Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • Hello.

  • My name is Emma, and in today's video I am going to teach you some great writing tips.

  • These tips are for both academic writing and non-academic writing.

  • Okay?

  • So it's for writing in general.

  • Now, this video is going to be in two parts, because I have so many tips, so I'm going

  • to give five tips in this video and five tips in the next video.

  • Okay, so let's get started.

  • So, there are so many different ways...

  • Or so many different types of writing we do in our lives; we write emails, we write essays

  • if we're a student, we might write a Facebook post, or we might write a resume or a cover letter.

  • So it's very important to develop your writing skills because you will be writing throughout

  • your life a lot.

  • So let's look at my first tip.

  • My first tip is: It's very important to think about the genre of what you're writing.

  • "Genre" is a very fancy word that pretty much means type.

  • So, a genre of writing might be an essay, or it might be a cover letter, or an email,

  • or a tweet.

  • These are all different genres, and each one of these has a different expectation on what

  • you should include and how you should write it.

  • So it's very important, first step is: Know the genre or know the type, and know what

  • is expected of you.

  • Also important in this is knowing your audience, or thinking about your audience.

  • So, for example, if you write an email, the language you're going to use and the way you're

  • going to write will be different if you write an email to your friend versus an email to

  • your boss.

  • So it's important to think about: "Who are you writing to?" because this is going to

  • help you decide what to write and how to write it.

  • Same with, you know, if you are on Twitter and you write a tweet, or on Facebook a Facebook

  • post, you know, it's important to think about your audience.

  • You know, are you writing this post for friends to see, or is this a post your boss might

  • see, or members of the public?

  • You know, and that could be a problem.

  • So it's important to think about, especially with this and on other social media, too:

  • Audience.

  • Who will see this and what will they think about it, and what are their expectations?

  • You know, some people work for companies where they're responsible for social media, so it's

  • important, too, the type of wording they use when they're writing on Facebook.

  • If you work at a company and you're writing for your company, it's going to be different

  • than if you're writing for your friends.

  • Same with an essay.

  • An essay has a certain structure, you know, it's supposed to be a certain amount of pages,

  • it has a certain organization to it, and so knowing what's expected of you when you write

  • an essay will help you because it's going to be very different than, for example, a

  • Facebook post.

  • Same with in business, business reports.

  • Understanding the format of a business report is important if this is something you're going

  • to be writing, and thinking about your audience.

  • Same with executive summaries, which is a type of thing businesspeople write.

  • If you're not in business you might not ever write one of these, but if you are in business

  • you need to realize that audience is important because professionals are going to be reading

  • this, and these people are busy, so, you know, knowing your audience and knowing what is

  • expected of you is the very first step to good writing.

  • Let's look at some other tips.

  • Okay, so we've talked about genre or the type of writing you're doing, and part of this

  • is knowing the expectations for how long what you write should be.

  • Okay?

  • So you want to know a bit about length expectations before you start writing.

  • This is really important, especially in university where you often have a number of pages you're

  • allowed to write.

  • It's important, you know, in the workplace because sometimes, you know, you can't write a lot.

  • And it's important, you know, on Twitter because you have a certain number of characters you

  • can use.

  • So length is very important because that's going to help you decide what to include in

  • your writing.

  • Okay, so let's look at this a bit more.

  • When I was younger I used to think long, meaning a lot of writing, was always better, but this

  • is not the case.

  • You know, the more you write, maybe you can include more detail, but a lot of the times

  • the person or your audience who's reading what you write does not have a lot of time,

  • and so they don't want to read long pieces of work.

  • Okay?

  • So it's important to know expectations.

  • So, for example, I have here the word "short" and "long", and so this is kind of like the

  • scale.

  • If you write a tweet it's going to be something short; a Facebook post might be a little bit

  • longer; a paragraph, you might write something like five sentences if in school you have

  • to write a paragraph on something; an email might be a little bit longer than this; a

  • cover letter you might use a full page; a resume maybe you might use two pages but nothing

  • more; and then you might write an essay which might be 5 pages, 10 pages, depending; and

  • then maybe a report which might be 50 pages-who knows?-depending on what's expected.

  • So my main point here is that different types of writing have different expectations with

  • length, and it's really important to follow those expectations.

  • For students who are writing the TOEFL or the IELTS, you only can use a certain number

  • of words, so this is very important for you to know and to really think about.

  • How are you going to get your message across using the right amount of words?

  • This is a key word we often talk about in good writing, and that's "concise".

  • So when you are concise, it means you say something with as few words as possible, but

  • still getting the meaning across.

  • So you are communicating your idea, but you're doing it in a short way, as short as you can

  • while still keeping the idea there.

  • So, in different cultures you have different rules about this.

  • In some cultures longer is better.

  • In English-speaking cultures usually we really want to get to the point, so we want something to be...

  • We want to communicate our idea, but we want it to be in a concise way, so using our words

  • very carefully so we don't use too many words.

  • So main point here: Know how long something you're writing should be, and paying attention

  • to this when you write.

  • All right?

  • Now let's look at my next tip.

  • Okay, so my third point might be one of the most important points in this lesson, and

  • that is: When you write something, very important to plan or to think about what you will say

  • before you write it.

  • This is something a lot of people don't do because they're busy, they feel like they

  • don't have a lot of time, or you know, they just don't have any ideas.

  • And the thing is, though, that this will really help improve your writing.

  • Okay?

  • And it doesn't matter what you're writing; planning out an email can be important, just

  • like planning out an essay can be important.

  • So let's think about some ways we can plan out what we want to write.

  • There are...

  • There are different ways to do this.

  • Some people like to make a plan by brainstorming.

  • So, for example, imagine you were writing a paragraph about cats, so you might have

  • your subject or your key idea here, and then you might think about: "Okay, what's something

  • about cats?

  • Hmm.

  • They make great pets", and then you might write some stuff about that.

  • Maybe they're quiet, so they make a good pet.

  • They're cheap.

  • Okay?

  • And so the thing is just getting out your ideas.

  • Okay?

  • And then you can organize your ideas better.

  • Or maybe, you know, you're thinking: "Okay, cats, they eat food.

  • What kind of food do they eat?"

  • So you can do the same thing with reports.

  • You can think about: "Okay, what's the main ideas that I need to talk about in this report?"

  • You know, where you just kind of brainstorm in advance.

  • I usually do that when I write reports, and I find it very helpful actually, just to get

  • my ideas down on paper, and then I organize them.

  • So, this is one method.

  • Another thing you can do is you can just write down everything, just like this, with a dash.

  • So, for example, if I was writing about cats in a paragraph, I might just start thinking...

  • Writing anything I think: "Quiet, cute, Grumpy Cat", okay?

  • And I might just write down all the ideas I have.

  • Now, of course, you're probably not writing an essay or a paragraph on cats; you're probably

  • writing something very different, but the idea is the same.

  • Okay?

  • The idea being it's important to plan, and these are different, great ways to get out

  • your ideas, and to think about them before you actually write.

  • Sometimes if you're writing an essay you might think in advance about your thesis or what your...

  • The main topic and the main argument of your essay is going to be.

  • So, for example, cats are better than dogs.

  • Maybe that's something I want to argue in an essay.

  • And then I might organize based on ideas, so I might write, you know, my first main

  • idea: "They're cleaner", and then I might put some details about that.

  • My second main idea is that they're great for apartments, and then I might write some

  • examples or some reasons why.

  • So, my main point is all of these can work.

  • Find what's...

  • What helps you in terms of planning.

  • There's many different ways to plan what you're going to write, but the most important thing

  • is to plan and to take some time to think about what you want to say in advance, because

  • it will really help your writing.

  • And it's very obvious when somebody hasn't planned what they're going to write, because

  • everything's disorganized and it's hard to follow.

  • Planning makes it easier for the audience to understand you.

  • Now let's look at another tip for how to write better.

  • Okay, so remember I said that it's very important to think about the type of writing you're

  • doing, and your audience or who's going to read it?

  • One of the reasons why this is important is because depending on the type of writing,

  • you're going to write either in a formal way or an informal way.

  • Okay?

  • And I'll explain why this is important to know and how it affects your writing.

  • So first let's talk about what that means.

  • Well, when you write something formally, this means that we choose certain words and certain

  • types of sentences, and we write a certain way, and we write this way because our audience

  • or the people who are going to read this are usually people from work so we want to be

  • professional, so we write formally when we're being professional.

  • We might write this way to strangers or customers.

  • Okay?

  • If we work somewhere and we need to write an email, we might use this type of language,

  • formal language.

  • And we also use formal language in high school, in university, in college when we're writing

  • for an assignment or for our homework, or something that our teacher or professor will

  • read.

  • Okay?

  • So we use formal writing mainly in work settings and in academic or school settings.

  • Now, this is different from informal writing.

  • Informal writing is the type of writing you will be doing with your friends, so maybe

  • for example a text message, that's informal; you might use this type of writing when you're

  • talking to children or writing something for children; and also on social media, so if

  • you write a tweet or a Facebook post, usually you'll be using informal language; and also

  • with your family, too, you usually use informal language.

  • So, I have here some examples of genres or types of writing that you might use the formal

  • version or the informal version.

  • So, under formal we have essays, if you do that at university or high school, it would

  • be formal; a cover letter, if you want to get a job and you have to write a cover letter

  • then this is going to be formal language you use; a report, if you work at a company and

  • you have to write reports, you'll be using formal language; or emails to customers you'll

  • be using formal language.

  • And there's a lot more; this is just some examples.

  • For informal, if you write a postcard to your family you'll be using informal language;

  • a text message would be informal; an email to your friend you would use informal language;

  • or maybe a birthday card.

  • Okay?

  • So it's important to think in advance what kind of language you're going to use.

  • Okay, so how can we make something formal or informal with our language?

  • There's a couple of ways to do this.

  • The first thing you need to think about is the words you're going to use or your vocabulary.

  • So, different words either fit into the formal category or informal category.

  • So, for example, if we were talking about a lot of something and we want to be informal,

  • we might use the word "lots".

  • So this is an example of an informal word: "lots"; we'd use this with our friends.

  • If we want to be a bit more formal, we're writing, you know, at the university level,

  • we might use the word "many"; this word is formal, whereas "lots" is more informal.

  • Okay?

  • Or same with if we're writing an email and at the very end of the email we sign our name,

  • we usually say something like "From", but we don't use the word "From".

  • We can say "Cheers" if we're writing an email, we can say, you know: "Cheers.

  • Emma", this would be informal.

  • Or if, you know, we're in a business and we need to be more serious and formal, we might

  • say something like: "Regards" or "Kind regards".

  • Same with different words, like: "Sorry".

  • "Sorry" is a little bit more informal, whereas the word "apologize" is more formal.

  • So, it's very important when you're choosing your words because a lot of words fit either

  • into this category or this category, and some words fit into both.

  • It's good to know the level of formality for the words you're using.

  • Now, if you're having a lot of trouble with this and you're thinking: "How am I going

  • to know if the word is formal or informal?"

  • There's a quick tip you can try; it doesn't always work, but in general, longer words

  • in English are often more formal.

  • So, the longer words are usually in this category.

  • It's not always the case, but just if you really don't know, it's a good way to guess.

  • And they're usually...

  • They come from Latin.

  • So, for anyone who's watching who's from France, from Spain, or South America, or Italy, or

  • who speaks a Latin-based language, if you have a word that's similar in your language,

  • it probably is a formal word in English or it's probably something you can use in a formal setting. Okay?

  • So usually the shorter words are the more informal words.

  • So now let's look at some other ways we can look at formality; formal versus informal.

  • Okay, so when we're talking about formal and informal writing, another thing to think about

  • is contractions.

  • So, what's a contraction?

  • A contraction is a short form of a pronoun, like: "I", "you", "he", "she", "we"; and usually

  • part of a verb, like: "am", "would", "will".

  • So, the short form is, in this example: "I am" becomes "I'm".

  • "I'm" is a contraction.

  • Or: "you would" can become "you'd", and that's a contraction.

  • "We will" becomes "we'll" for short, and that's a contraction.

  • So, contractions have an apostrophe here, and it's where some of the parts of this word

  • we just remove and so it becomes "will".

  • So, these contractions, and there's many in English, we use them in informal writing.

  • So if you're texting someone, if you're writing an email to a friend - this will make you

  • sound more informal.

  • Now, compare this to if you're writing an essay or a thesis at university, or you're

  • writing a report - we don't want to use contractions because these are informal.

  • So, if we're writing something formal, we would use something more like this; we do

  • not use contractions for formal writing.

  • Okay?

  • So that's another reason why we need to know what we're writing in advance, because we

  • want to decide if we'll use contractions or not.

  • My next point is about sentence types and sentence lengths.

  • When we're talking about formal versus informal, you'll find things that are usually informal

  • are short.

  • We usually use shorter sentences.

  • And in formal writing, you'll find sentences tends to be longer. Okay?

  • So, we can call this...

  • For informal we can talk about simple sentences, for example, a simple sentence: "Students

  • are stressed."

  • It's a short sentence that if you know about clauses, it only has one clause; if you don't

  • know about clauses, don't worry.

  • The point is it's shorter.

  • Now, compare this to something more complex.

  • "When a student begins university, they often report feeling stressed."

  • This is more of a complex sentence, it's longer, and you'll notice there's a comma in the middle

  • of it breaking it up into two clauses; and again, if you don't understand clauses, that's

  • okay.

  • The main point here is this, complex or longer is usually in formal writing, whereas simple

  • structures or simple sentences are more informal.

  • And again, you know, it's not always the case, but in general you'll find longer sentences

  • or more complex sentences are more formal.

  • You'll also find informal writing we use relative clauses more.

  • So, if you don't know what a relative clause is, that's okay.

  • These are, for example, they use the word: "who", "which", "that", "when" within the

  • sentence.

  • So, an example of a relative clause would be: "Jane Goodall, who works with chimpanzees,

  • is a wonderful woman."

  • So, if you don't know about relative clauses, I recommend looking this up.

  • In this video we don't have enough time to talk about them, but they can really help

  • your writing, especially if you're writing something in a formal situation.

  • All right, now let's look at some more tips on how to improve our writing.

  • Okay, so the last thing I'm going to say about formal writing versus informal writing, and

  • I'm talking a lot about this because it's actually a very important part of writing,

  • is I'm going to talk a little bit about slang, swear words, exaggeration words, and text

  • words, and when to use them.

  • So, slang, it's words we use with our friends, words like: "cool", I was going to say "groovy"

  • but nobody says that anymore, so, you know, there's all sorts of different types of slang.

  • It's a word that's very popular or an expression that's popular, but it's not a formal expression.

  • So, "cool" is a really good one, or "awesome": "That's awesome".

  • So, slang we use informally.

  • Same with swear words.

  • Okay?

  • So if you say a bad word, you know, sometimes you might say something to your friend, you

  • might use different swear words when you talk to your friends, hopefully not with strangers,

  • but with people you know well, but you would not use swear words in a formal writing situation.

  • So maybe you might use it in a text, but you wouldn't use it in a formal writing situation.

  • Also exaggeration words.

  • What's an exaggeration word?

  • "Very" is a good example.

  • "He is very funny", "She is very pretty", "He is really handsome", "He's totally hot",

  • okay?

  • So these types of words: "very", "really", "totally", we usually save these for informal

  • writing.

  • So if you're in university and you want to say something is "very", don't use the word

  • "very"; there are better words, like, you know...

  • There are a lot of other words you can use as opposed to these ones.

  • Another thing I wanted to say is there's a lot of words we use now, they're short forms

  • of words, like, for example: "lol" for "laugh out loud", "b4" for "before", "LMAO" for "laugh

  • my ass off", these are words we use informally.

  • Okay?

  • We do not use these in formal writing, so it's important in formal writing to always

  • spell out the word correctly, to use proper spelling, and to avoid some of these words

  • you might be seeing a lot on the internet or in text messaging or on Facebook.

  • Okay, so we've covered about formal and informal writing.

  • My last tip for this video is about the importance of using variety in what you're writing.

  • So what do I mean by "variety"?

  • Well, sometimes when people write, they have certain words that they use again and again

  • and again, and so there's not a lot of variety in their choice of words.

  • Or you might have somebody else who uses the same sentence structure; maybe they learned

  • the present perfect and they love the present perfect because it took them forever to learn

  • it, so now they use the present perfect in each sentence.

  • So this is not good because we really want variety in what we write, because we want

  • it to be interesting.

  • If you use something too much, it makes what you're writing look boring.

  • So, let's look at an example.

  • I have here a sentence: "Sales have increased.

  • They have increased for many reasons.

  • The increase is because people increasingly like spending money."

  • Can you tell me: Which word did I use too much?

  • If you said "increase", you're correct.

  • I used it one, two, three, four.

  • Okay, so that's too much in a piece of writing.

  • There are a lot of other words we could be using instead of "increase".

  • We could be using, you know: "go up", "rise".

  • There are a lot of other words.

  • And if you're not sure of another word for "increase", a good idea is to check a thesaurus.

  • There are a lot of online thesauruses that can help you add variety to your word choice.

  • So if you make this kind of mistake where you reuse the same word again and again and

  • again, try to learn some other words that have the same meaning.

  • This will really help your writing and make it more interesting.

  • The other thing I wanted to say is that we just talked about how you want variety in

  • words.

  • You also want variety in sentence types.

  • So you want to make sure that, you know, sometimes you use long sentences, and sometimes you

  • use short sentence, sometimes you use, you know, maybe words like: "although", "when",

  • "despite", "in spite of", and sometimes you might have something a bit simpler.

  • So instead of reusing the same sentence type and the same sentence structure, try to use

  • different tenses and different structures in the sentences you write.

  • Yeah, so different tenses and try to have different sentence lengths.

  • That will make your writing more interesting.

  • So, thank you for watching this video.

  • I know we covered a lot today, and I have a lot more writing tips coming soon.

  • So, we've covered a lot and there's a lot of things you can practice, so I invite you

  • to come visit our website at www.engvid.com, and there, you can practice what you've learned today.

  • I also invite you to subscribe to my channel; there, you will find a whole bunch of other

  • resources on different grammar points, you know, especially if you're interested in how

  • to add variety, different videos on vocabulary, on writing, on pronunciation, and all sorts

  • of other topics.

  • So I invite you to check that out.

  • Thank you for watching; and until next time, take care.

Hello.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it