How to Improve Your English Writing 

Do you wonder what you can do to improve your English writing? 

You’ve studied English for years. You can understand what you read and most of what you hear. You can get around in English and carry on a conversation.

But it’s hard to express what you want to say in writing.

Maybe you know you’re making errors that make you look less professional than you are.

There has never been a time with more opportunity for worldwide communication. Often that communication will be in English. Don't miss having a part in those conversations, oral or written!

Two Keys to Writing Better English

There are lots of ways you can improve your writing skills in English, from studying English grammar to watching movies or listening to podcasts. But the most useful activities will usually involve reading (until the way English speakers express themselves in writing feels natural to you) and proofreading what you write.

(Proofreading what you've written aloud can often help you notice mistakes-- or at least check when something doesn't sound quite right.) Good writers often spend much more time revising and proofreading their work than writing the first draft.

That effort pays off for the readers-- it's so much clearer and more persuasive. (Often it's briefer as well!) 

Here's a little more detail on these two keys-- and a free checklist to make revision and proofreading easier.

To Improve Your English Writing, Try Reading!

Reading in English as much as you can is so important if you hope to write well in English! (For suggestions about what to read, see Find English Reading, Online Reading, and the articles in pages linked from Reading Articles to Improve Your English. You could also subscribe to the English Detective newsletter, which suggests interesting online reading and/or listening materials.)

If you are just starting to learn English, before you work on your writing review some of the excellent free classes or video lessons online. (I've suggested some on Learn English Free-- for Beginners.)

Be sure to read all you can in English. Even simple English stories will help so much when you are ready to write! See Easy Reading for ESL Beginners for some ideas.

Free Revision & Proofreading Checklist 

Revising your writing is essential to writing improvement. You need to read over what you've written (out loud) and ask yourself:

• Have I forgotten anything I planned to say?
• Could I improve what I wrote by changing its order?
•  Could I strengthen the transitions between sections?
• Did I include examples and evidence for everything I claimed?
• Are my explanations clear?
• Are there better words for something I wrote?
• Did I use unnecessary words or filler that I could remove?

Then you need to check for errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

This can be a lot to remember, every time you write!

So I wanted to offer a revision and proofreading checklist to help! You can download it here.

It' so handy to have it on your computer so you can ensure your writing is complete and correct, every time.

The checklist lets you review and revise your writing for clarity and completeness. Then proofread for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and grammar errors.

There's a final (optional) page that explains compound and complex sentences. It can help  you recognize and remove sentence fragments, run-ons, and some common errors with commas. 

More Resources for Improving Your English Writing 

The checklist above doesn't explain all the spelling, punctuation, and grammar rules, but there's never been a better time to find such explanations online if you need them. 

I especially recommend the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) which Purdue generously shares online so others can benefit as well as their own students. I decided to link to the page specifically for multilingual students or professionals who are not native English speakers, since it highlights common problems.

It has resources on using adjectives and adverbs, articles (especially tricky for many), prepositions, verb tenses and irregular verbs, punctuation, and much more. Halfway down the page there's also a section on workplace, job search, and international business writing.

The top of that page starts with a link to access all OWL resources (including for native English speakers)-- worth checking as well!

You can also find English writing information on other pages in EnglishHints. See especially Learn to Write English (and its links to pages on writing essays, transitions, proofreading, and other aspects of writing.)

Remember, better English writing skills can open “a world of opportunity” to you! Keep practicing! That's the best way to improve your English writing!

Home > Learn to write English > Improve Your English Writing.

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