Read More and Write Better English • Three-Dot Whizz

Want to improve your writing but don’t know where to start? Or the glorious grammar blocks you all along? In this post, I’ll tell you about things that can help you improve your writing in English! Improving your writing in English, just like every other skill, takes practice and gets better along the time. Sure, it's frustrating. But, before you feel frustrated right away, put this into your mind “This looks like writing in my first language but in a new language”. Maybe you feel that you are not able to write anything but remember that you write the whole time. Here are some you are familiar with : text messages social media posts commenting on someone’s update on Instagram or Facebook trying to get the best 280-character post on Twitter business emails essays at school Some of them you could do in a snap of a finger, some need more time. When you are trying to improve your writing in English, maybe one or two of these things cross your mind or happened to you already : What should I begin with? The grammar blocks me. I don’t know how to make my 300-word writing longer. My English teacher always gives me a minimum mark for writing. It’s hard to develop the ideas that I already have. People don’t understand what I wrote. Worrying about problems is normal but not necessary. You need to take action before those problems haunt you for too long and make you give up on learning English. But don’t give up, there is always room for improvement. First of all, let’s understand what writing skills are and how to improve them. What the writing skills are Writing skills are all the skills that you use to write effectively in a communicative way. Those skills work together to make you able to deliver your message, information, or even persuasion in a way that other people could understand. Technically, the skills are Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar (SPaG), research, editing, sentence structure, and vocabulary. Improve them and you will see a meaningful change in your progress. Why the writing skills are important The basic purpose of good writing is good communication. As a former MIT professor Patrick Winston has said : "Your success in life will be determined largely by your ability to speak, your ability to write, and the quality of your ideas, in that order." If important things are communicated well, the rest would follow. Writing skills are essential in any kind of job. In general, employers seek candidates who can write well as it shows their ability to communicate professionally at the workplace. Good writing ensures that your message is understood by your audience, minimizing misinterpretations and misunderstandings. Maybe you are a social media geek, far from the office's formality. You need to write well to get people’s attention. You want them to do what you write. For instance, buying product you are selling, following your account, or making donation. Therefore, it's important to pay attention this particular skill. Practicing writing skills would be the right start to boost your career in the near future. Formal and informal career. And it’s nice to start it earlier, when you are a student and having an opportunity to practice in school or courses. Improving your writing in English There are several ways you could find on the internet. Here I'll share some ways to improve your writing in English that work for me and my learners. You don’t have to do it all at once. As these ways don’t come in order, you could choose one and try to see if the improvement you will get. 1. Understand the assignment There are different kinds of writing : short stories, essays, letters, emails, essays, reports, reviews, instruction, comments on social media, and many more. The form and requirements may be different, but they’re all writing. Any piece of them will be trying to do at least one of this purpose : entertaining, informing, and persuading. Do you want to tell a hilarious story? Or do you want people to do something? Maybe you want to sell your product? You have to make sure of your purpose when you write. You don’t want to lose customers if you write a lot of information but forget to persuade them to buy your products on social media. Other than the purpose, make sure you decode the assignment by the clues given : the task words, the limiting words, and word count. Task words, limiting words, and word count The task word is usually the word that tells you what to do. It could be something like: ‘describe’; ‘write about’; or ‘give your opinion about’. For example: Describe a licorice plant. The limiting words narrow the assignment to be tight in way. For instance : Write about the use of licorice in medical terms. What you need to do is to write the use of licorice only in medical terms. If you know its use for food, don’t include it in your writing. The word count tells you how long the assignment is. For example : Write an essay discussing two of the things people commonly read. Write your answer in 220 – 260 words in an appropriate style. Well, that’s more for essay writing. What about writing an email, résumé, or business writing? The assignment is different but the concept is the same, understand the assignment. So, know what those writings require and you are good to go. 2. Read and Research Build a good habit of reading. Read books, articles, novels, blogs, or even newspapers. Reading is necessary in improving your writing in English. Reading will give you more information and a fresh point of view. For example, if you have an assignment from school to write about how your vacation was, just read someone’s blog about their traveling. You’ll get more vocabulary to use. Also, you’ll get more inspiration on which place to visit in the future. If your writing is more scientific, do really good research from a trusted source. If books are too expensive for you, try to look on the internet. There are a lot of reliable sources. But, it could be dangerous if you cite a website without thinking. So, be cautious when you want to use certain sources. First, look up for who wrote the site. Ask yourself some questions. Is the page new or from years ago? Has the website been reviewed by trusted people or experts? 3. Observe, Imitate, Modify Sounds familiar? I’ve heard this a lot in business term. But you can apply it in writing. This works mostly if you are a beginner. Why? (Disclaimer : This is not advice for plagiarism. Do not ever rip off someone’s hard work.) You need to be familiar with your writing in English first before you find your own style. Get some inspiration, find a piece of writing with a similar range of topics. Observe how the writing is structured and the writer’s style. Imitate the structure and the style, not the content. Modify them for your topic. Don’t just do the copy and paste thing. Remember, if there are some lines you want to use, give the original writer credit with proper citation. Don’t rush in having an original style. You’ll find your own later. 4. Start with a short paragraph. Imagine the process of building a house : bricks, walls, a house. It goes the same with words, sentences, paragraphs, boom! Complete writing. Improving your writing in English is the same with that. First, write down the vocabulary you need. Then, write the sentence. Finally, continue with the next sentence and give conclusion. Also you may want to keep these in mind : Write first, judge later. Go on until you make 7 to 10 sentences. Stop there. Don’t check for the grammar yet. Have you already mentioned all you want? If you are already happy with the story, then check the grammar. Are you happy with the grammar? Continue with a new paragraph if you have time. Try to stick with the grammar you wrote first. Always practice with short writing. It will give you a sense of winning in a short time. You need your confidence at the start. Build the habit of writing a short paragraph every day, even if it’s about a long line at the bakery shop. Or the price of tomatoes in the market which is going up. Even better, you could start a personal journal. It would boost your mental health and your writing quality as well. 5. Use the vocabulary and grammar you already have Do you already have some vocabulary in your mind? Cool! And you know how to use one or two tenses correctly? Great! Those are your strengths now. Use them. You don’t need complicated vocabulary and grammar to be able to produce sentences. I’ll tell you what’s really important in learning a second language. It works for both the speaker and the listener. It works for both the writer and the reader! I speak and you understand me. I write you something and you get it! A victory for both. If you are a beginner or an intermediate, be happy with your level. Imagine you try to use complicated words and no one understands. Improving your writing in English doesn't mean you have to use complicated words immediately. Have this on your mind when you are starting to write or speak : I need to make people understand what I’m telling them. I’m not telling you to be satisfied just with that. If you already get used to the vocabulary and grammar you already know, you are free to step higher. Get more vocabulary, learn more grammar, but use them in context. For example, you learn vocabulary about furniture in the house. Go to a furniture store and try to compare beds, chairs, or other furniture. You could use comparative adjective as grammar in context. The brown chair is more expensive than the white chair. Don't have time to go outside? Just try to compare things in your house. At least you use something you familiar with. Remember : you will forget things if you don’t use them regularly. Out of sight, out of mind. 6. Extend your sentences with extra details. Simple sentences will do just fine. But we can improve. Let's see what improving your writing in English looks like. I drink coffee in the morning. After that, I take a shower. If we could make them interesting, why not? I drink two cups of coffee in the morning. After that, I take a long shower. (Wow, a lot of caffeine there!) Okay, do you want more? I always drink two cups of coffee in the morning. After that, I take a long shower with cold water. The sentences are longer, the meaning is still the same but with extra details. Now you have details, you already made a path to new sentences. I always drink two cups of coffee in the morning. After that, I take a long shower with cold water. My friend said that it is good to lower my blood pressure. (Oh now you sound so smart!) Extending sentences will lead you to a better imagination. However, some say that it will lead you out of the story but don’t worry about them now. Creating sentences is fun to practice how to generate ideas and structuring them is another fun. At least you know where to start. It’s important. 7. Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar Aaargh! Yes, that’s the sound which not only you but also a bunch of people make when it comes to Spelling, Punctuation, and Grammar. Because you are already frustrated, let’s use their famous nickname : SPaG. SPaG is not the most important in improving your writing in English. But, it is necessary for good writing. Don’t let them block you. They are good friends of ours. Spelling What I mean by spelling is not just a as in alpha, b as in beta, or z as in zulu. I am referring to how you write words. When you start to write, just spell words as you know them. Check them later. A spell checker on your computer can do spell-checking. But don’t only rely on it. It won’t detect spelling errors such as ‘their’ for ‘there’ since. Both of these are correct spellings. You could use a help from Google Docs to do more spelling checks. For example, I write : Those are there shoes. The correct sentence is : Those are their shoes. Google Docs will give suggestion like this : Another word about spelling, you may need to choose between British English spelling or American English. Both are okay. Just remember to be consistent to use only one. Don’t mix them up. If you have doubts about spelling, consult the dictionaries. They are experts. Punctuation Always end a sentence with a period. (The little dot at the end of the sentence.) If you always do it, you are ready for other punctuation marks. Question mark (?) to tell readers that there is a question. Comma (,) has a lot of jobs other than giving you pause to take a breath. Colon, semicolon, hyphen, quotation mark, hyphen, dashes, apostrophe, using them necessarily will give you less trouble than not using them at all. I’ve got some help to understand more about punctuation from one of Mignon Fogarty’s books, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. There are a lot of useful examples that you could apply right away to your writing. Head here to learn directly from the source here on : https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl/ Grammar Ah, grammar. The one that makes everything harder. Well, that’s not true. The correct use of grammar helps the reader to understand better what you want to tell them. You want to write a story about something that happened in the past, you need the past tense. You don’t want to repeat words in sentences, okay, you got the coordinating conjunctions. Imagine you have to write these : There’s a library in that building. There’s a restaurant in that building. Too long. Make it short. There’s a library and a restaurant in that building. The word “and” is a coordinating conjunction. It's simple grammar but it already helped you. Cheer up! Grammar could do more if you could choose which grammar you really need. Remember to put this in your mind : Grammar helps me, not blocks me. 8. Learn how to write in process (6 steps) By the time this post is published, I am currently preparing for my C1-Advanced exam, one of Cambridge English Qualifications. I need to practice my writing for that and I got a nice book to be one of my guides. It’s “Writing From Start to Finish” written by Kate Grenville, a winner of the prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction. There is a simple six-step guide to help you to write from the start. Head to the book to learn from Kate Grenville here : https://kategrenville.com.au/books/writing-from-start-to-finish/ This book tends to guide long writings such as novels, essays, reports but the six-step guide could be used the same way to do even a short stories assignment given by your English teacher or 1000-word homework from the online course. The six-step guide is : Getting ideas Choosing Outlining Drafting Revising Editing If you get yourself to write in the order of the process, you will be able to know where to start and how to finish. The ideas you already have will not be wasted. 300-word can be 1000-word. Conclusion Improving your writing in English is possible only if you want to improve. Knowing how to do it is different from really doing it. Pick one or two ways that fit you. See if you are improving. If you're not improving, change the way you do it. Stay tuned! Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. 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