7 Ways to Improve English Writing Skills | IELTS | EXAM | ESSAY | ACADEMIC

hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy today i've got a video that i've never really done before I've never really spoken about writing as far as I know so this one has been highly requested I know a lot of you are doing your IELTS exams so I have got 7 top tips that are going to help you improve your writing quickly before we get started I'd just like to thank the sponsor of today's video lingo de lingo de is an amazing online language academy they don't just teach English they also teach Spanish German and French you can subscribe to lingo de on a monthly package basis and you will gain access to a combination of both group and private video lessons with real qualified native teachers it's actually highly relevant to this video because you you really ideally want somebody to check through your writing so in your private lessons on lingo de you can mention that you'd like them to look at your writing and that's what you can focus on for that lesson lingo de has given all English with Lucy subscribers a special discount you can get fifty dollars or fifty euros off your first month that lingo de all you have to do is click on the link in the description box and apply this code at checkout let's get started with the lesson so my first tip for improving your writing is keep it simple now I know this seems really really obvious but I always say to my students simple done accurately is better than complicated done inaccurately in other words is better to keep things simple and do it well rather than over complicate everything and do it badly so in English writing exams you want to show off your English but you want to show off your accurate English not all this English that you don't know or haven't learnt yet now that leads me on to point number two in order to avoid making mistakes in your writing it's a really really good idea to have a collection of set phrases and key words that you can use in that exam so my tip number two is prepare key phrases now you do have to be careful with this you don't want to rehearse what you're going to write but you do want to have a nice selection of things that you could possibly say if the time arises now especially on the IELTS exam and I know a lot of you are studying for this but this really goes for any academic writing exam you want to have linking words and key phrases prepared now I'm going to give you a list with two examples for each point it doesn't cover everything that you need to know but if you study everything in the list you will be much much more prepared for your English writing exam so pay attention and if there's any point that you think I really could expand on that go and do your research and prepare yourself you want to make sure that you have a variety of different ways to compare in the same way at the same time contrast on the contrary however give examples for instance to illustrate give your opinion from my perspective from my point of view generalize overall all things considered to express certainty undoubtedly of course to express a partial agreement in a way to some extent to show cause owing to do - to show effect for this reason consequently to mark time to begin with following this to add information furthermore moreover to express condition unless provided that and to conclude in summary in short so that's just a very brief list showing you exactly what you need to study to be fully prepared for any English writing exam now point number three and definitely definitely definitely for academic writing ie English tests or university pieces do not use contractions or is that don't use contractions so cannot - can't do not - shall not to Charlotte I am too I'm these are all examples of contractions and in your writing exams you want to avoid these I know that you guys really really really want to keep your word countdown because you are restricted and you want to show off as much as you possibly can but I've got lots of tips for reducing your word count coming up so make sure that you do not feel tempted to include contractions in your academic writing so tip number four reduce your word count use as few words as possible completely contradictory because I've just told you that you should not use contractions but I've got some really really good mini tips within this big tip to help you keep your word countdown and your English level up the first one is avoid these deadweight words like very so a lot really I have mentioned this before in a video but if you want to show off your English avoid these they're pointless they are empty calories in English replace them instead with a strong word so instead of saying really happy I would say I am elated instead of saying so scared I would say terrified okay so by using strong words and avoiding these boring words you can reduce your word count by a fair bit now another way to really reduce your word count but really improve the quality of your writing is avoiding there is and there are we want everything to be as clear as possible and sometimes there is and there are can act as fillers they add extra words to our sentences so I'm going to give you an example so you can see this and bear it in mind next time you're doing an academic piece of writing sentence 1 there are many problems that we may encounter there are many problems that we may encounter sentence 2 we may encounter many problems we may encounter many problems the first sentence has 8 words the second sentence has 5 words you have reduced your word count and you have increased the quality in the clarity of your writing so make sure you apply this in your next exam number five read the right documents read the right pieces of writing I know many of you like to read in your spare time you like to do it for fun and a lot of you will read books in English which is amazing for improving your spelling and improving your vocabulary as well but if you're trying to get a good score in an academic writing exam you might not be reading the right kind of thing look at the potential pieces of writing that they're going to ask you to do are they asking you to write articles reports essays maybe they're asking you to write all three if they are read all three you need to go online or go to your library and read articles read reports read essays read reviews do everything you can to familiarize yourself with all the styles of writing number six is one that you will have heard in schools so many times but I've worked as a teacher for many many years and I get so frustrated with silly stupid mistakes that I know that my students know they don't make these mistakes when they're speaking so why do they make them when they're writing so many times I've gone and I've prepared a lesson because I've seen that there are some very clear mistakes in my students writing and I prepare a lesson to correct this mistake and when I go to teach it they say but teacher we already know this this is baby stuff and it's because they don't check their work I have a clear example of this I used to work as a proofreader I used to check through documents before they got sent off to publishers to make sure that they were all correct that there was no spelling mistakes there were no grammar mistakes there was nothing nothing wrong they were all perfect and I was amazing at doing this I could get every single mistake just by looking at a document from a distance I could pick out those errors however if you follow me on instagram you will see that I make spelling and grammar mistakes all the time why because I don't check I don't check my writing I am a native English speaker and I make spelling mistakes granted many of them are due to autocorrect on my phone which I'm battling with but a lot of them are my fault and I don't check them so I don't see them I know when you finish an exam you're like oh I'm done I want to move on to the next question but you can avoid so many point deductions just by checking through your works so please please please make it your absolute priority I personally think it's much better if you write less and check more fewer words higher accuracy and I know normally I promote fluency over accuracy but not in writing exams in writing exams you want perfection now number seven is perhaps the most relevant and the most difficult of all especially if you're in really remote parts of the world number seven is write and get it checked right and get it checked and unfortunately the getting it checked thing is a lot harder than it seems you want to write as much as possible checking of course it used to really annoy me when my students would come in with five essays but they I was so happy that they're done that but then I saw that they'd made loads and loads of stupid mistakes and I just thought oh why didn't you check it I'm just regretting the same thing over and over again but write as much as you can check it and then see if you can find somebody to correct it now I'm not saying find a complete stranger it's got to be in their interest to correct it as well I personally think it's very unlikely that you're going to find a random teacher on the internet that will be willing to check your writing free however there are lots of services and penpal sites if it's like a mutual exchange if you find somebody who wants to learn your language and they can help you with your English then you can do that or like I mentioned on services such as lingo de and you can just have a straight hour of analyzing writings that you've already done and already sent them but I will say especially to my younger viewers really really really be careful when you're contacting people online to practice your English make sure it's a trustworthy person because there are so many predators that want to talk to especially young girls to practice their English and it doesn't actually turn out to be a English practice it turns out to be something quite different so please please please be careful if you've got the funds and if you've got the time get a proper teacher and pay them to help you it's the only way that you're going to be guaranteed the proper skills and the proper qualifications and also the proper incentive why would a random stranger on the internet want to help you with your writing what's in it for them always think about that right guys that's it for today's lesson don't forget to check out lingo des you can take advantage of this about your code by clicking on the link in the description and applying it at checkout when purchasing your first month or subscription don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media I've got my facebook my Instagram and my Twitter and I'll see you soon for another lesson [Music] [Music] you

Channel: English with Lucy

Views: 1,193,470

Keywords: improve english writing, english writing skills, improve english writing skills, how to improve writing, learn english writing, ielts, ielts writing, improve ielts writing, english writing tips, english writing mistakes, english grammar, english vocabulary, linking words, ielts linking words, improve essay writing, essay writing, improve exam writing, exam writing, english with lucy, learn english, learn english with lucy, lucy bella earl, english tips, english study tips

Id: ZP_axfR9NKM

Length: 12min 34sec (754 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 25 2017