How to Improve Your Writing Style

Most writers have the potential to write well, once they know the rules of writing. In addition, there are some very specific things you can do to improve your writing style, and make your writing more effective and marketable.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

1. Master the basic rules of the language. Know your grammar. Understand sentence and paragraph structure conventions. Become an expert speller, and be ready to check your spelling frequently.
2. Write concisely. Get rid of wordiness and wordy phrases. Use as few prepositional phrases as possible, reduce expletive constructions and noun strings. Use short sentences and paragraphs.
3. Use the active voice. Put the action in the verb. The verb is the most important part of the sentence, so choose one that's interesting.
4. Avoid nonspecific words such as "very" and "great." Watch out for misused words, such as "that" and "which." Know the difference between homophones such as "their," "there" and "they're."
5. Organize your writing. Use headings and lists when appropriate. This makes your writing easy to follow.
6. Stress benefits, not features. When you're writing to promote a service or a product, don't write about what the product does. Write about the results that come from using the product that benefit the reader.
7. Proofread your own work. To improve your writing style, you have to be able to look at your own writing and identify the mistakes or flaws.

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