By Evan Parker

As you are preparing to learn English there are many different facets of the language that you will need to know.  An important part is writing.  You will find that writing is a major part and being able to do it properly will help you in your work and in your studies.

Quick Writing Tips

As you are beginning to write there are a few things that will help you.  The first and most important is to check your spelling.  While someone is reading what you have written and they come to a word that is misspelled they may not be able to interpret what that word is supposed to be.  Your reader will be so focused on guessing what that particular word means that they might not read the rest of what you have written or they could just discard it.

You will want to make sure that you are using the proper word.  An excellent example is the words there, their, and they’re.  These particular words have stumped quite a few individuals, native speakers of English included.  An example is:  My friend went to there new house.  This is the incorrect “there”.  You would have wanted to use “their”.  There are other words like them.  Knowing how and which one to use will be beneficial. For this you need a good learner’s dictionary, or use the internet.

More Tips

Another important tip is to make sure that you are using proper punctuation.  You also need to make sure that you are capitalizing the right words.  These two things are very important.  As you begin a sentence you will always want to have it begin with a capitalized word.  For example:  The man ran into the street.  (This is the correct way.)  the man ran into the street.  (This is incorrect.)

Punctuation can play a tricky role in writing.  You will want to know which type of punctuation you need to use at the end of your sentences.  If you are asking a question you wouldn’t put a period (.) you would put a question mark (?).  There is also the use of commas which can be tricky.

The most important thing is to read over what you have written.  You will find that once you read it over you yourself will find some mistakes that you have made.  Another excellent idea is to have someone else read it.  There are numerous individuals that have someone else proofread what they have written.

Also read this article with tips for (digital) writing tools to help you with your writing.