Written English is incredibly important, and developing your writing style is one of the most important things you can do as an English learner. Whether you will use English in everyday life, or just want to grow your existing language skills / written level, making sure that your English grammar is as accurate and correct as it can be is one of the best ways to communicate clearly and effectively.
Take a quick read through our top 5 tips to help you improve your grammar when writing in English:
1: Writing Style
Think about your audience, and the purpose of your writing, because it will play a part in the grammatical structures that you should use. If, for example, you are writing in a higher educational context, you will likely need to write in a slightly impersonal style that uses the passive voice.
When writing in an Academic scenario, the example below does not fit the educational style:
“I don’t believe that the people that did the survey were telling the truth”
Whereas the following example does:
“It is suggested that the participants of the study may not have been fully truthful in their responses”.
It is always a good idea to take guidance from some texts in books or online to see how the grammar is linked to the style of the writing.
2: Review & Edit
One of the biggest benefits of written English, compared to things like spoken English, is that there is time to create ideas, and time to develop them. Firstly, focus on the idea of your writing more than how accurate it is. If you are focusing on the grammar straight away, the other important areas such as spelling, vocabulary, and fluency will likely be overlooked.
Look over the first draft of your work and start to make changes. It’s a great idea to take a short break and come back with a fresh outlook if you have the time.
3: Feedback
Ask a teacher, a native speaker, or a friend to check your work. It’s easy to become overwhelmed and discouraged if you come back to a lot of corrections, but stick with it and try to see errors and mistakes as opportunities to learn. You should be sure that you understand the corrections and feedback, and if you don’t, then ask. It’s important to understand the corrections, but also understand why it was needed so you don’t make the same mistake again.
4: Keep a list
If you notice any mistake patterns in your written work, it might be an idea to compile a list that you can use in future written work. You can ask your proof-reader to help you with this. For example:
- Use contractions in informal writing
- Capitalise proper nouns
- Etc
5: Keep practicing
Despite how we each learn, it can be agreed that repetition is one of the most helpful tools and methods of learning a second language, and works well in committing new language to memory. If you find that you have trouble in a certain area, for example, a specific tense, then be sure to do a lot of practice exercises around that field, taking each one into careful consideration.
It is important to get a lot of practice at writing, so that you can join grammar with other aspects, such as spelling, vocabulary, clarity, and consistency.
Be sure to have patience when learning; writing, as with other elements of language learning, is a skill that takes time to develop. Allowing yourself to feel overly stressed can cause you to feel defeated which can make learning not fun for you. Enjoy the learning process and celebrate your achievements!
