Writingtips

Copyright © 2005 ESL Pro Systems, Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us online at www.esl-pro.com

Table of Contents

I.

Tips for Effective Writing Business Letters – Part 1

II.

Tips for Writing Effective Business Letters –Part 2

III.

Tips for Writing Descriptive Essays

IV.

Tips for Writing a Narrative Essay

V.

Ten Tips for Becoming a Better Speller

Copyright ©2005 ESL Pro Systems, Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us online at www.esl-pro.com

I. Tips for Writing Effective Business Letters - Part 1
Part
Effective business letter writing involves knowing why you are writing a letter,
understanding your reader's needs, and then clearly writing what you need to say.
Every letter should be clear, helpful, and as friendly as the topic allows. The bestletters have a conversational tone and read as if you were talking to your reader. In
brief then, here are the “Seven-Cs” of effective business letter writing. Your letters
should be
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

clear
concise
correct
courteous
conversational
convincing
complete

When you write a business letter, you are trying to convince someone to act or
react in a positive way. Your readerwill respond quickly only if your meaning is
crystal clear.
Write in a friendly and helpful tone. Don't represent your company as one that
cannot make a mistake and must always be “in the right”. Try not to reply in the
normal bland and defensive way of organizations - write a sincere and helpful
letter.
Show you are interested in the reader’s circumstances. If he or she has
mentionedsomething personal in the letter, refer to it in your reply. This builds a
bridge between you and the reader. Read the original letter carefully and see if
there is something you can put in your letter to show your interest.
For all writers the most important people are their readers. If you think about your
readers when you write, it will help you use the right tone, appropriate language,
andinclude the right amount of detail. What do readers want from writing? They
want relevant information, presented in a clear, easy- to-understand style. They
don't want muddled thinking, background information they already know or
business-speak and jargon. Above all, they want to get the gist of your message in
one reading - they don’t want to dig for the meaning through long sentences and aboring style. If you always keep your readers in mind, you will have to adapt your
style and content to meet their needs.
When you write a business letter, you must try not to waste your reader's time.
The first step in any writing task is to set down your aim. Ask yourself, Why am I
writing? and What do I want to achieve? The clearer you are in your own mind
about what you want to achieve, thebetter your letter. These questions help you
focus on the information that supports your central aim, and to cut information
Copyright © 2005 ESL Pro Systems, Ltd. All rights reserved. Visit us online at www.esl-pro.com

that's irrelevant. By doing this, you'll find you keep to the subject and perhaps write
a document that is a third shorter than you would otherwise draft. People read tofind out information. You can write the clearest letter or report, but if it doesn't say
anything worth knowing, it's a useless document. You have to learn to present the
most relevant information for your readers' needs. After having said what you need
to say, stop.

Getting started
Your first job in writing any letter is to gain your reader’s attention. It’s an
important principle ofeffective writing to put the most important information first.
Your opening paragraph is both the headline and the lead for the message that
follows in the rest of the letter. Don’t weigh down the front of your letter with boring
repetition of information that your reader already knows. Many letters fail to start
well because they follow the standard paragraph of every business letter. Here are...