Improving written English for adults

[Rosie_0801]

My hubby is job searching at the moment and has had to pass by quite a few job adverts because his written English isn't strong enough. I'm not saying he is uneducated, but I will say that it's a good thing he wasn't studying humanities at uni...

I don't know whether he needs to work on grammar, a writing curriculum or both. I do know he needs to memorise when to use there, their and they're. Grr. His mum was an English teacher too, you'd have thought she'd have beaten that into him :rolleyes:

He has content, but I don't know how he got through uni with such poor skills in putting the content down on a page.

What do we need?

Rosie

[Carol in Cal.]

Then he took some very tough classes, and I helped him proofread his work.

Basically, his approach was to write it down and turn it in. Then I said that we had to read it first. This was not something he really wanted to put the time into. But we did it. Then he would make a bunch of corrections, and then he would want to turn it in. But I would say that we had to read it first. This was not something that he really wanted to put the time into, but we did it. Then he would make some corrections, and do some polishing, and would want to turn it in. But I would say that we had to read it again. Etc.

The big thing, for him, was to convince him that it takes multiple iterations before you are really 'done', and also that the very last thing you should do before turning ANYTHING in is to read it one last time. Every time you make a change, no matter how small, you need to read it again.

So that's the main thing.

The other would be to apply some diagnostics to the specific problems. Form? Content? Puntuation? What are the problems?

The Elements of Style is the classic handbook for adults to use to improve their form. The Jenson's books (Jenson's Format Writing, Jenson's Punctuation, etc) are simple but not condescending, so they might be good to look at once you narrow down on the problem. I think that proofreading practice with the higher level Editor in Chief books would be really helpful as well--there is nothing worse than not being able to proofread your own work.

[Rosie_0801]

Thanks Carol,

Dh needs more than to proof read, which I imagine he already does. Proof reading your own work is tricky enough, but I don't think he'd be able to proof read anyone else's either, due to lack of technical knowledge. I think the Editor in Chief books would be good practice, and I'm waiting on Analytical Grammar for myself. (Grr, how can it take two months to ship?) That has a punctuation portion, so perhaps between that, Editor in Chief and your suggestion of the Jenson Formal Writing book, we can panel beat his ideas into shape :) It's not content he lacks.

Thanks again,
Rosie

[Carol in Cal.]

I have been working extremely hard on my DD's high school application packages. She is applying to Catholic high schools, so we are weird to them in every single way possible--we are not Catholic, she is homeschooling, she is young and smallish for her grade, we have used TWTM a lot so don't have as much formal curricular stuff to point to for scope and sequence, and she does not have any outside grades except state testing results.

So I've been putting together a lot of information about what we have covered and how and why she has learned things, and writing samples, etc. and we finally finished these BINDERS full of stuff. So today I decided, in an excess of caution, to flip through them and make sure that everything was perfect. Even though I had a sample binder that I made first and copied. Even though I had an outline that I followed. Even though I had checked everything 6 ways from Sunday.

And guess what? On her major, 5 page science project report, we were missing the final page with the conclusions, AND the remaining pages were out of order. I don't know how this happened, but I didn't make those copies, and if I hadn't decided to check this, it would have been quite embarrassing.

So even if you think that your changes are insignificant enough to not possibly cause a problem, check the work right before sending it. Yup, that would be the message. Even to me.

[Rosie_0801]

Yep. Been there done that. "Hang on! I know I printed page 3 of this uni essay due very soon. Oh it is there, um, why is it in yellow and every other page is black?"

Good thing you found it ;)

Rosie

[ekarl2]

Thanks Carol,

Dh needs more than to proof read, which I imagine he already does. Proof reading your own work is tricky enough, but I don't think he'd be able to proof read anyone else's either, due to lack of technical knowledge. I think the Editor in Chief books would be good practice, and I'm waiting on Analytical Grammar for myself. (Grr, how can it take two months to ship?) That has a punctuation portion, so perhaps between that, Editor in Chief and your suggestion of the Jenson Formal Writing book, we can panel beat his ideas into shape :) It's not content he lacks.

Thanks again,
Rosie

Rosie,

Have you ordered AG already? I ship every two days and we use Priority International ... that takes 6-10 business days (or so they tell me!) LOL

[Rosie_0801]

Rosie,

Have you ordered AG already? I ship every two days and we use Priority International ... that takes 6-10 business days (or so they tell me!) LOL


Dh insists he ordered it at the end of November. It was supposed to be for my birthday early last month! I don't know who he ordered it from but apparently he is "taking care of it."

:glare:
Rosie


Update! Oh Man. These fellas. I went to ask the AG status again, and he finally blurted out the real story. It's not on its way at all, and he said it was because didn't want me to know! Apparently he ordered it, the order didn't work, he didn't realise and spent the money in his account, so he's been saving and saving ever since so he can order it again. Heheh. You've got to laugh :)

[ekarl2]

Dh insists he ordered it at the end of November. It was supposed to be for my birthday early last month! I don't know who he ordered it from but apparently he is "taking care of it."

:glare:
Rosie


Update! Oh Man. These fellas. I went to ask the AG status again, and he finally blurted out the real story. It's not on its way at all, and he said it was because didn't want me to know! Apparently he ordered it, the order didn't work, he didn't realise and spent the money in his account, so he's been saving and saving ever since so he can order it again. Heheh. You've got to laugh :)

Oh, geez! I was, until recently, having problems accepting International orders, but that's been fixed. It should go through when he's ready. Tell him, though, that if I can send it in a flat rate box (which I usually can) I'll refund the difference. My web site (and I'm the only place from whom he can order) doesn't calculate flat-rate shipping, so it sometimes overcharges. The shipping is SO expensive for you guys!

[Rosie_0801]

Thank you! I'll let him know :) Shipping is pretty horrendous. I just sent a book to my sister in Kenya through Amazon, and the shipping cost more than the book!

Rosie

[Jemimah]

Thank you! I'll let him know :) Shipping is pretty horrendous. I just sent a book to my sister in Kenya through Amazon, and the shipping cost more than the book!

Rosie

Rosie try the International flat rate option. It is quite reasonable.

[ekarl2]

Rosie try the International flat rate option. It is quite reasonable.

That's what I say saying. My web site doesn't calculate flat rate shipping. There are times when the shipping that is charged on the site is higher than what I pay to ship the box since I use flat rate when I can. When that happens, I refund the difference.

Blessings,