Tools for French Writing Skills

Overview

The language of instruction is French.

This course focuses on the use of appropriate verb tenses, prepositions and agreement rules, while avoiding common anglicisms of meaning (*agenda, *adresser, *définitivement), of structure (*je suis sous l’impression,* pour aucune considération), of spelling ( *apartement, *abbreviation).

This course is an excellent preparation for those who plan to take the Federal Government’s B or C language proficiency tests.

Learning Outcomes

• Agreement of nouns and adjectives
• Subjects and verbs agreement
• Personal and relative pronouns
• Verb tenses and moods to express hypotheses, conditions, wish…
• Past participles with “avoir” and “être” and “pronominal verbs”
• Correcting errors : vocabulary and expressions
• Some homophones : leur, leurs; quel, quelle, quels, quelles, qu’elle; quelque, quel que…
• False cognates and anglicisms to avoid in professional writing
• Valuable writing tools (print and electronic)

Audience

• Anyone who is already familiar with the basics of French grammar and who wants to improve his French writing skills.

Duration

12 hours

Cost

• $1095 (plus tax)

Featured Instructor

Georges Farid, Ph.D., holds a doctoral in Applied Linguistics from Université Paris V René Descartes. Now an honorary professor, he has taught written French in all its forms at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. He has presented numerous papers on various aspects of the French language, both nationally and internationally. He has written several articles on spelling and grammar. In 2004, he published Mieux comprendre le participe passé, and in 2012, Homonymes en exercices. His research interests include new spelling, sexism in the French language, inclusive writing, clarity and simplicity in writing, error correction, grammar in the workplace, the 45 rules of the past participle, punctuation and the right word.

Sessions