Business English,
13th 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. Adjectives and Adverbs
8. Prepositions
9. Conjunctions and Interjections

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.

• REORGANIZED AND REFORMATTED CHAPTER CONTENT INCREASES CLARITY. Where appropriate, chapter content throughout this edition is now reorganized with a stronger format to improve student understanding and ease in review. This edition offers greater use of numbered and bulleted lists for quick reference.

• NEW “GRAMMAR IN THE NEWS” FEATURES FOCUS ON FREQUENT REFERENCES TO GRAMMAR IN TODAY'S NEWS. These engaging margin notes show students how grammar points from this edition appear in current news articles. Students clearly see how the concepts they are learning are relevant to everyday life.

• NEW “TAKE A BREAK” MARGIN NOTES EMPHASIZE REFERENCES TO GRAMMAR IN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA. These entertaining margin notes show students how often grammar and concepts from this edition appear in books, films, television, music and other entertainment media. Some of the margin notes allow students to practice their skills with quick, fun activities.

• COMPLETELY REVISED “REAL-WORLD EDITING” EXERCISES CORRESPOND CLOSELY TO CHAPTER CONTENT AND HELP EVALUATE MASTERY. In response to instructor requests for exercises that more effectively measure what students have learned in each chapter, the exercises in this feature are completely rewritten to better incorporate chapter content.

• MINDTAP ONLINE PERSONAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE HELPS STUDENTS DEVELOP AND APPLY LANGUAGE SKILLS. MindTap Business Communication for Guffey/Seefer's BUSINESS ENGLISH digital course offers a robust learning path, including 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. With a completely flexible design, MindTap makes it easy to personalize your course by rearranging existing content or by integrating outside content, such as videos and handouts.

• IMMEDIATE ANSWERS TO REINFORCEMENT EXERCISES PROVIDE AUTOMATIC ONLINE FEEDBACK FROM THE AUTHORS. You are no longer burdened with the responsibility of explaining the answers to every question in the Reinforcement Exercises. Immediate answers and feedback for the Reinforcement Exercises in MindTap, directly from the text’s authors, let students know if they have the right answer and why it is correct or incorrect.

• THREE-LEVEL APPROACH STARTS WITH THE BASICS BEFORE ADVANCING TO MORE COMPLEX SKILLS. The book’s unique and thorough approach to grammar begins with the basics that every student needs. The authors then move, step-by-step, through language building skills that students must rely upon to communicate effectively in business careers. This proven three-level approach separates learning into manageable segments. Learning aids throughout the text, such as exercises, study and career tips and "Spot the Blooper," engage and further challenge students at each level.

• "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.

• "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, Twitter, and Instagram.

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

• “SPOT THE BLOOPER” FEATURE ILLUSTRATES GRAMMAR GAFFES IN THE REAL WORLD. This popular feature presents grammar errors that appeared in prestigious publications, were spoken by highly respected individuals or appeared in various social media outlets. Students have the opportunity to see whether they can identify what went wrong in these real-world situations.

• “FAQs ABOUT BUSINESS ENGLISH” ILLUSTRATE EVERYDAY COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS. These frequently asked questions (FAQs), answered by the text authors, present common communication problems encountered in today’s business world. Using a question-and-answer format that's easy to follow, these questions emphasize important distinctions in English grammar, usage, style and vocabulary. The questions allow you to highlight applications of proper English and mechanics that make the concepts you are teaching relevant in the lives of your students.

• "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.

• “REAL-WORLD EDITING” EXERCISES EMPHASIZE COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITHIN E-MAIL MESSAGES, LETTERS AND REPORTS. Students move beyond sentence-level exercises to develop their language skills with contextual business documents in a digital environment. In response to instructors' requests for more authentic applications of grammar and mechanics, this feature develops editing skills that go beyond comfortable sentence exercises. Students learn to recognize errors and make effective corrections within realistic business communication.

• “WANT MORE PRACTICE?” EXERCISES PROVIDE ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS TO APPLY SKILLS. Students now have even more opportunities to apply the concepts they’ve learned with these additional exercises. You do not have to create or duplicate extra training materials to supplement your classroom resources.

• “WRITER'S WORKSHOP” INTRODUCES KEY BUSINESS WRITING SKILLS. Six 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.

• INSTRUCTOR'S RESOURCE PACKAGE OFFERS WEALTH OF TIME-SAVING PREPARATION AND TEACHING RESOURCES. Discover downloadable supplements, bonus teaching modules, exercises and handouts to enrich the classroom experience – all in one place – and conveniently available at your fingertips with your Cengage instructor account.

• POWERPOINT® PACKAGE HELPS YOU ENGAGE STUDENTS. Created by the book’s authors, interesting PowerPoint slides allow you to preview chapter content. Special interactive slides capture students’ attention in special "Test Your Skill" segments.

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.

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Cengage Testing, powered by Cognero® Instant Access for Guffey/Seefer's Business English
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Instructor's Companion Website for Guffey/Seefer's Business English
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