About the Book “Improve Your Writing Skills”
“Improve Your Writing Skills” is an English grammar guide book which particularly focuses on “improving your writing skills” in English and specially designed for those students of the English language who are aspiring to be good writers in English in the near future.
The ebook gives all the essential tips and tricks on how to improve your writing skills in English throwing light on different areas of your language skills, giving you proper guidance notes about enhancing your written English and preparing you to be a qualified and authoritative writer in English.
The most important topics that have been covered in the book include: tips and tricks, understanding audience and form, generating ideas, taking notes, punctuation marks, grammar, spelling, sentence structures, good style, paragraphs, editing, presentation, writing strategies.
What is Special in This Book?
It’s always recommended that you first go through the contents of the book you’re going to read for improving your writing skills in English so that you can make sure that what you’re reading is the best fit for your level. There are several factors as to why you prefer this book for writing skills. Here are some of them:
- All Inclusive Book: The book under discussion is one of the most influential books on writing skills. The book covers all the necessary topics that you need to enhance the written English of yours. It has a wonderful list of selective topics which directly beautify your writing skills.
- Great Teaching Style: The author uses his unique teaching style to educate the learners of the English language about enriching their written communication. The lessons have been beautifully written which are clear, brief and easy to understand. The book will be the choice.
- Tips and Tricks: One of the most appealing part of the book is that it gives tips and tricks to enhance writing skills in the introduction part. It provides you with the amazing guidance about wr
Table of Contents
Introduction
Structure
No grammar
Practice
Guidance
Plain style
Use a dictionary
1. Audience, form, and function
Take control
Choose your style
Remember the reader
Multiple audiences
Choose your terms
Good manners
Good form
Form switching
Clarity wins
2. Generating ideas
Background
Start brainstorming
Put it on paper
Pick the best
Concept trees
3. Taking notes
Processing information
How to take notes
Notes — not writing
Abbreviations
Taking notes from speech
Books and articles
Short quotes
Isaiah Berlin — ‘Tolstoy on Art and Morality’
4. Punctuation
The comma
The semicolon
The colon
The apostrophe
The possessive case
Contraction
Miscellaneous punctuation
5. Grammar
Case agreement
Syntax
Conjunctions
Sentence construction
Gender
6. Spelling
Why is it so difficult?
Homophones
Noun or verb?
House style
Improve your spelling
7. Sentences
Clarity and brevity
Simple syntax
Clauses
Keep it simple
8. Vocabulary
Context is important
Jargon
Synonyms
Abstraction
Exaggeration
Tautology
Cliché
Euphemism
9. Paragraphs
Definition
The topic sentence
Connections
Paragraph structure
Bulleted lists
10. Good style
Clear style
Poetic style
Formal style
Informal instructions
Fluent style
Old-fashioned style
Modern style
Tone
11. Drafting
Multiple drafts
Thinking time
Generate sentences
Rewrite sentences
Eliminate mistakes
Re-arrange paragraphs
Appropriate vocabulary
Re-write paragraphs
Delete irrelevance
Add material
12. Editing
Attention to details
Multiple edits
Editing checklist
Poor bulleted list
Before editing
After editing
13. Presentation
Page layout
Handwriting
Page margins
Typing
Word-processing
14. Writing strategies
Unplanned writing
Plan — draft — revise
Outline — draft
Draft — revise
The polished draft
Expansion
Cut and paste
Improvise
Collaborative writing
15. Structure
Introductions
Sample introduction
Contents
Logical order
Novel approaches
Headings
Bulleted lists
Conclusions
Sample conclusion
16. Writing essays
What makes a good essay
The essay writing process
17. Using computers
Re-write ad infinitum
Spelling checkers
Text emphasis
Fonts + fonts = fonts
Avoid over-writing
Save your work
18. Electronic writing
Writing on the Internet
What is Netiquette?
Frequently asked questions
Visual emphasis
Emoticons
19. Common problems
The blank sheet of paper
The over-personal tone
Over-generalising
Moralising
Signposting
One…
Repetition
Over-writing
20. Bad writing
Using speech patterns
21. Writer’s block
‘It’s just a problem of the first sentence’
‘I’m not quite ready to start yet’
‘I’ve got too much information’
‘I’m frightened of producing rubbish’
‘I’m stuck at the planning stage’
‘I’m not sure in what order to put things’
‘It’s bound to contain a mistake somewhere’
Summary: Improve Your Writing Skills
Improving your writing skills is one of the most important things when you start the journey of writing in English. You need to learn different relevant grammar topics such as punctuation marks, writing style, sentence structure, different types of written communication, tips and tricks if you really want to enhance your writing skills in English.
Remember that, apart from using a handy writing guide book, you need to read different types of writings presented by different authors so as to how they write. Read blog posts, newspapers, magazines, articles, etc. Make sure that you remain regular during the entire writing journey of yours. Remember that writing, like speaking, is a powerful mode of expression.