Better English Writing - Geddes Grosset Webster’s Word Power 2014

Keep reading
Keep reading and writing

The quickest way to better English writing is to keep reading - anything and everything you can get your hands on!

Here’s a list to get you started.

Newspapers

There are newspapers published in English in every country in the world - many of them online. They will keep you up-to-date with current affairs as well as improving your English. Look out for the ’five Ws and an H’ structure and keep an eye out for spin! The more you read, the more you will be able to analyse how writing skills and techniques are being used.

Magazines and ezines

As with newspapers, there are magazines published in English all over the world, and there is now a huge selection of ezines on the internet. They cover all differ ent sorts of interests and topics so read up on your favourite hobby while you are improving your English language skills.

Fiction

There are some wonderful books out there. It can be overwhelming thinking about where to start. Think about reading some of the classics, like Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. If a book has won a prize like the Man Booker Prize or the Pulitzer Prize it is usually (though not always) an indication that the book is going to be worth reading and is likely to reveal exemplary writing skills.

Choose from the great writers of the different genres of fiction: John Buchan

(thrillers), Ray Bradbury (science fiction), Robert Louis Stevenson (adventure), Raymond Chandler (crime), Bram Stoker (horror), Emily Bronte (romance). Often genres are more useful for booksellers than readers but it’s a starting point.

Look for writers who challenge our conception of the role of narrator such as Italo Calvino and Vladimir Nabokov. And writers who pay particular attention to the inner lives of their characters such as Iris Murdoch, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, George Eliot and Marcel Proust.

Look at writers who defy categorisation such as Muriel Spark. Spark’s minimalist narratives, especially in her later work, leave as many things unstated as stated. Other writers who have a somewhat similar approach to narrative are Evelyn Waugh and Ivy Compton Burnett.

Read writers in translation such as Calvino, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Proust, Emile Zola, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Haruki Murakami. Consider the great responsibility that a translator has in interpreting these works.

Non-fiction

Read the biographies and autobiographies of your favourite actors, politicians, sportsmen or women or musicians. Read travel journals and histories. Read recipe books (some people do that for pure enjoyment). Assess how well manuals and instruction leaflets are doing their job.

Textbooks and ’how to’ materials

If you enjoyed using this book, there are also lots of other textbooks and ’how to’ books available that will help you with spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and general writing skills.

Blogs

Go online and read some interesting blogs. There are an overwhelming number of them out there so why not start by looking for those on subjects in which you are interested. Some blogs are better than others, but again, you can use your own knowledge and skills to analyse them. Note which blogs you enjoy reading, and why. Ask yourself what it is about the writer’s style and approach that you like.

Newsletters

Again, there are lots of newsletters out there, and if you go into any business website, you will probably find they are using an online newsletter as a marketing tool.

If you buy a pr o duct online, you will probably receive a newsletter regularly from the company to tell you about new products and offers.

Clubs and groups often produce newsletters to tell members about forthcoming events and exciting news. Look at these with a critical eye. Have they been well written? Do they communicate information clearly and concisely? Are they appropriate for the audience? If not, how would you improve them?