As part of the Prentice Hall’s popular NetEffect series, Communication for the Workplace, 3rd Edition focuses on the fundamentals of written communication: good sentence structure, accurate punctuation, and effective mechanics and spelling. This book discusses basic problems in written communication and encourages readers to develop their writing skills using a developmental, or step-by-step approach. Using a text-workbook format, it helps users progress from a novice level of writing to a stage where they are confident in composing. Refresh readers’ knowledge of basic English grammar and provide an easy-to-use reference for future writing activities. Contain over twenty exercises relating to specific composing deficiencies. Provide practice in areas that can be problematic, such as writing in complete thoughts, changing verb tense, and misplacing modifiers. Reinforce basic English skills by providing practice identifying and correcting sample memos, emails, reports and other business-related documents. Throughout the book, an abundance of business writing samples, activities and cases are highlighted and relate to a variety of fields such as banking, telecommunications, real estate, health care and more!
1. Banking on Good Sentence Structure.
Career Field: Banking.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Sentence Structure, Capitalization.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Sentence Structure.
Building English Power: Capitalization.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Editing and Proofreading.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Banking Trends.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Writing in Complete Thoughts.
Exercise 2. Combining Sentences.
Exercise 3. Developing Meaningful Paragraphs.
Exercise 4. Writing Opening and Closing Sentences in Letters.
Good Letter Writing.
Writer Pointers.
Model Informational Letter.
Model Promotional Form Letter.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 2. Informational Letter.
Case Study 3. Promotional Form Letter.
Case Study 4. Promotional Letter.
Assessment: Chapter 1.
2. Insuring Subject-Verb Agreement.
Career Field: Insurance.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Subject-Verb Agreement.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Subject-Verb Agreement.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Insurance Programs.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Writing Opening and Closing Sentences.
Exercise 2. Writing for Correct Sentence Structure.
Writer Pointers.
Model Sales Letter.
Model Notification Letter.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Notification Letter.
Case Study 2. Informational Letter.
Case Study 3. Informational Form Letter.
Case Study 4. Sales Letter.
Case Study 5. Notification Letter.
Assessment: Chapter 2.
3. Investing in Subject-Verb Agreement.
Career Field: Finance/Investments.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Subject-Verb Agreement.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Subject-Verb Agreement.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Investments.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Rearranging Sentences for Continuity of Ideas.
Exercise 2. Inappropriate Phrases.
Writer Pointers.
Model Invitation Letter.
Model Letter of Request.
Model Response to a Letter of Request.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 2. Response to a Request.
Case Study 3. Invitation Form Letter.
Case Study 4. Request Letter.
Case Study 5. Invitation Letter.
E-Mail Correspondence.
Case Study 6. E-Mail
Assesment: Chapter 3.
4. Telecommunicating with Verbs.
Career Field: Telecommunications.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Verb Tense.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Verb Tense.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Telecommunications.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Changing Verb Tense from Present to Past.
Exercise 2. Changing Verb Tense from Present to Present Perfect.
Writer Pointers.
Model Letter of Complaint.
Model Letter of Apology.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Rewrite a Poorly Written Letter of Apology.
Case Study 2. Memorandum on Price Increase.
Case Study 3. Letter of Complaint.
Case Study 4. Letter of Apology.
Case Study 5. Letter of Complaint.
E-Mail Memorandums.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Assessment: Chapter 4.
5. Lots of Commas in Real Estate.
Career Field: Real Estate.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Compound Sentence.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Comma-Conjunction.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Home Mortgages.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Use of Adjectives and Adverbs.
Exercise 2. Comparative and Superlative Adjective Forms.
Exercise 3. Correct Word Choice.
Exercise 4. Converting from Passive to Active Voice.
Collection of Letters.
Writing Pointers.
Model First Stage of Collection Letter.
Model Second Stage of a Collection Letter.
Model Final Stage of a Collection Letter.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Rewrite a Poorly Written Collection Letter, Second Stage.
Case Study 2. Collection Letter, Final Stage.
Case Study 3. Collection Letter.
Case Study 4. Letter of Request.
Case Study 5. Invitation Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Assessment: Chapter 5.
6. Maintaining Healthy Complex Sentences.
Career Field: Health Care.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Complex Sentence.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Introductory Clauses and Phrases and
Parenthetical Expressions.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Physical Fitness.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Replacing Descriptive Words.
Exercise 2. Choosing Positive Opening Sentences in Letters of
Adjustment and Refusal.
Writing Pointers.
Model Letter of Refusal.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Rewrite a Poorly Written Letter of Refusal.
Case Study 2. Letter of Refusal of a Claim.
Case Study 3. Collection Letter.
Case Study 4. Refusal of an Invitation.
Case Study 5. Information Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: Memo Reports.
Information of Memo Reports.
Writing Pointers.
Model Information Memo Report to Implement Change.
Case Study 1. Memo Report.
Case Study 2. Memo Report.
Assessment: Chapter 6.
7. Retailing Commas in Words, Phrases, Ad Clauses.
Career Field: Retail Sales.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Comma Usage.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Comma Use in Series, Consecutive Adjustives, Nonrestrictive/Restrictive, Apposition, Dates, Cities and States.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Current Retailing Trends.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Parallelism.
Writing Pointers.
Model Letter of Reply to a Complaint.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Rewrite a Poorly Written Letter of Reply to Complaint.
Case Study 2. Reply to Customer Complaint.
Case Study 3. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 4. Reply to an Inquiry.
Case Study 5. Information Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: Periodic Memo Reports.
Writing Pointers.
Model Information Memo Report.
Case Study 1. Memo Report.
Case Study 2. Memo Report
Assessment: Chapter 7.
8. Check-In with the Semicolon.
Career Field: Hospitality.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Semicolon Usage.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Commas and Semicolons.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: The Focus of Today’s Hospitality Industry.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Misplaced Modifiers.
Exercise 2. Dangling Modifiers.
Exercise 3. Correct Modifier Errors in Paragraph.
Exercise 4. Correct Modifier Errors in Paragraph.
Letters of Inquiry.
Writing Pointers.
Model Letter of Inquiry.
Model Letter of Response to an Inquiry.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Response to a Letter of Inquiry.
Case Study 2. Letter of Inquiry.
Case Study 3. Complaint Letter.
Case Study 4. Memorandum to Staff.
Case Study 5. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: Internal Business Proposal.
Business Proposals.
Writing Pointers.
Model Internal Proposal.
Case Study 1. Business Proposal.
Case Study 2. Business Proposal.
Assessment: Chapter 8.
9. Marketing Possessive
Career Field: Marketing.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Possessive Case.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Possessives.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Marketing and Public Relations
for this Decade.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Sentence Rewrite for Clarity.
Bad News Letters.
Writing Pointers.
Model Memorandum for Announcement of Bad News.
Model Memorandum of an Announcement of Bad News (Indirect Approach).
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Bad News Letter.
Case Study 2. Bad News Informational Letter.
Case Study 3. Memorandum to Sales Staff.
Case Study 4. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 5. Promotional Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: External Business Proposal.
Writing Pointers.
Model Transmittal Letter to Accompany an External Business
Proposal.
Model Business Proposal.
Case Study: External Business Proposal.
Assessment: Chapter 9.
10. Traveling with Colons and Pronouns
Career Field: Travel and Leisure.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Colons, Pronouns.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Colons and Pronouns.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Emerging Trends in the Travel
Industry.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Pointing and Limiting Adjectives.
Exercise 2. Writing Sentences for Conciseness and Clarity.
Exercise 3. Writing Paragraphs for Conciseness and Clarity.
Writing Pointers.
Model Letter of Notification.
Model Claims Letter.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Memorandum to Staff.
Case Study 2. Letter of Response.
Case Study 3. Form Letter of Notification.
Case Study 4. Bad News Claims Letter.
Case Study 5. Response to a Claims Letter.
Case Study 6. E-Mail.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: Formal Reports.
Steps in Writing a Report.
Parts of a Formal Report.
Writing Pointers.
Model Outline.
Model Formal Informational Report.
Model of Endnotes.
Case Study: Formal Report.
Assessment: Chapter 10.
11. Governing Quotations.
Career Field: Government.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Quotation Marks, Punctuation at
End of Quotation Marks.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Quotation Marks.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Famous Quotations Reflecting
American Attitudes.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Exercise 1. Using Prepositions Properly.
Exercise 2. Puzzling Words.
Writing Pointers.
Model Information Public Relations Letter to County Constituents.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Informational Letter to Community.
Case Study 2. Public Relations Informational Letter to Town Residents.
Case Study 3. Informational Letter.
Case Study 4. Public Relations Letter to Concerned Residents.
Case Study 5. Response to Citizens’ Request.
Case Study 6. E-Mail Memorandum.
Activity G. Report Writing Power: News Release.
Writing Pointers.
Model News Release.
Case Study 1. News Release.
Report Writing Power: Minutes of Meeting.
Writing Pointers.
Model Minutes of Meeting.
Case Study 2. Minutes of Meeting.
Assessment: Chapter 11.
12. Help Wanted: Applying Hyphens and Numbers Correctly.
Career Field: Human Resources.
Activity A. Language Arts Recall: Hyphen and Number Usage.
Check for Understanding.
Building English Power: Hyphens and Number Usage.
Activity B. Building Word Power.
On the Alert.
Activity C. Industry Perspectives: Recruiting in Today’s Job Market.
Cover Letter.
Model Cover Letter.
Writing Pointers.
Activity D. Editing Power.
Activity E. Writing Practicum.
Choosing Options for Revision of a Covering Letter.
Resumes.
Writing Pointers.
Electronic Resumes.
Model Resumes.
Model Electronic or Scannable Resume.
Activity F. Writing Power: Composing Correspondence.
Case Study 1. Letter of Application to Business.
Case Study 2. Letter of Application in Answer to Newspaper Advertisement.
Case Studies 3 and 4. Cover Letter and Resume of Student.
Case Study 4.Interview Follow-Up Letter.
Case Study 5. Response to Citizens’ Request.
Assessment: Chapter 12.
Appendix A. Answer Keys by Chapter.
Appendix B. Model Documents.
Appendix C. Addressing Government Officials.
Appendix D. Postal Abbreviations.
Appendix E. Proofreaders' Marks.
Appendix F. Personal Dictionary.
Index
