Business English,
12th Edition

UNIT 1: LAYING A FOUNDATION.
1. Parts of Speech.
2. Sentences: Elements, Varieties, Patterns, Types, Faults.
UNIT II: KNOWING THE NAMERS.
3. Nouns: Plurals and Possessives.
4. Pronouns.
UNIT III: SHOWING THE ACTION.
5. Verbs.
6. Subject–Verb Agreement.
UNIT IV: MODIFYING AND CONNECTING WORDS.
7. Modifiers: Adjectives and Adverbs.
8. Prepositions.
9. Conjunctions.
UNIT V: PUNCTUATING SENTENCES.
10. Commas.
11. Semicolons and Colons.
12. Other Punctuation.
UNIT VI: WRITING WITH STYLE.
13. Capitalization.
14. Numbers.
Appendix A: Document Format Guide.
Appendix B: Developing Spelling Skills.
Appendix C: Developing Vocabulary Skills.
Appendix D: Proofreading Marks.

• Mary Ellen Guffey

  A dedicated professional, Mary Ellen Guffey has taught business communication and business English topics for more than 40 years. She received a bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from Bowling Green State University; a master’s degree from the University of Illinois; and a doctorate in business and economic education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She has taught at the University of Illinois, Santa Monica College and Los Angeles Pierce College. Now recognized as the world’s leading business communication textbook author, Dr. Guffey is the founding author of three award-winning textbooks: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION: PROCESS AND PRODUCT, ESSENTIALS OF BUSINESS COMMUNICATION, and BUSINESS ENGLISH. Each rigorously updated book continues to lead its market and, together, these books have helped hundreds of thousands of students around the world develop language skills. Dr. Guffey serves on the review boards of Business and Professional Communication Quarterly and the International Journal of Business Communication, publications of the Association for Business Communication. She participates in national meetings, sponsors business communication awards and is committed to promoting excellence in business communication pedagogy and the development of student writing as well as speaking skills.

• Carolyn M. Seefer

  Carolyn M. Seefer earned her undergraduate business degree and business education teaching credential from the University of Georgia and her M.B.A. from John F. Kennedy University, where she graduated at the top of her class. She has been teaching business courses at the college level for more than 30 years. Since 1996, she has served as professor in the Business Administration Department of Diablo Valley College, a large community college in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to teaching a variety of business courses at Diablo Valley College, Professor Seefer is faculty advisor for Phi Beta Lambda, the DVC business club; is a member of the college Scholarship Committee; is the Academic Senate representative for the Business Division; serves as a mentor to new faculty; and is involved in developing procedures and guidelines for online teaching. She also recently took part in the college study abroad program, where she had the opportunity to teach in Florence, Italy, for two semesters. In addition, Professor Seefer is an active member of the Association for Business Communication and has presented numerous times at ABC’s annual conventions. Professor Seefer, who places great emphasis on student learning, success, and achievement, has been named Teacher of the Year at three different colleges, most recently for the Contra Costa Community College District.

• NEW IMMEDIATE ANSWERS TO REINFORCEMENT EXERCISES PROVIDE AUTOMATIC ONLINE FEEDBACK FROM THE TEXT AUTHORS. You are no longer burdened with the responsibility of explaining the answers to every question in the Reinforcement Exercises. Included in MindTap, immediate answers in the Reinforcement Exercises from the book’s authors let students know immediately whether or not they have the right answer and why it was correct or incorrect.

• NEW REAL-WORLD EDITING EMPHASIZES COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITHIN E-MAIL MESSAGES, LETTERS, REPORTS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS. Students move beyond sentence-level exercises to develop their language skills with contextual business documents in a digital environment. In response to your request for more authentic applications for grammar and mechanics, this new feature develops editing skills that go beyond comfortable sentence exercises. Students must recognize errors and make corrections within the context of realistic business messages.

• NEW "WANT MORE PRACTICE" PROVIDES SELF-HELP EXERCISES FOR STUDENTS TO APPLY THEIR SKILLS. Students now have even more opportunities to apply the concepts they’ve learned with these additional exercises. You do not have to create and duplicate extra training materials to supplement your classroom resources.

• NEW REAL-WORLD EDITING EMPHASIZES COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITHIN E-MAIL MESSAGES, LETTERS, REPORTS, AND SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS. Move beyond sentence-level exercises to develop your language skills with contextual business documents in a digital environment.

• NEW "WANT MORE PRACTICE" EXERCISES HELP YOU FURTHER PERFECT YOUR WRITING SKILLS. You now have even more opportunities to apply the concepts you’ve learned and improve your skills with these additional exercises.

• NEW SOCIAL MEDIA MARGIN NOTES EMPHASIZE HOW TO WRITE PROFESSIONALLY WHEN USING SOCIAL MEDIA. These helpful margin notes demonstrate how important it is to write correctly when using social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

• NEW SOCIAL MEDIA MARGIN NOTES EMPHASIZE HOW TO WRITE PROFESSIONALLY WHEN USING SOCIAL MEDIA. These helpful margin notes stress the importance of writing correctly when using social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

• MINDTAP® OFFERS STUDENTS A FULLY ONLINE PERSONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE. You can now offer a complete digital course that helps students develop, reinforce, and apply language skills in Business English with MindTap®. The robust learning path includes various auto-graded assignments that provide students with comprehensive feedback without adding to your workload. You also find an e-book and supporting course materials all in one place for easy access for you and your students. Completely flexible in its design, MindTap® makes it easy to personalize your course by rearranging existing content or by integrating outside content like videos, handouts, and more.

• ANNOTATED INSTRUCTOR’S EDITION PROVIDES UPDATED, STREAMLINED COVERAGE. Resources for 14 chapters offer teaching tips and answers that are immediately available. Perhaps the most significant reason that BUSINESS ENGLISH has retained its No. 1 market position is this authoritative and helpful instructor’s edition with answers that make instructors with any level of experience confident in teaching this complex subject.

• THREE-LEVEL APPROACH STARTS WITH THE BASICS BEFORE MASTERING MORE ADVANCED SKILLS. The book’s unique and thorough approach to grammar begins with the basics every student needs. The authors then move, step-by-step, through the language building skills students will rely upon to communicate effectively in their business careers. Learning aids throughout the text, such as exercises, study tips, and Spot the Blooper, challenge and engage students at each level. This three-level approach has been very effective in separating learning into manageable segments.

• INSTRUCTOR RESOURCE PACKAGE. There are downloadable supplements, bonus teaching modules, exercises, and handouts to enrich the classroom experience available via your Cengage instructor account.

• TRIVIA TIDBITS STIMULATE CURIOSITY ABOUT CHAPTER TOPICS. These intriguing margin notes offer interesting facts about the English language to engage and motivate students to learn more about chapter topics.

• "CHAT ABOUT IT" DISCUSSION QUESTIONS PROMPT IN-CLASS OR ONLINE DISCUSSIONS. These questions, at the end of every chapter, offer students opportunities to discuss English language skills during class, within online chat rooms and on discussion boards. These modes of communication are increasingly popular with students today. Some topics also require outside research to broaden the scope of your course and help students refine their critical thinking skills.

• FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ILLUSTRATE EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS. Enlightening FAQs, answered by the authors, present common communication problems encountered in today’s business world. Using an easy-to-read question-and-answer format, these questions emphasize important distinctions in English grammar, usage, style, and vocabulary. These questions enable you to highlight applications of proper English and mechanics that make the concepts you are teaching meaningful in the lives of your students.

• PRETESTS AND POSTTESTS ALLOW STUDENTS TO PREVIEW TOPICS AND CHECK THEIR UNDERSTANDING. To help you introduce chapter content, brief pretests preview concepts to pique student interest. Posttests enable students to evaluate their own success and comprehension of the chapter topics.

• POWERPOINT® PACKAGE HELPS YOU ENGAGE STUDENTS. Created by the book’s authors for you and your students, this exciting package allows you to preview chapter content with interactive slides that capture students’ attention in special "Test Your Skill" segments.

• WRITER'S WORKSHOP INTRODUCES KEY BUSINESS WRITING SKILLS. Six in-text workshops with new writing assignments summarize composition tips and techniques so that your students are quickly introduced to business-related writing skills. Workshops start with proofreading and then progress to writing sentences, paragraphs, e-mail messages, memos, letters, and short reports.

• THREE-LEVEL APPROACH STARTS WITH THE BASICS BEFORE HELPING YOU MASTER MORE ADVANCED SKILLS. This approach presents grammar guidelines in segments that proceed from easier, more frequently used concepts to more complex, less frequently used concepts. These small learning sections help you better understand the principles and remember them for longer.

• END-OF-CHAPTER REINFORCEMENT EXERCISES HELP YOU STRENGTHEN YOUR NEW SKILLS. Completing the Reinforcement Exercises enables you to apply your learning so that you can internalize and retain your new skills. Automatic feedback and answers written by the book’s authors are provided for every item so that you know immediately whether you have the right answer and why it was correct or incorrect.

• PRETESTS AND POSTTESTS AND UNIT REVIEWS ALLOW YOU TO PREVIEW TOPICS AND CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING. Brief pretests, included with each chapter, preview concepts to pique your interest. Posttests and Unit Reviews let you evaluate your own success in comprehending each chapter’s topics.

Cengage provides a range of supplements that are updated in coordination with the main title selection. For more information about these supplements, contact your Learning Consultant.

Cengage Testing, powered by Cognero® for Guffey/Seefer's Business Communication, Instant Access
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Cengage Testing, powered by Cognero® for Guffey's Business Communication
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Instructor's Companion Website for Guffey's Business English, 12th
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VitalSource eBook: Business English 12 Months
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MindTap: Business English 12 Months
9781337017602