Many college graduates didn’t get to take every class they wanted to try while they were officially enrolled, so it’s common to have areas of interest that might benefit from a little extra instruction. If writing was one of those areas for you, some of the writing instruction available from online colleges and universities might be of interest. The options discussed below include both free instruction and paid college courses that award credit, so you can decide what’s best for you and your writing skills.

MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW) and Other Free Writing Courses

MIT’s OCW website is an online publication of virtually all MIT course content and provides everything you’d expect of a class except for contact with the professor and college credits. These classes are no replacement for a college education, they don’t award any certificates or credits, and they won’t connect you to any faculty members. However, you can get free access to all course materials, reading lists, assignments, syllabi, and even video lectures. If you’re self-motivated and willing to invest some serious time and energy into improving your writing skills, you can benefit from choosing and taking one or more of these classes.

Check out the Writing and Humanistic Studies program for some great classes that cover techniques, forms, and traditions of several types of writing. Topics range from writing on contemporary issues to technical communication and rhetoric, so you’ll be sure to find something that interests you in the list of 48 undergraduate and 4 graduate courses. For example, to improve your technical communication skills, you might select Introduction to Technical Communication: Perspectives on Medicine and Public Health. This course explores writings from physicians and other health professionals, including William Carlos Williams, with writing assignments that require you to thoroughly analyze your audience’s needs in order to communicate successfully about public health issues. No matter what you need to do to improve your writing skills, these free courses can help you achieve your goals efficiently.

If you go to this CollegeDegree page, you’ll find over 50 free open courseware classes you can take online that address writing. Again, there is no professor interaction or submission of assignments to be graded, but you can complete the work from real college courses on your own and enjoy the benefits of self-motivated learning. These courses are categorized as introductory, grammar and language, research, creative writing, business writing, persuasive writing, scientific writing, art and social writing, and supplemental courses. This wide variety should provide you with the tools you need to improve your writing skills.

Taking College Courses for Credit

With eLearners, you can check out both online programs and single courses that are offered on the topic of writing. Pricing varies with state residence and the number of credits you want to earn, with most courses ranging from an in-state 3-credit fee of $405 to an out-of-state 5-credit fee of $1,415. Many of the classes focus on fiction, poetry, literature, and other artistic writing, but there is one “Freelance Writer” course along with several composition, rhetoric, and grammar courses. The freelance course is through Penn Foster Career School and teaches you about reference sources for writers, how to interact with agents and editors, how to submit manuscripts, and even how to set up your home office. This course allows you to work from home at your own pace and includes textbooks, lessons, and learning aids. You can request additional free information on the course here.

Alexis Bonari is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident education blogger and performs research surrounding College Scholarships. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redroom/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Most people know to use ‘a’ before a word beginning with a consonant and ‘an’ before a word beginning with a vowel:

The sandwich was served with a salad and an apple.

Simple, right? Most of the time. But here are some exceptions.

Use ‘an’ with words that begin with a silent ‘h.’ Words such as hour, honest, honor and (in American English) herb begin with an ‘h’ but the ‘h’ is not pronounced.

Incorrect: I waited a hour for the rental agent to arrive.
Correct: I waited an hour for the rental agent to arrive.

Use ‘a’ with words that begin with a ‘u’ that sounds like ‘you.’

Incorrect: An used towel was on the floor.
Correct: A used towel was on the floor.

Use ‘a’ with words that begin with an ‘o’ that sounds like ‘w.’

Incorrect: The hostess said there would be an one-hour wait.
Correct: The hostess said there would be a one-hour wait.

The bottom line? The choice of ‘a’ or ‘an’ is determined by the sound of the word, not the spelling. If the word begins with a consonant sound, use ‘a.’ If it begins with a vowel sound, use ‘an.’

“Than” is used in comparisons:

• Carol is taller than Jane.
• The steak entree was more expensive than the chicken.

Use “than” when you are comparing one thing to another.

“Then” joins two clauses that are separated by time:

• Mario cleared our salad plates, then served the entrees.
• Read the guidelines, then complete the mystery shop visit.

Use “then” when you are saying that something happened after something else.

To summarize:

• When time is involved, use “then.” A trick to remember this is that “when” has to do with time and it rhymes with “then.”
• When you are comparing two things, use “than.” All other usage is “then.”

When all of the sentences you use are very short, the narrative is choppy:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me. She told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on. She led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door. She hung the blouses in the room.

You also should not use only long sentences, especially run-on sentences:

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. and Mary greeted me and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses, and Mary asked if I wanted to try them on then led me to the fitting room and unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

The first example (short, choppy sentences) is boring and monotonous. The second example (long and run-on sentences) is exhausting. A good way to make your writing better is to use both simple and compound sentences.

Simple sentences contain just one thought.

Mary handed the bag to me.
She thanked me for my purchase.

Compound sentences contain two complete sentences or clauses, brought together with a conjunction, such as: and, but, or, so, et al.

Mary handed the bag to me, and she thanked me for my purchase.

There are several ways to rewrite the original example above, but for our purposes here we are going to only look at using both simple and compound sentences. Here is how it might read (Simple sentences are in this color, and compound sentences are in this color.):

I entered the store at 3:04 p.m. Mary greeted me, and she told me about the sale. I found three blouses. Mary asked if I wanted to try them on, and she led me to the fitting room. Mary unlocked the door and hung the blouses in the room.

A good way to check the rhythm of your writing is to read what you have written out loud. Listen, not only to the words, but to the flow of the words. Are all sentences very short? Or do you find yourself running out of breath before you come to the end of many of your sentences?

Mix up sentence length to make your writing better.

The service could of been faster.

There are a couple of problems. Not only does it express an opinion rather than an objective fact, it does so badly.

There is never a case where “could of” is a grammatically correct phrase.

The same is true of would of, should of and must of. And, even worse, coulda, woulda, shoulda, and musta. Never even think about using them in your reports.

The correct phrases are could have, would have, should have and must have.

So why do so many people use “of” instead of “have”?

Probably because when people use a phrase such as “could have” in a sentence, they tend to shorten it to “could’ve.” People who are accustomed to hearing the spoken phrase hear it as “could of” and therefore write it that way.

The grammatically correct version of the above sentence would be:

The service could have been faster.

Of course, it is still opinion and thus probably does not belong in a mystery shopper report. However, there may be times when the use of “could have” is appropriate in your reports. Just make sure that when you use it, you spell it correctly.

Every time I see a big sign that says “BOOK’S” I cringe.

Although apostrophe errors are common, improper use of apostrophes will mark you as an inexperienced and  uninformed writer to those who understand proper usage—such as editors at mystery shopping companies. The proper use of apostrophes will help you get better scores on your mystery shopper reports.

Here are some simple tips that will help you remember how to use apostrophes in your writing—and how not to use them.

With just a few exceptions, apostrophes are not used to indicate plurals. That means that these would be incorrect:

You can rent two movie’s for $5.
Both dog’s were wearing blue collars.

The correct versions would be:

You can rent two movies for $5.
Both dogs were wearing blue collars.

There is some disagreement about this, but there are a couple of possible exceptions. One is when the plural is of an abbreviation that includes internal punctuation or capitalization. For example, according to the Chicago Manual of Style,  M.D.’s would be correct, as would PhD’s, when referring to more than one M.D. or PhD. Another exception is for the plural of a single letter, such as “cross your t’s.”

Apostrophes are used in contractions, to represent the letters removed. For example:

can not = can’t
do not = don’t
you have = you’ve
we are = we’re
it is = it’s
will not = won’t

That last one is a little confusing—the “will” becomes “wo”—but it is correct.

Apostrophes are used to show possession.

Stan’s car is in the driveway.
The purse is Mary’s.

Apostrophes are not used in possessive forms of pronouns, such as his, hers, theirs, ours, yours and its. A common error is to put an apostrophe in “its.” The only time it is correct to use “it’s” is when it is the contraction of “it is,” never for the possessive form. The following are correct:

It’s too hot to wear a sweater.
The dog chewed its toy.

This covers the basics of using apostrophes. You can find more examples and explanations at http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html

The good news is that you now know the right way to use apostrophes. The bad news is that all those people misusing them will make you as crazy as they make me!

I keep a list of the words I can never remember how to spell (such as “occurred”–is it one ‘r’ or two?) near my computer so I can refer to it when needed. I have expanded the list here to create a reference tool with some of the most commonly misspelled words.

Keeping this list near your computer, and referring to it often, will save you time and reduce your spelling errors when writing mystery shopping reports.

Get a handy printable version (PDF) of Spelling Tips for Mystery Shop Reports here.

Note that this list is based on American spelling. There may be variations in the way some of these terms are spelled in other countries.

a lot
absence
acceptable
accessory
accommodate
accumulate
across
address
advertisement
apologize
apology
apparent
beginning
believe
business
clothes
convenient
courteous
courtesy
definitely
describe
description
difference
disappear
dissatisfied
easily
either
eliminate
equipment
especially
exceed
excellence
excellent
experience
guarantee
height
immediate
interrupt
license
maintenance
necessary
no one
noticeable
occasionally
occurred
occurrence
omitted
opportunity
performance
personnel
pleasant
precede
preference
preferred
preparation
quality
quantity
questionnaire
receipt
receive
recommend
remember
satisfied
schedule
separate
several
similar
sincerely
special
sufficient
surprise
technique
temperature
temporary
unforgettable
unnecessary
until
usually
vacuum
visible
weight
withdrawal

There is no clear-cut answer to this one. It is largely a matter of style. If the mystery shopping company has a style guide they ask shoppers to use when writing reports, that will determine how you use numbers. However, in the absence of specific style guidelines, here are some suggestions for when to use the numerals and when to spell out numbers.

Most people agree that the numbers one through nine should be spelled out.

There were six people in line ahead of me.

Some style guides insist on spelling one through ten, or even up to one hundred. There are exceptions to spelling out single-digit numbers, such as when you have a number less than ten and a number greater than ten in the same sentence. In that case, it may be preferable to use numerals for both:

There were 6 people in line ahead of me, and it took 14 minutes to reach the box office window.

Another example might be when giving timings, such as:

The hostess put me on hold for 1 minute and 32 seconds.

In fact, the mystery shopping company may prefer that you always use numerals when giving timings but that is, like all of these examples, an issue of style not correctness.

Because you want to avoid anything that would be hard to read or confusing, you may want to write out one of the numbers when two numbers are together in a sentence.

There were three 12-inch puddles of water in the entry.

Numbers at the beginning of a sentence should usually be spelled out.

Seventeen employees acknowledged me with a greeting.

If that starts to get ridiculous (e.g., a large number that is very long when written out), you can change the structure of the sentence. If you needed to tighten the above sentence, you could write:

I was greeted by 17 employees.

Remember that there are no hard and fast rules for when to use a numeral and when to write out the number. Make your writing clear and use a consistent style so that you are easily understood.

Ken asked if I wanted to schedule delivery of the desk he said delivery could be on Tuesday or Thursday.

There are two complete thoughts there. To eliminate the run-on sentence, you could write:

Ken asked if I wanted to schedule delivery of the desk. He said delivery could be on Tuesday or Thursday.

The fix for a run-on sentence is to insert proper punctuation. Often, that will be a period. However, it may also be correct to use a semi-colon or a comma with a conjunction:

Ken asked if I wanted to schedule delivery of the desk, and he said delivery could be on Tuesday or Thursday.

See how easy that is? The hard part may be identifying run-on sentences in your writing. If you write in a stream-of-consciousness style, you may find that you frequently construct run-on sentences without realizing it.

The server greeted me and smiled and told me about the daily specials then he took my beverage order and came back three minutes later with my soda and it was warm.

Whew! Can you please take a breath? In fact, that is a good way to catch run-on sentences in your writing: Read them out loud.

Punctuation signals you to pause or stop. As you read the above example, do you run out of breath? Or you may find yourself pausing or stopping at points during the sentence. Those are cues that your sentence is missing needed punctuation. For example, when I read this sentence, this is what it sounds like:

The server greeted me and smiled <stop> and told me about the daily specials <pause> then he took my beverage order <stop> and came back three minutes later with my soda <stop> and it was warm.

So I would rewrite the run-on sentence like this:

The server greeted me and smiled. He told me about the daily specials, then he took my beverage order. He came back three minutes later with my soda. The soda was warm.

That is not the only way that run-on sentence could be fixed, but it is one way.

Although you may think of run-on sentences as being long (and many of them are), it is not necessary for a sentence to be long to be a run-on sentence. For example, this is a run-on sentence:

There were 8 people in line we waited 12 minutes to check out.

That sentence is not very long, but it has two complete thoughts. It needs punctuation:

There were 8 people in line. We waited 12 minutes to check out.

or

There were 8 people in line, and we waited 12 minutes to check out.

To catch run-on sentences in your mystery shopper reports, read the report out loud. When you find yourself gasping for breath, reach for a punctuation mark and breathe easily.

This is one of a series of posts on grammar to help secret shoppers write better reports.

“I haven’t got no money.”

“He is not going nowhere.”

And, courtesy of Pink Floyd:

“We don’t need no education.”

Here is what you need to know about double negatives and why you shouldn’t never . . . uh, shouldn’t ever use them.

We will get this out of the way right now: There are times when the use of double negatives may be correct. For example, saying, “Carla is not unattractive,” means that Carla is attractive. Assuming that Carla is, in fact, not hideous in appearance, this is correct. However, even though it is correct, it is confusing. Readers or listeners have to parse the sentence to get the meaning you intend. If you simply say, “Carla is attractive,” the meaning is much clearer. Typically, the use of a double negative in a context such as this is to “damn with faint praise.” Meaning, that I do not want to go so far as to say that Carla is attractive but, well, she is not unattractive.

Most of the time, though, people using double negatives do so incorrectly. As a result, they convey exactly the opposite of what they mean. You may remember from math class that two negatives equal a positive. The same is true in writing. If you break down what is being said in each of the example sentences above, it may be the opposite of what the writer or speaker intended. For example, if you don’t need no education, that means you do need some education. If he is not going nowhere, then he is going somewhere.

Not only do double negatives change the meaning of your sentences, they are among the most grating of errors. The use of double negatives marks you as an unskilled writer.  Here are some examples of sentences you would not want to use in your mystery shop reports.

“The salesperson was not doing nothing.”
If the salesperson was not doing nothing, what was he doing? What you may actually mean is, “The salesperson was not doing anything,” meaning that the salesperson was not helping customers, or stocking shelves or any other activity.

“I did not see the server nowhere in the dining room.”
The correct way to say this is, “I did not see the server anywhere in the dining room.”

“Jason asked why I was returning the towels, and I said I did not need none of them.”
This could be written  as, “Jason asked why I was returning the towels, and I said I did not need any of them.”

At best, using double negatives makes your meaning unclear or hard to discern. At worst, you will present yourself as a poor writer who lacks basic grammar skills. In general, they should be avoided in your writing.