WHEN Tuesday, Aug. 1, 7-10 p.m. WHERE Chancellor Hotel Clipper Ship Meeting Room 433 Powell Street San Francisco, Calif. MORE INFO Email learnwest@mediabistro.com , or call (310) 659-5668. PRICE $65 ($50 for ) more info

Course Details

Writing of any kind—any job in which you deal with words, in fact—is improved by applying a knowledge of the basics of grammar. Find out how to avoid dangling participles, constructions that aren't parallel, and incorrect antecedents. Or just discover what all of those terms mean.

Learn about them, and more, in a seminar that deconstructs grammar and the myths about grammar. Much of what we call "grammar" is actually "style": We'll talk about the difference between guidelines that are rules and those that are simply preferences.

• The basic rules of grammar, punctuation, and word usage
• The main parts of speech and their functions
• Authoritative, easy-to-use style guides and grammar websites
• Common grammatical mistakes and how to correct them
• Uncovering redundancies and ambiguous wording

Instructor Bio

Tam Putnam's Courses

A freelance copy editor at Sunset, Tam Putnam is a former editor at Gourmet, where copyediting recipes and travel articles was one of her responsibilities. She was copy chief at Elle and trained copy editors there and at Women.com. She has proofread at Vanity Fair and Sports Illustrated and written for the Contra Costa Times and 7x7.