How to improve my WRITTEN English

[Czechrebel 0]

Hello everybody,

I am not sure if I even post to the right forum but here I am.

I've been here in USA for about eight years and loving it. My spoken English is great, I have no problem of understanding, speaking or reading the language. I have BA in International Relations and writing papers ( thanks to English lab proof readers) was never an issue.

Recently, however, my friend commented on my facebook posts contain "grammatical tense error" . She didn't mean it in a bad way, she wasn't being rude or snarky.... but it still bothers me...and I ahve to admitt that she is right. I always ask my husband to proof read my letters or emails.

So the question is, how can I improve my written skills so that I can be truly proficient in written English?

Have a great day.

EVA

[Darnell 8,478]

practice !

grab a newspaper -

then handwrite / copy out 3 columns each day.

why? usage improves many things - so if yer copying a usa writer's work - stuff will sink in. over time.

do this each day for 3 months - report back when able !

[JohnR! 5,495]

Hello everybody,

I am not sure if I even post to the right forum but here I am.

I've been here in USA for about eight years and loving it. My spoken English is great, I have no problem of understanding, speaking or reading the language. I have BA in International Relations and writing papers ( thanks to English lab proof readers) was never an issue.

Recently, however, my friend commented on my facebook posts contain "grammatical tense error" . She didn't mean it in a bad way, she wasn't being rude or snarky.... but it still bothers me...and I ahve to admitt that she is right. I always ask my husband to proof read my letters or emails.

So the question is, how can I improve my written skills so that I can be truly proficient in written English?

Have a great day.

EVA

Check out the following books:

- The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage

- Who's (oops whose) Grammar Book is this anyway

- The blue book of grammar and punctuation

Consider buying and reading all three. Good luck!

-

[Girl from Celebes 588]

Hello everybody,

I am not sure if I even post to the right forum but here I am.

I've been here in USA for about eight years and loving it. My spoken English is great, I have no problem of understanding, speaking or reading the language. I have BA in International Relations and writing papers ( thanks to English lab proof readers) was never an issue.

Recently, however, my friend commented on my facebook posts contain "grammatical tense error" . She didn't mean it in a bad way, she wasn't being rude or snarky.... but it still bothers me...and I ahve to admitt that she is right. I always ask my husband to proof read my letters or emails.

So the question is, how can I improve my written skills so that I can be truly proficient in written English?

Have a great day.

EVA

Though your friend was right according to you, but she doesn't have right to put comment on your post and corrected you. That's quite arrogant, in my opinion. If she wanted to correct your grammatical error, she would choose send you a private message and you can edit it afterwards.

English is not my mother tongue neither many of my Indonesian friends on Facebook who married to foreigners. None of us have tried being " language fashion police" and corrected whenever they did mistake. I have seen many posts on VJ contain grammatical errors either from petitioners or beneficiaries. Rarely I saw one of us tried to corrected it. Facebook is not an English class room. It is for friends to connect to each other. That's why it calls social networking website.

Regarding your question, I am trying to improve my English language through my husband - he is really good- watching videos, read news articles, and follow English classes online on BBC. Also, I have many books and audio CDs that help a lot to improve my English language. After all, no one is perfect, including your friend who corrected you.

Edited June 10, 2014 by Girl from Celebes

[dythan2005 12]

Read a lot of ebooks (because of the built-in dictionary)and watch shows/movies with subtitles.

[Czechrebel 0]

Thanks to everyone for their advice!

[Kajikit 65]

The best way to improve your written english is to read - a LOT... preferably well-written, well-edited books so that you're being exposed to generally 'correct' English. But if you can speak, understand and write in English, the odds are that your grammar is just fine for everyday and your 'friend' is nitpicking.

Facebook and forums in general are not usually places where 'correct' English is demanded, or even expected. People who are born and bred English speakers write absolute crud and nobody particularly cares... if you take your post here for an example, there are a couple of minor non-standard variations on grammar, (it's generally 'no problem WITH understanding' not 'of', and you mixed the tense a little - either 'commented that my posts contain' or 'commented on my posts containing') but it's nothing that we can't understand perfectly well. Practice makes perfect, and the computer's spell-checker can also verify grammar if you let it. Or else you can use your husband as proof-reader - just ask him to tell you WHY he's changing minor things, not just do it for you.