The essentials of grammar

Everything you need to know about grammar (and how the stuff you already know works)

Grammar is a lot like riding a bike – you may not forget it, but you can't really remember how you learned it in the first place. This entertaining and informative day is ideal for anyone who wants to brush up on their technical skills, and make their writing more elegant and legible. Led by David Marsh – editor of the Guardian style guide, journalism's grammar bible – a panel of experts will refresh your existing knowledge, and introduce you to new methods of writing you'll wonder how you lived without.

The day features a jargon-busting session from Steven Poole (author of Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?) to help you clean up your cliches. Harry Ritchie (English for the Natives) will explain the technical structure of rules you only understand instinctively and refresh your knowledge of grammar you didn't know you knew. With a guest appearance from journalist and comedian Andy Bodle, and even the odd musical interlude, it's the most fun you can have with a semicolon.

This course is for you if...

• You write reports or emails as part of your job and want to ensure your language is professional and understandable
• You struggle to remember the rules of grammar you were taught at school, or simply weren't taught any
• You want to improve your command of the technical aspects of written English

Course description

This large-scale, seminar-style course covers several aspects of good grammar as the basis for good writing. It includes refreshers on the basic rules (and how to remember them), and ways to ensure your language is clean and readable without being stilted. Topics covered include:

• Discover the grammar you don't know you know – with Harry Ritchie, author of English for the Natives
• How to avoid jargon and beat the enemies of good English – with Steven Poole, author of Unspeak and Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?
• Grammar can be funny – with journalist, scriptwriter and standup comedian Andy Bodle
• My Grammar Top 20 – with David Marsh, editor of the Guardian style guide and author of For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection

Tutor profiles

David Marsh has been a journalist for nearly 40 years and is production editor of the Guardian, which he joined in 1996. He edits the Guardian style guide; the Guardian's Mind your language blog, and the @guardianstyle Twitter feed, which has more than 50,000 followers. He also currently runs a masterclass in subediting for students on the MA Print Journalism course at Sheffield University, where he is an external examiner. His book For Who the Bell Tolls: One Man's Quest for Grammatical Perfection can be purchased via the Guardian Bookshop.

Harry Ritchie is a journalist and the author of six books, including the acclaimed English For the Natives, which explains grammar as it is taught to foreign students.

Steven Poole is the author of popular grammar books Unspeak and Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower?. He also runs the Guardian's regular Steven Poole on words column on the use and misuse of language.

Andy Bodle is a journalist, scriptwriter, stand-up comedian, regular Guardian contributor and implacable grammarian.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website