How to Write More Effectively in English

What is your view of writing? Do you enjoy it? Dread it? Or are you somewhere in the middle? Many people, including native-English speakers, fear writing due to various reasons. This includes lack of experience, not enjoying it, believing it’s too complicated, etc.

Today, a huge amount of daily communication in the professional world is done by means of writing, not speaking. This includes emails, text messaging, social media messaging, and other similar platforms. Actual physical writing is much less common today than even 10 years ago!

Writing is an art of its own! Writing in a professional and meaningful way can help you communicate more effectively with others and attain your desired results. Thus, learning better writing skills allows you to learn more about a language and how to use it more effectively. The more you practice it, the better you will get. During this process, you may even discover that you enjoy it! Let’s discuss a few practical steps you can take to improve your own English writing skills right away.

Five Key Tips

While writing a cover letter, email, and instant message each have their own unique etiquette, here are a few general, but essential, tips to keep in mind when writing in English.

• 1) Be Clear & Concise: Avoid being too wordy or using overly-complicated words when you write. While it’s good to use professional terms and phrases, unnecessarily long sentences and flexing all the vocabulary words you know can leave your recipients confused, uncertain, and even slightly offended. Thus, by being clear and concise with your written message, your reader is more likely to grasp your message and know what action they need to take.
• Eg.  “Today, fellow readers, we will take the long-awaited opportunity to at last discuss the fundamental principles of writing an eloquent, well-written paper.”  VS “Today, we will discuss the fundamental principles of writing a quality paper.”
• 2) Be Professional: In business, write in a more formal and conservative manner, especially if the person you are writing to is a customer, of higher authority, or somebody you don’t know. Unless you share a close relationship, sounding too casual could cost you an opportunity to make a meaningful connection. Along the same line of thought, avoid using emojis in your writing…
• Eg: “Hey, I wanna ask you something! ??" VS. “Dear Mr./Ms/Mrs…., I would like to make an inquiry.”
• 3) Use a Positive & Active Tone: Writing in this way will help you to sound optimistic and show the readers you are proactive about solving problems, even if it is a big one. Conversely, writing in a pessimistic manner may come across as immature, lazy, rude, and show that you are unwilling to help solve the issue.
• Eg. A customer has sued your company.
• Positive:  Dear Mr. CEO, we have an issue on our hands, I have written some potential solutions below.
• Negative:  Mr. CEO, your poor business policy has gotten us sued, what are we supposed to do now?
• 4) Anticipate Your Readers’ Questions & Concerns: The better you understand your audience, their concerns, questions, and needs, the better-equipped you are to deliver your message in a way that will motivate them to take the action you want. Research, ask questions, and aim to understand what your audience’s needs and desires are, this knowledge is invaluable!
• 5) Proofread: Never forget this step! Re-read everything, reorganize, edit, and adjust needed sections with the goal of ensuring your content conveys your desired message. Additionally, use this time to correct any technical errors, such as grammar, spelling, style, and tone. Repeat this step as many times as you need. Make sure you feel confident and proud of your work!

Conclusion

As with anything in life, writing is a challenging art that takes time and effort to master. However, the benefits you can attain from quality writing, whether it’s for an interview, business report, presentation, or email are well worth it! In conclusion, take action: apply the steps discussed in today’s article and practice your writing regularly and diligently. Proper action will lead to results!

If writing in English is something you’re looking to improve, please consider connecting with me! I offer writing skills practice as part of my Business English course along with other essential business English skills.

Free 30-minute Strategy Session:

https://calendly.com/languagelearningcr/30min

To your success,

Carlos R.