A guide to technical writing skills : written & compiled by / Shadi Hijazi, Sunayana Manoj and Anjum Azeez.

Includes webliography and references .

While the need to hone the writing skills of people in English in the MENA region is widely recognized, not much work has been done to address this issue. In order to bridge this gap, Dr. Abdurahem Mohammed Al Ameen, President, Al Ghurair University released a supportive handbook called, 2A Guide to Technical Writing Skills3 at a glittering AGU {u2018}12 Open day event. The authors of the book, Mr. Shadi Hijazi, Ms. Sunayana Manoj and Ms. Anjum Azeez, faculty members from the Department of Foundation and General Studies, Al Ghurair University were congratulated for this in house venture. The book published by Al Falah Books Publishers and Distributors, is a pioneering work to empower the people in this part of the world. Emphasizing the relevance of the book, Mr. Shadi Hijazi, the Lead Author, said: "Each one of us, whether studying or working, is required to write. A student writes assignments, reports, term papers, etc. Similarly, employees, irrespective of their rank or the functional areas, write memos, feasibility reports, e-mails, letters, etc. While many people are reasonably good at speaking, their writing skills leave much to be desired and, as a result, they fail to achieve the commanding heights of their careers. Therefore, one should make a deliberate effort to improve the writing skills in order to succeed3. Grammar: The Science of Languages Grammar is the science of a language. And its understanding facilitates successful communication and an absence of it leaves the readers confused. A thorough appreciation of the English grammar, which may differ, at times, from that of the Arabic, is a sine qua non for writing technically correct English, sounding intelligent, and thereby looking professional. Substantiating this argument, Mr.Shadi Hijazi stated: "English has a large number of tenses with subtle differences such as the difference between the simple past and the present perfect. In addition, some of the differences between definite, indefinite, and zero articles are very easy to learn, but others are not, particularly, since a learner's native language may lack articles or use them in different ways than the English language does. In addition, Arab learners find it difficult to use punctuations, especially commas and full stops, as they use them sparingly in Arabic". Keeping this in view, he added: "The book has earmarked about one-fourth of its chapters to an in-depth understanding of different components of grammar. It explains, in detail, the present simple tense, the present continuous tense, past tense, the past perfect tense, and present perfect tense. In addition, these chapters present a detailed discussion about the use of Articles, Propositions, Punctuations, Capitalizations, etc., which lays a strong foundation for writing internationally benchmarked English".