How to improve my writing in English?

For certain reasons some people find it difficult to write in English and it can seem like a real challenge if they want to improve. However, you don’t need to worry. In this article we take steps to help you improve your written English and impress people with your writing skills.

Expand your vocabulary

To express yourself clearly, you need to have a good, broad and active vocabulary . It is not just about being able to recognize many words, but about having acquired the ability to use them correctly. To boost your vocabulary you learn new words with example sentences, just word lists are not enough.

• When you’ve learned a new word , try exploring all the forms of that word and the prepositions that are often used with it. (For example, instead of just the word to depend “depender,” make note of: depend on a dependent, be dependent on him). “depender de un dependiente, ser dependiente de él”.

Read regularly

There is an idea that we learn to write much better when we read . It is true that reading in English is useful in many ways. With this you can get an idea of ​​the different styles of writing and learn how to use words properly.

• Tip : choose books or / and articles on the topics you like. Read each of the texts several times to ensure you understand how to use new words and expressions in the text.

Read everything you can

In the same way that we found that listening is closely related to speaking, reading is also linked to writing, so our advice to improve your writing in English is to read as much as you can.

In this way you will be able to improve your vocabulary in quantity and also in quality , as well as in grammar, sentence structure and you will be surprised by the number of different ways of communicating ideas. For example: if you need to describe a house or a biography of yours, a great idea is to read other biographies or descriptions of houses, from books, magazines, brochures on the Internet or from any source you can think of.

Keep an English dictionary

You will be able to search for words to clarify their meaning or meanings and learn antonyms and synonyms to have enough resources not to repeat words or phrases, which will improve your communication skills.

Check your spelling before and after writing

Ask yourself this reflection , what do you think when you read something with misspellings in your own language? Bad spelling is very harmful and can spoil an important work to read. Furthermore, we generally write so that other people can read what we have written.

Keep a diary in English

 It is very important to get an English dictionary, as it will make you write in English every day to make writing a very efficient routine activity. In addition, it happens that you are “writing to yourself”, which can make you feel liberated and satisfied.

Learn to extend your basic sentences to more elaborate ones

In English there are five basic sentence structures:

Subject : – John studies; My friend is playing (John estudia; mi amigo está jugando)

Subject – Verb – Object : I like apples; Mary reads novels (me gustan las manzanas; María lee novelas)

Subject –Verb – Adjective : Jenny is happy; Linda is pretty (Jenny es feliz; Linda es bonita)

Subject – Verb – Adverb : She speaks fluently; These flowers are everywhere (Habla con fluidez; Estas flores están por todas partes).

Subject – Verb – Noun: My father was a chemist, You are a student (Mi padre era químico, tú eres estudiante)

Some examples of how you can expand them:

• John, my brother, studies at home. My long-life friend is always playing. John, mi hermano, estudia en casa. Mi amigo de toda la vida siempre está jugando.
• These small white flowers are everywhere during the summer. My father, who passed away several years ago, was a well-known chemist. Estas pequeñas flores blancas están por todas partes durante el verano. Mi padre, que falleció hace varios años, era un conocido químico.

Organize paragraphs to improve writing skills .

Learn to organize a paragraph

The most effective way to develop your English writing skills is to start your paragraphs with a topic sentence: it is a sentence that focuses on explaining what you are going to write . Reinforce it with supporting sentences: that is, sentences that provide more information on the topic. And it ends with a conclusion or kind of resolution: that is, it is generally about presenting a summary of the ideas that you have developed in the body of the paragraph. Learn to make transitions or links between paragraphs to mark the connections between ideas to create a fluid body of text.

Write an outline

In all kinds of writing in English, however simple it may be, you must maintain an organizational criterion to convey the message you have in your head in a clear and orderly way. There are many different ways of writing outlines and these have a lot to do with how you organize things in your mind.

Try to get someone to read what they have written

 A teacher, a tutor, a native speaker someone who knows or dominates English and can help you correct any mistakes you may have made, both in grammar and spelling as well as in the way you have organized the text of your paragraph.

You know well that writing in English is not really something that is achieved immediately, however, with hard and efficient work and gradual improvement you will definitely achieve it. Start writing very simple sentences and then get challenged to write more elaborate things. Ahead!