Do you want to write better English?
Read this guide!
On this page, we discuss four ways to improve your written English. (The first two are the most important.)
Let’s get started.
1. Read in English
This is the first thing you must do.
If you want to write English well, you need to read in English a lot.
I’m not talking about reading a little…every now and then…for a couple of weeks.
That’s not enough.
Your reading has to be consistent and ongoing.
Which means you need to adjust your routine so you can read in English every day.
This is NOT optional.
It’s impossible to improve your writing without a lot of reading!
How Reading Improves Your Writing
First of all, reading increases your vocabulary.
Without a strong vocabulary, it’s impossible to write English well.
Imagine having to write an English essay titled “The Best Diet for Weight Loss” without knowing words like calorie, appetite, nutrition, supplement, or intake. It’s going to be difficult.
More importantly, reading helps you write in a way that conforms to grammar rules.
The reason non-native speakers make many writing mistakes is that they don’t have enough exposure to “correct” English.
To make my point, let’s discuss the word “advice,” which some people use incorrectly:
The above example uses “advices,” which is incorrect; the word has no plural form.
For people who read English a lot, they rarely make obvious mistakes like this.
This is because the more you read, the more you’re exposed to the proper usage of the word:
- “His advice was very helpful.” (Not “His advices were very helpful.”)
- “Let me give you some advice.” (Not “Let me give you some advices.”)
- “That’s a good piece of advice.” (Not “That’s a good advice.”)
So if you want to write correct English, spend more time reading English.
But Why Not Study Grammar Instead?
Now you might be wondering, “If I want to write grammatical English, isn’t it faster to study grammar rules?”
No, you cannot replace reading with studying grammar.
You see, the English language has a lot of subtleties (rules or details that are complicated or difficult to explain).
It’s hard to understand these subtleties by simply studying grammar.
Let me give you an example.
Consider the words say, speak, tell, and talk. To a beginner, the differences between these words are subtle and confusing. It’s difficult to teach someone these distinctions through explanation alone.
The best way to master these words is to read a lot so that you see countless usage examples.
That’s why reading is irreplaceable.
Also, the English language has a lot of anomalies—things that don’t seem to follow specific rules.
For example, why can we say “He did well in school“ instead of “in his school” or “in the school?”
Why can we say “He lives in a bad part of town” instead of “part of the town?”
Why do we say “two fish” and not “two fishes?”
Why is it okay to say “Let’s change course” instead of “Let’s change the course?”
These exceptions can’t be learned by memorizing rules (because they seem to contradict the rules). The best way to learn them is through massive exposure to the language.
What Kind of Reading Materials Should You Read?
If you want to write well, you need to expose yourself to quality writing.
If you read something that’s full of mistakes, it will have a negative influence on your written English.
My favorite type of reading materials are books.
In terms of quality, books are superior to content on the web.
Most books are reviewed carefully by professional editors before they get published, so they have very few grammatical errors.
By contrast, the writing you find online (web articles, Facebook posts, message boards) tends to contain misspelled words, improper word usages, poor sentence construction, and grammar mistakes. (Native speakers do make grammar mistakes too, especially when writing stuff online.)
That’s why reading books is the best way to expose yourself to quality writing in English.
If you don’t have much money to buy books, no worries. You don’t have to buy expensive physical books. You can buy digital books on Amazon and read them with the Kindle reading app.
Many digital books are free or very cheap. (This would not be possible with physical books due to printing and distribution costs.)
For book suggestions, check out this page.
2. Practice Imitation
Although reading is great, it’s a “passive” activity—a slow way to improve your English writing skills.
If you want to improve faster, you need to “actively” practice your writing skills.
But how should you practice?
Should you write in English about a random topic?
Should you start writing a diary in English?
While these writing exercises could be useful, I have a better practice idea for you.
You see, the problem with writing English on your own is that if you make mistakes (which you definitely will), there’s no way to correct them. And if you repeat these mistakes often, they’ll turn into hard-to-break habits.
Moreover, when you write something by yourself, you use only the words you know. So it doesn’t increase your writing vocabulary.
For these reasons, random writing may not be the best practice for beginners.
A better method would be the Imitation technique.
It’s a way to learn English writing by “copying” the writing of native speakers.
Watch this video to see how it works:
This exercise will train you to write like a native. It will also expand your writing vocabulary.
It will improve your writing faster than anything else!
That said, it takes time to see improvement. So don’t practice for only a week and expect to become a good writer.
Practice regularly for at least two months or until you’re happy with your writing skills.
You can practice by copying the text of the English book you’re reading. As I said earlier, books have better writing than other materials, so they’re perfect for Imitation practice.
3. Write Freely
After you’ve spent considerable time practicing Imitation, you should no longer make obvious writing errors. And your writing should be perfectly comprehensible.
At this level, you can do something more challenging.
Now you can practice writing English in your own words, without copying anyone.
Obviously, this is going to be harder than Imitation.
While Imitation improves basic skills like sentence structure and vocabulary, writing freely develops high-level skills such as word choice (choosing the right words to convey ideas) and flow (organizing your points in a logical manner).
These advanced skills can’t be taught. You can sharpen them through practice only.
And free writing is the best exercise for that.
How you add free writing to your life is up to you. If you’re serious, you can add it to your practice schedule. For instance, you may practice Imitation 5 days a week and practice free writing 2 days a week.
During your free writing practice, you can write about anything you want:
- Your favorite movies, TV shows, or books, and why you like them.
- A short biography of yourself.
- What is democracy and how it works.
Alternatively, you can join English discussion websites like Reddit or Facebook groups related to your interests. It’s more interactive than writing something only you will see.
When you’re on these sites, don’t just read passively. Participate in discussions. Share your opinions. Write something!
The more you write, the better you are at expressing yourself. (If you don’t write often, your mind will go blank when you have to write.)
A Note to Beginners
The suggestion to write freely is suitable for intermediates and above.
But if you’re a beginner, writing freely may cause more harm than good.
Why? Because at this point your written English is completely different than that of a native speaker.
If you practice writing in your own words now, you’ll make many glaring mistakes, and your writing will be incomprehensible.
Over time, you might be able to write fast, but your writing will not be native-like.
So if your written English is weak, don’t practice free writing yet.
Do the first two activities (reading and Imitation practice). Skip this activity and the next one for now.
Once your writing becomes more proper, you can start writing in your own words.
4. Study Writing Guides
If you apply the previous suggestions, your writing will be good enough for everyday communication like writing emails, chatting with customer support, or sharing your thoughts online.
However, if you need to produce particularly high-quality writing, it requires some more work.
So ask yourself, do you need to produce these kinds of professional writing?
- Advertisements
- Business proposals
- Product manuals or instructions
- Company newsletters
- Research or scientific papers
- Academic essays
If so, you should read books on writing.
On Amazon.com, there are books that teaches how to write English well. (You can buy the digital versions and read them on your phone.)
These books can teach you important concepts such as punctuation, capitalization, subject-verb agreement, as well as useful writing tips like how to make your writing easy to read, how to make your ideas memorable, etc.
And if you need to learn a particular type of writing for your profession, there are books for that too.
For example, if you’re a marketer or product owner, you’ll benefit from books on copywriting, which teach how to write money-making advertisements and product descriptions. There are also books about writing research papers, fiction, and other writing endeavors.
Reading these books and applying their suggestions will take your writing to the next level!
Conclusion: How to Improve Your Written English
We’ve discussed four ways to develop writing skills in English:
- Read
- Practice Imitation
- Write freely
- Study writing guides
Now you might be thinking, “What if I need to spend time improving other skills such as my spoken English too? How am I supposed to find the time to do all these things?”
Don’t worry. You don’t have to do all four activities.
If you merely want to write good English for day-to-day communication, focus on the first two activities. They are the most impactful and useful for students of all levels.
This way, you keep things simple and doesn’t overwhelm yourself.
Most people don’t need perfect written English. So instead of spending countless hours improving your English writing skills, just be moderate about it so you have time for other pursuits.
However, if your profession involves writing professional English regularly, you probably need to add activities #3 and #4 to your routine as well.
You’ll have to work harder than most, but that’s what it takes to become proficient at English writing.
Thanks for reading. I wish you success in improving your English writing skills.
