This is a practical book for anyone who wants to improve their written and spoken language skills. It provides advice, tips, and ideas to help you communicate better in a wide range of everyday situations.
The book is divided into four sections. Communicating in everyday life deals with business letters, CVs, faxes and email messages, interviews, organizing meetings, presentations, writing reports, and essays and dissertations. The next section - Getting the message across - shows you how to understand the demands of an audience and how to tailor your message to suit. It's written in a simple clear style, appropriate for the audience it is aimed at.
He then deals with audience, form, and function - plus the various forms in which messages can be communicated. That is - via narratives, diaries, conversation, written reports, and even media broadcasts.
A section on the English Language contains an introduction to the basics of grammar, spelling, and punctuation. This has some interesting notes on word structure, and how this can help us to understand items of vocabulary.
The final section on the process of writing goes into more detail on writing for academic purposes. It offers guidance on how to plan, draft, and edit an extended piece of writing; how to lay out pages; and how to use word processors to make the results effective.
There's also a reference section which contains an A to Z explanation of terms, and each chapter contains exercises, answers, and advice on what to do next. The general approach is commendably straightforward. Each topic is given its own chapter; there's an overview; an explanation of the topic (with examples); and a list of guidelines.
So - the good point of this guide is that it covers a wide range of topics, all of which are closely related to everyday use. However, this is a beginner's guide, so there isn't room for a lot of depth. Essays, term papers, and dissertations for instance are covered in only six pages - so don't expect detailed tutorials.
© Roy Johnson 2000
[more WRITING SKILLS books]
John Seely,
The Oxford Guide to Writing and Speaking, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp.304, ISBN 0192801090
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