Career & communication · course 59 of 105

Business Writing That Gets Read

Cut work emails down to what gets read: main point first, plain words, active voice, short sentences, bullet lists that work, and bad news without sounding cold.

4 modules

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What it teaches

The plain-language rules that make work emails short and clear: main message first, plain words instead of wordy phrases (in order to, prior to, utilise), hidden verbs (conduct an analysis of → analyze), active voice, sentences of 25 words or fewer, positive language, must instead of shall, GOV.UK-style bullet lists, and how to apologize, give bad news and chase a payment without sounding cold. The AI asks 3 questions, places you, shows a short card per module, then gives you one sentence, choice or email at a time and checks it against the rules, naming the rule that broke.

How long

50 items. About 25-50 rounds (about 25 for a confident writer, about 50 for a beginner) plus a 12-item final: 2-3 sessions (estimate, not timed with a real student). The tutor gives a one-line save code at the end of each session.

The modules

4 modules, drilled one item at a time.

M0
The rules
Concept questions
M1
Plain words
Rewrite one sentence
M2
Active, short and positive
Rewrite or pick
M3
Structure and whole emails
Pick the opening sentence, fix a bullet list, or find what an email gets wrong

Before it teaches, it asks

1
What do you write most at work (emails to clients, to your team, reports, chat), and what do people say about your writing: too long, too stiff, unclear?
2
Rewrite in plain words: “We will conduct an analysis of the survey results.”
3
Rewrite in the active voice: “The new rules were explained by the trainer in the first session.”

What’s exact, and what isn’t

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Straight from the course’s own notes.

Sourced: Every rule comes from (or is a stricter form of) the US federal plain-language guidance (digital.gov’s Plain Language guides and the PlainLanguage.gov archive, US government works) or GOV.UK’s writing guidelines and A to Z style guide (Open Government Licence v3.0). Short quotes matched word for word on the live pages, and all 19 word swaps (prior to → before...) checked as one row of their page’s table, on 2026-10-10.
Checked by script: Every M1 sentence really contains the phrase its Fix names and no key, Model or right option contains any phrase from the 27-phrase wordy list; every passive item trips a passive pattern and no key does; in each spot-the-passive item only the key option is passive; every split key sentence is 25 words or fewer; no positive key has a negative word; every bullet Model passes the GOV.UK bullet rules and the broken list breaks exactly the rules its key names; every email Model leads with its main message and keeps every fact its item requires. A planted-error test (7 errors) was caught. The patterns are a rough net, so the tutor grades by the rules, not the script.
Judged, not computed: Which facts an email must carry (the Musts) and which sentence should open a message; both apply the sourced main-message-first rule. Whether another version counts is judged against the item’s rules. The “no passive sentence” Musts are stricter than the sources, which allow a passive when the outcome matters more than who acted (digital.gov; GOV.UK).
Not in it yet: Subject lines, reports and longer documents, headings, tone for difficult messages beyond apology and bad news, grammar and spelling.