Fulfill your High School Practical English requirement at home with training from Penn Foster High School. We’ll guide you through the course with class notes, textbooks and unlimited instructor support. Each lesson has been specifically designed for independent study – you’ll learn Practical English in no time.

Practical English Course Description

Designed to improve both verbal and written communication skills, Practical English is an essential course for all high school students. It enhances language skills (grammar, punctuation, spelling, word usage, the parts of speech, and writing), expands vocabulary, and helps master pronunciation. To help develop writing skills, the course emphasizes sentence structure, paragraphs, letters, and composition in general. Brief, written assignments are required.

Included are five comprehensive study units—The Parts of Speech

• Word Usage
• Sentence Skills
• The Writing Process, Part 1
• The Writing Process, Part 2
• Supplement: Winning with Words
  

The course has three multiple-choice exams, plus two exams requiring both multiple-choice and written answers.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Explain why language is so important in almost every aspect of everyday life
• Describe what better communication skills can do for individuals and groups
• Name the eight parts of speech and describe their functions
• Explain how the parts of speech are organized to communicate meaning
• Determine the part of speech of each word in a sentence
• Apply language skills in conversation, vocabulary, word choice, spelling, writing, and
  pronunciation—to be more precise, more persuasive, and more successful in life
• Understand and use any or all of the information given about any word in a dictionary
• Use synonyms and antonyms to express precise meanings of words
• Recognize the parts of a sentence and use them correctly
• Select the correct pronoun to use in writing or speaking
• Correctly use modifiers, prepositional phrases, conjunctions, apostrophes, periods,
  and hyphenation
• Distinguish independent clauses from dependent clauses
• Avoid, point out, and correct common writing mistakes
• Punctuate sentences to convey the intended meaning
• Write sentences that have effective beginnings, concise wording, parallel structure,
  and active voice
• Identify common misconceptions about writing
• List and describe the stages of the writing process
• Create unified, coherent, and effectively structured paragraphs and compositions
• Write effective, appropriate, friendly letters, courtesy letters, and formal invitations
• Recognize the elements of several types of business letters
• Write and format attractive, functional, and efficient business letters and memos
• Correctly write factual reports, job applications, résumés, and cover letters

Course Outline

Study Unit 1: The Parts of Speech

How to Study; Guide to Pronunciation; Power of Words; The Eight Parts of Speech; Types of Nouns; What Nouns Do; Types of Pronouns; Antecedents; Types of Adjectives; Degrees of Comparison; Pronoun or Adjective?; Types of Verbs; Principal Parts; Verb Tenses; Conjugating Verbs; Voice in Verbs; Adverbs and Their Position; Changing Adjectives to Adverbs; Degrees of Comparison; Adverb or Adjective?; Prepositions; Relationships and Phrases; Conjunctions; Interjections; Irregular Verbs

Study Unit 2: Word Usage

Using the Dictionary; Synonyms; Antonyms; Parts of a Sentence; Subjects; Predicates; Subject-Verb Agreement; Rules of Agreement; Direct and Indirect Objects; Subject Complements; Pronouns; Reference to Antecedents; Formal and Informal Standards; Pronoun Forms; Who or Whom?; Singular or Plural?; Noun Plurals; Possessive Forms of Nouns; Using Modifiers Effectively; Punctuation; Capitalization; Abbreviations

Study Unit 3: Sentence Skills

Sentence Definition; Subjects and Predicates; Sentence Patterns and Structures; Prepositional and Verbal Phrases; Dependent and Noun Clauses; Simple, Compound, and Complex Sentences; Review of Terms; Sentence Repairs; Fragments; Run-on Sentences; Misplaced and Dangling Modifiers; Parallelism; Punctuation and Sentence Structure; Periods; Question Marks; Exclamation Points; Commas; Quotation Marks; Ellipses; Semicolons; Colons; Dashes; Parentheses; Sentence Style; Beginning a Sentence; Revising Shapeless Sentences; Using the Passive Properly

Study Unit 4: The Writing Process, Part 1

You Can Write!; Writing Is Work; More Than One Way to Write; Good Writers Are Rewriters; Writing Is a Way of Thinking; Writing Process; Prewriting; Planning; First Draft; Revising; Editing; Proofreading; Presenting What’s Written; What Is a Good Paragraph?; Topic Sentence: Stated or Implied; Unity: Sticking to a Topic; Coherence: Making Sentences Flow; Paragraph Structure, Length, and Breaks; Irrelevant Matter

Study Unit 5: The Writing Process, Part 2

Developing Compositions; Unity and Coherence; Introduction; Body; Comparison and Contrast; Conclusion; Getting Started; Audience; Purpose; Formal or Informal?; Desired Results; Recognizing Propaganda Techniques; Creative Writing; Poetry; Fiction; Personal Writing: Social Letters, Friendly Letters, Courtesy Letters, and Formal Invitations; Think You; Be Yourself; Workplace Writing: Business Letters; Types of Letters; Format and Components; Styles: Full-block, Modified-block, and Simplified; Interoffice Memos; Tips for Writing Business Letters and Memos; Types of Headings; Addressing Envelopes; Factual Writing; Reports; Job Applications and Résumés

Supplement: Winning with Words

How to Use a Dictionary Correctly and Effectively; Main Entry; Spelling; Hyphenation; Pronunciation; Sounds; Syllables; Stressed Syllable(s); Parts of Speech; Inflection; Etymology; Numbered Definitions; Usage; Synonyms; Cross References; Foreign Words and Phrases; Biographical Names; Geographical Names; Signs and Symbols; Style; Abbreviations; Forms of Address; Documentation; Bibliography; Puzzles

How it Works
After registering for the Practical English course, all of your learning materials will be shipped directly to you. If you like, you can also go to our website and download some of your study materials to get a head start. Your learning materials will guide you through the course content, explaining concepts and operations through a series of lessons. After each lesson, you’ll take an exam which you can submit by phone or our website. As you pass each lesson, you’ll proceed to the next topic until you complete the course.

There are five exams that need to be passed to complete your course in Practical English and you’ll have up to 15 weeks to complete the course.

Support
If you should ever need help with your studies, you can e-mail or call our instructors who will gladly help you with any questions that you might have.

Study Time
Since there is no set class schedule, you study when and where it’s convenient for you. You can complete your course as quickly as you’d like.

Completion
When you have successfully completed your course, you will receive a letter of completion along with an official transcript listing your completed course(s) and grades. You can apply your course towards our Diploma Program or a diploma from your local High School (be sure to check with your school authorities regarding mandatory attendance policies and whether they agree that the Penn Foster High School Program is acceptable toward the completion of your high school education).

Accreditation
Penn Foster High School is accredited by The Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools; has met the high standards of integrity and performance set by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), Washington D.C., and is licensed by the Pennsylvania State Board of Private Licensed Schools.

Whether you’re looking for accelerated studies or credit recovery, regionally and nationally accredited Penn Foster High School provides the courses you need to complete your High School Diploma.