Write with TASTE Blog
Some more ‘interesting’ stuff
1 October 2009
Word count: 360
Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes
Because of the holidays in Hong Kong this week, I’m taking a break from the subject of business writing to tell you about a website that I like.
A few weeks ago I suggested that you become a good writer by being interesting. And to do that requires learning about stuff from a wide range of areas, including science and technology.…
Small steps – big results
24 September 2009
Wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked ‘How can I improve my English?’ I could have retired by now.
OK – so that’s probably an exaggeration.
But I think that most everyone who asks that question already knows the answer. Keep practising – find a native speaker and talk with them regularly – read English books and magazines – take courses – watch English movies and TV – and so on.
…
The ‘Rules’ for How to be Interesting
17 September 2009
In last week’s post, we talked about how learning grammar will not make you a good (or ‘interesting’) writer. I asked for your ideas about how to make business writing ‘interesting’.
Patrick, one of our readers, commented:
For business writing, I can say that it really depends on the culture of your organisation and also your audiences, boss, work groups or even clients, whether they are willing to accept 'interesting' English. …
Learning grammar will not make you a good writer
10 September 2009
What?! How is that possible?
OK -- think about it for a minute. What do you like to read?
I’ll bet that your first thought is not ‘grammar books’. Am I right?
Heck, it’s my business – but I don’t like to read grammar books! I use them frequently as reference material, of course. Kind of like a dictionary. But I’ve never gone to a grammar book to learn how to write.
…
Parents make better writers
3 September 2009
You mean if I don’t have kids I’m not a good writer?
Of course not.
What I'm saying is that readers are like kids. And if you know how to deal with kids you’ll be able to appeal to readers a bit better.
How is that? Well, let’s think about kids’ behaviour.
Kids are impatient
They wriggle and squirm. They get bored easily. They have short attention spans.
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