Writing skills mean the skills of composing literate, structured, meaningful texts that convey information and are beneficial to the reader.
Writing all academic papers requires the ability to put thought on paper properly. If you understand what’s wrong with the phrase, “There is no more voluptuous pleasure in the world than diving from a breakwater into the Red Sea on a moonlit night,” then you understand what a good text is.
Many students think that they know how to write about complex things simply and correctly. However, it turns out that they are not so good at writing when they receive their assignments back with low grades on them. To avoid such situations, it is better to get help from writing services like EssayShark.com. You will receive a sample of the paper that will show you how to deal with this or that assignment properly.
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Practice is the best improving method
Improving your English writing skills is best done when theory is connected with practice. If you studied something, put it into practice, and draw conclusions. This is the perfect algorithm. Our tip is this: practice writing regularly. It is not difficult to find time for this if you are responsible. A good way to start practicing is to make notes in a diary every day.
Search for a proofreader
Once you start to hone your skills, start looking for a proofreader. You need a person who will spend time reading your texts and telling you what is wrong and where. A proofreader can be found on special websites for money, but you can look for altruists. We can recommend the My Language Exchange service. On this site, people are looking for speakers of other languages to learn with their help.
A proofreader cannot simply be a native speaker or an expat who has lived in the country for a long time. This must be someone who has a flair for language and is also educated. Be sure to find a good proofreader; this will significantly speed up your acquisition of improving writing skills.
Grammar books and guides
You have started to practice. You have found a proofreader. Well, it’s time to get to work, but first, it would be nice to dive into the theory.
We should share with you two books that will help you a lot. We can recommend them because they are written clearly and explain the basic rules well. These are Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style Hardcover (by Benjamin Dreyer) and The Elements of Style (by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White).
You should understand that English is not the same everywhere. When deciding to learn to write better in English, you need to immediately determine which version of the language is your priority: British English or American English.
Once you decide on this, you need to set your laptop and Google Account (if you use Google Docs) to prioritize the language option. Then, errors will be automatically highlighted. For example, the word “customised” is used in the British version. In American English, it is “customized.” The choice of language also changes your vocabulary. The word “movie” always wins over the word “film” if you choose American English. In British English, it is more likely to use “film,” although “movie” also has its place. At this stage, the help of a proofreader is very important, who will tell you what is correct in a particular case.
The second interesting point is the guides. In English, the writing rules depend on which guide you are referring to. These rules cover not only the use of words but also how to use abbreviations, punctuation, quoting, mathematical symbols, and more. In English, there are different guides that do not agree with each other on some issues. A complete list of guides broken down by country is available on Wikipedia.
How will studying guides and books help you?
You will realize that the basic rules for creating text in English are the following:
- The text must have a clear and understandable structure.
- The most important thing needs to be said at the beginning, and then you should provide details rather than writing a whole preface to convey the conclusion at the end.
- If you want to convey some idea to the reader and not confuse them even more, it is better to remove all unnecessary things and not practice using epithets.
- There are recommendations that are often presented as rules, but they can be violated for the sake of style. For example, you don’t have to restrain yourself if you want to write a sentence starting with “but,” or you don’t have to be afraid to write “very tasty” instead of “delicious.”
- The same thought can be expressed in different words. You shouldn’t be hostile to the editor/proofreader’s edits, but you shouldn’t be afraid to argue and defend your vision. Benjamin Dreyer writes about this very well. In general, his book is very optimistic and cheerful. We highly recommend reading it.
The guides explain what is usually not covered in English courses: how to put commas and quotation marks and how to abbreviate words or hyphenate them. Books on style explain how best to structure sentences and text, when to use the passive voice, and when it is better to refrain from it. In general, this is a must for those who want to learn to write better.
In addition, we would like to remind you again that even a native speaker can make mistakes and give incorrect advice on the use or spelling of words. Have the guide handy to refer to if you have questions.
Decide on a language option, find a suitable style guide, and study it.
Use AI
This is the point that explains why Raymond Murphy’s textbook can be useless. Using neural networks, you can write grammatically good texts. They will not be perfect, with factual and speech errors, but without grammatical ones. With their help, you can quickly learn not to confuse tenses and find simple analogs for complex constructions.
