How to Become Good at Writing in English
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hi everybody welcome back to ask Alisha
the weekly series where you ask me
questions and I answer them
maybe first question this week actually
is a pair of questions I got a question
from zou hair which was hi Alicia how
are you how can I improve my writing
skills and a question from xeric xeric
said how do i improve my writing skills
so I want to answer these two questions
together
so the simple answer is write more so if
you’re having trouble starting your
writing practice something that you can
try doing is copying so if there’s a
blog a magazine a book that you enjoy
reading if there’s something that kind
of stands out to you something that you
think is really good or really
interesting you can start your writing
practice by just copying the things that
you find that you read so if you find
for example if you find a blogger that
you really enjoy and it’s easy for you
to read you can start by copying the
lines from that blog when I say copy
I mean write by hand like with a pen and
paper try writing those things by hand
so you can kind of practice creating a
sentence on your own this can be a
really good way for you to begin writing
practice then when you get a little more
comfortable you can try using your own
words in your own vocabulary to kind of
make your own sentences in the same
style as your favorite writer
so I would say a good way to start
writing and a good way may be to improve
your writing making it more natural is
to just begin by copying other people
it’s just a matter of practice so keep
practicing keep writing keep creating I
hope that this helps you okay let’s move
on to your next question next question
this week comes from long on high-flown
huang says how do i write a good
paragraph in English okay there is kind
of a three-step process to writing a
good paragraph
English you can think of your paragraph
in three parts you can think of first an
introduction second a body and third a
conclusion so in the introduction to
your paragraph the beginning of your
paragraph you should share the ideas
you’re going to talk about in the
paragraph so that’s like your first
sentence what are you going to explain
to your reader what are you going to
share in this paragraph in the second
part the body of your paragraph you
should give the details if you’re
explaining data you can put numbers in
that section for example if you’re
giving like quotes if you’re giving
supporting information or supporting
evidence you can include that in the
body part of your paragraph this is your
details you can also include your
opinions in this part of the paragraph
so what do you think third your
conclusion the conclusion part should
summarize your main ideas so what do you
want the reader to remember from this
paragraph and maybe how does it connect
to your next paragraph so try to think
about writing paragraphs in kind of this
three-step process you introduce
something you give details and you
conclude so think about this for your
paragraph yes but also think about this
when you’re writing a paper as well you
should have an introduction and a body
and a conclusion to your paper so I hope
that this helps you in writing
paragraphs smaller pieces of writing and
in writing papers or essays larger
pieces of writing thanks very much for
the question
okay let’s move along to your next
question next question comes from ahmed
mohamed hi ahmed ahmed says hi Alicia
how are you good
why is it when I watch you or watch any
other English teacher on YouTube I
understand them easily but when I watch
any programs on TV like movies and news
I find it difficult to understand what
should I do to understand anything I
listen to okay so your first question
why can you understand the teachers on
YouTube this is a common question from
lots of people actually the reason that
you can understand teachers on YouTube
or maybe teachers in your classroom is
because we’re doing what’s called
grading our language so grading your
language means that you choose to use
vocabulary words and grammar points that
are suitable for the learners so that
means that we choose our words and we
choose the way that we speak to help
learners understand us so that means
that we speak a little slower we speak
with very clear pronunciation we’re
speaking with a level of grammar that we
think our students will probably be able
to understand and we’re choosing to use
vocabulary words that we think are
probably easy for learners to understand
too so when you’re watching YouTube
teachers a lot of YouTube teachers
including us on this channel we’re
thinking about how to help people a kind
of an intermediate level like a medium
level so I’m choosing grammar and
vocabulary words and kind of the way
that I speak to try to help people move
into like intermediate to advanced
intermediate language territory so this
is why there seems to be such a big gap
between like YouTube teachers and
regular movies and news when you’re
watching movies and news those people
are not grading their language so
they’re not aware of their vocabulary
choices they’re not thinking about the
level of grammar they use their speaking
regularly so the way that teachers speak
is kind of a way to help learners ease
into or get used to that native level of
speaking it can be really hard for
learners to pick up all the small
details of native level speech so we
slow it down and we present it in a
different way to help learners so when
you get comfortable with people who
teach like me on YouTube you can kind of
look for other things at higher
difficulty levels so maybe this means
you find a vlogger on YouTube that
speaks in English or you start to find
other topics or other things related to
your hobbies but that use English so
that will take a little bit of searching
on your part but just keep working on
leveling up your language skills so if
I’m too easy for you to understand
that’s okay you can move on to find
something else until you can gradually
work up to understanding native level
conversations so that’s a long answer
but I
hope that it helps answer your question
thanks very much okay let’s move on to
your next question next question comes
from baka Tarkan haibach tar bak tar
says hi Alicia what is the difference
between swear vow and oath I don’t
understand the difference okay
swear swear is a verb swear is like a
rough word that means promise some
examples I swear I won’t break your
computer again he swore he wouldn’t
forget to take out the trash
next is vow the word vow can be used as
a noun or as a verb it’s used in more
formal situations we use it for example
in weddings or maybe in like legal
situations some examples do you vow to
take this woman as your wife I vow never
to do anything like this again both is a
noun and it’s kind of an old-fashioned
word it’s sort of like an old-fashioned
mysterious word for promise it kind of
has a very mysterious a little bit of a
dark feeling and both examples I took an
oath to never reveal the details of our
group have you ever taken a blood oath
so I hope that helps you understand the
differences between swear Val and oath
thanks very much for the question
okay let’s move on to your next question
next question comes from Yosh Tuckahoe
Takashi hi Yoshitaka Yoshitaka says hi
Alicia I watched the video English
greetings for every day it was easy to
understand and fun however in the video
you said where was I what do you mean
where was I ah this where was I this is
a common expression that means where was
I in my notes so when you’re reading
something or when you’re giving a
presentation and you get lost like in
the details like you have some notes
some kind of like reference material
you’re using to give your presentation
and you miss like your place you forget
your place you can say where was I
meaning where in my notes was I so will
often use this when we’re presenting
material and we need to start again so
in that case
if I’m teaching a lesson and I like miss
my place if I forget my place in my
notes I might I probably said where was
I meaning at what point was I in my
presentation so I would use this if
maybe like a student had a question and
I answered the question and then I
forgot exactly where in my lesson notes
I was located at that time so where was
I means like what was I talking about a
moment ago I hope that helps you thanks
very much for the question
all right let’s move on to your next
question next question comes from I’m on
heigen I’m on I’m on says hi Alicia
what does stack the deck mean ah to
stack the deck means to prepare an
advantage before a situation before some
kind of event so the advantage is
prepared so that one person or like one
organization wins so this expression
comes from card games first we see a
deck so to stack the deck the deck
refers to a deck of cards that’s the
vocabulary word we use to mean a
complete set of cards a deck of cards to
stack to stack means to put things one
on top of another so when we stack a
deck or to stack the deck as in this
expression it means we’re placing cards
in a careful like organized manner to
create an advantage for someone in a
situation so to stack the deck means
before the situation you prepare all
like the parts to create a win for one
person or maybe to create a loss for
another person so to stack the deck
means to create an advantage or a
disadvantage for someone else so some
example sentences the deck was stacked
against him in that expression the deck
was stacked against him means the
situation was created so that he would
lose we use against someone to refer to
creating a situation where a person
loses something so we stacked the deck
just means we created an unfair
advantage or we created an advantage
before the situation so I hope that this
helps you understand this expression
thanks very much for the question
all right that’s everything that I have
for this week thank you as always for
sending your questions
remember you can send them to me at
English class 101.com slash ask - Alicia
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thanks very much for watching this
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