5 Most Important Writing Tips for Formal, Academic or Business Writing

Today we are going to learn the five important ways to improve the English writing, it may be for TOEFL student of IELTS student etc. This does not have to do with when you are talking with your friends. We are talking specifically about formal writing, maybe business writing or academic writing. Okay so let’s get start it.

TIP#1: DO NOT USE CONTRACTIONS

My first tip for how to improve English writing does not use contractions. What contraction is basically? Let me define first, Contraction is actually the short form with Apostrophe. For example, don’t is the short form of do not, so don’t is the contraction of do not. Few examples are below from where you can easily get an idea about contractions.

• Don’t – Do not
• Can’t – cannot
• Shouldn’t should not
• Couldn’t not – could not
• Wouldn’t - would not
• Isn’t is not
• Haven’t – have not
• Hasn’t – has not

So, tip number two is, avoid there is / there are.

TIP#2: AVOID THERE IS OR THERE ARE

So why we do avoid there is or there are? Well, one of the reason is when we write we want to write our ideas clear and concise, meaning we do not want these long sentences, we want our sentences to the point. There is or there are is an extra word that is not needed. so, have a look at some examples.

• There are many issues that students face at the University.
• Students face many issues at the University.
• There are many development projects that the UN supports.
• The UN supports many development projects.

TIP#3: AVOID WORDS REALLY, VERY, A LOT AND SO.

These words weaken your writing, your writing should be strong to be the success, you should not use such words in your formal or academic writing, let’s take a look at some examples.

• Many students think university is very hard
• Many students think the University is difficult. (remove very and use synonyms instead of it).
• Bill 399 is really controversial.
• Bill 399 is controversial.
• A lot of the students live on campus.
• Many students live on campus. (Use many if noun is countable/ much if noun is uncountable)

TIP#4: PASSIVE VOICE VS ACTIVE VOICE

Use passive voice sentences in formal writing or academic writing, do not use too much but remember to use instead of active. Use active voice if you are writing about Humanities, medicines, medical writing or arts. If you are writing about the sciences, engineering or technology, you must use passive voice in your writing. Here is an example of the active and passive voices, look at them.

• Healthcare reforms were implemented by Obama.
• Obama implemented healthcare reforms.
• The war was won by the French.
• The French won the was.

TIP#5: USE STRONG VERBS

The final tip of this post is when you writing academically or formally, use strong verbs. Look below are some examples of weak verbs and strong verbs that will understand you better.

• Weak verbs: He gave assistance to my friend.
• Strong Verbs: He assisted my friend.
• Weak Verbs: made an objection.
• Strong Verbs: objected.

Here, you have five tips that will quickly improve your academic writing, so if you would like to learn more tips you can simply go from here. You also can download this notes from below download button. Learn more about IELTS Writing and other modules from above menu, you can find a great self-practice and self-preparation IELTS online course.