How to Improve Your English Writing Skills

Learning a language fluently involves knowing how to speak, listen, and write like a native. While students often learn to understand and speak English quickly, learning how to write in English can be a little trickier. By practicing your English writing skills, however, you’ll be surprised at how quickly you improve and how quickly your confidence grows. To get started, take a look at these top tips and find out how to improve your English writing skills now:

1. Read as Frequently as You Can

Many people are surprised to learn that reading is one of the most effective ways to improve English writing skills. When you think about it, though, it’s easy to see how reading can improve your ability to write in English. After all, the more time you spend reading in English, the more familiar you’ll be with how sentences are constructed. What’s more – reading can be a fun and enjoyable way to hone your writing skills. If you’re wondering what to read to improve English writing skills, you can start with books or topics that you’re interested in. Some people even find it helpful to read a book in English that they’ve already read in their native language. If you’re familiar with the text, it can be easier to understand what the author is trying to convey, which enables you to focus on the technical aspects of their writing.

2. Learn Basic Grammar

You don’t need to have advanced knowledge of grammar to be able to write in English, but you will need to know some of the basic principles. Identifying when to use a comma, semi-colon or colon will help you to formulate sentences accurately, for example. Similarly, knowing when a question mark or exclamation mark is needed will help you to write with more clarity and emphasis.

3. Use an English Dictionary

If you have access to an English dictionary, you can check the meaning of words when you come across them. When you’re writing, this can be helpful to confirm that the word you’ve chosen to use means what you think it does! Similarly, using a thesaurus will help you to find synonyms to use, so that your writing doesn’t become repetitive.

4. Start with Basic Sentences

The more you read, the more you’ll be exposed to advanced sentences in English. While you can certainly enhance your skills until you’re comfortable writing in this way, you don’t have to begin by using advanced sentences. Instead, learn how to write basic sentences in English and continue developing your skills until you feel comfortable and confident. Then, you’ll be ready to experiment with more advanced sentence constructions.

5. Write for Pleasure

If you want to know how to improve English writing skills, then practice is key to success. By writing for pleasure, you’ll practice more often and develop your skills more quickly. Keeping a diary in English can be a fun way to practice your writing skills and you’ll have the luxury of writing in a way that feels natural to you. If you want to use single words, abstract phrases, or simple sentences, you can do so.

6. Show a Native Speaker Your Work

When you are learning how to write in English, it’s helpful to have your work assessed by a native English speaker. As they will have advanced writing skills too, they’ll be able to point out any errors you’ve made and explain how to remedy them. Once you’re familiar with the most common mistakes people make when learning how to write in English, you’ll find it easy to avoid making them in the future.

7. Understand When to Start a New Paragraph

When you’re writing, you typically start a new paragraph when you want to move from one subject or sub-topic to another. Splitting the text into paragraphs makes it easier to read and it also adds a logical format to your piece of work. As you become more comfortable, you can advance your English writing skills by using paragraphs in a piece of text.

8. Know How to Write in Different Styles

When you speak in English, you’ll use different words and phrases depending on your surroundings. You might speak informally with friends but more formally at work. Similarly, the way you write will depend on the recipient or audience. If you’re writing an email to your boss, for example, you’ll need to use a more formal tone than if you’re sending a message to a member of your family.

Learning How to Write in English

Whether you’re a fluent English speaker and you want to perfect your writing skills or you’re a complete beginner who wants to learn the language, our native English tutors can provide the guidance and support you need. With a new course starting in September 2021, now is the ideal time to book your place and improve your English writing skills!