College in a combined campus partnership with the
University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University-Yuma. He also served as the
2007-2011 Shadle-EdgeCombe Endowed Faculty Chair.
Scott is the author of “The Basics of Speech Communication” and “The Basics of
Interpersonal Communication,” both currently published by Allyn & Bacon. He is
also the author of “Business Communication for Success,” “Writing for Success” and
“Business English for Success” withUnnamed Publisher, and has published in peer-
reviewed journals, classic car magazines, and newspapers.
From his experience working with students at the community college and
undergraduate level, including English 95 (development), 100 (college prep), 101
(composition and argumentation), 102 (literature and analysis), and 350 (business
communication), he has learned the importance of clear, concise learning resources
with scaffolding, frequent opportunities for engagement and demonstration of skill
mastery, and the importance of the first English course on overall academic success
for many students. He has taught at AWC/San Luis on the US/Mexican Border, for
Central Oregon Community College’s Branch Campus on the Warm Springs Indian
Reservation, and for Universidad San Sebastian in Concepcion, Chile.
Scott studied at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, at Washington State
University’s Edward R. Murrow School of Communication, and at Northern Arizona
University-Flagstaff’s Department of English in the area of Professional Writing.
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Acknowledgements
This work draws from my two previous texts. Thank you to our reviewers for their
insightful and constructive comments:
Writing for Success(2011), Chapters 1-8; 14
• Gregory Gibson, Henderson State University
• Michael Heumann, Imperial Valley College
• Kevin F. Boyle, College of Southern Nevada
• Sharon Tash, Saddleback College
• Andzhela Keshishyan, California State University, Northridge
• Jacqueline Blackwell, Thomas Nelson Community College
• Kathleen Duff Wilson, Arizona State University
• Thomas Bonfiglio, Arizona State University
• Roseann Grotjan, Lincoln University of Missouri
• Jacquelyne Kibler, Phoenix College
• Catherine Coleman, Long Beach City College/Orange Coast College/
Irvine Valley College
• Professor Claudia Rubner, Mesa Community College
• Abby Rotstein, College of Southern Nevada
Business Communication for Success(2010), Chapters 9-13
• Brenda Jolivette Jones, San Jacinto College - Central Campus
• Christina McCale, Regis University
• Billie Miller, Ph.D., Cosumnes River College
• Joyce Ezrow, Anne Arundel Community College
• Sally Lederer, U of M Carlson School of Management
• Greg Larson, Salt Lake Community College
• Gayla Jurevich, Fresno City College
• Laura Newton, Florida State University
• Judy Grace, Arizona State University
• Rita Rud, Purdue University
• Edna Boroski, Trident Technical College
Special thanks to Pam, Michael, Jenn, Sanford, and Jeff atUnnamed Publisher. This
book, like everything at Flat World, is a team effort and is better for it! I am
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Acknowledgements
honored to be a small part of a much larger movement to increase open access to
educational materials.Unnamed Publisheris inspirational.
Finally, Lisa, my partner and spouse, was always supportive and quick with the “so
what?” requests for clarification. Thank you to everyone who made a suggestion,
made a correction, or otherwise contributed to this project.
Scott McLean
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Dedications
For Lisa and our children, Mackenzie, John, and Katherine
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