Grammar isn’t the only thing that affects your language grade – between two scripts of similar grammatical competence, there may still be differences in the language mark awarded. With language, there are many features of good writing that you may encounter, and chances are, not all of them will be appropriate to your style of writing – or the style that you’re aiming to achieve. The trick is to read widely, take note of different styles of writing and different techniques used, and most importantly, to try them out and figure out what works best for you.
This post considers three techniques that I find useful – the use of proper nouns, choosing appropriate vocabulary and using imagery.
Consider the following introductory sentence:
Every day, millions of people throw their empty plastic water bottles in the bin, wrecking serious damage on our environment.
Proper nouns
Substitute nouns for proper nouns instead:
Every day, millions of people throw their empty Evian and Fuji bottles in the bin, wrecking serious damage on our environment.
Choice of vocabulary (that you already know)
There’s definitely value in improving your vocabulary – but that’s another issue. This technique involves working within your existing vocabulary, considering synonyms that you already know, and picking the one that best conveys your point.
Every day, millions of people toss their empty Evian and Fuji bottles in the bin, wrecking serious damage on our environment.
Show, don’t tell (general vs. specific)
The idea behind this technique is to paint a picture for your reader, and help your reader really ‘see’ what you’re saying. It often involves being more specific about what big, general ideas mean, and what (in this case) ‘wrecking serious damage on our environment’ looks like.
Every day, millions of people toss their empty Evian and Fuji bottles in the bin. Not only does this fill our limited landfills at an alarming rate, their consumption spurs demand – often in countries thousands of miles (worth of transportation pollutants) away from the producer.
Task
Look at any of your previous essays or any written work that you have done (introductions are good places to start). Edit one paragraph by incorporating the three techniques mentioned above.
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