SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A former teacher turned entrepreneur says he has invented a way to make people better writers.

Lynda Vanderwold calls her literary workout "sentence aerobics." She says the goal of the learning tool is to take "the useless words out of writing."

"Sentence Aerobics" is software that works like "spell check," finding out how "fit" the sentence is.

"The 'Sentence Aerobics' software points out for you, in living color, your strengths and weaknesses of writing," Vanderwold said. "Every time you use it, you become a better writer. It doesn't dumb you down."

The "Sentence Aerobics" workout is geared toward business professionals. Vanderwold's biggest corporate client is the state of California.

The former teacher says the way we speak and the way we write are totally different, like different languages, and the difference is growing because of one thing.

"E-mail has made writers out of everyone in an organization. But we don't recognize it as documentation. It's almost chat," Vanderwold said.

Vanderwold says that e-mail chat is informal writing, and that it's usually not good, clear writing. The result, she says, is that we all read more and understand less.

The software costs about $100. For more details on "Sentence Aerobics," click here.