Writing Skill

Welcome to the section of Writing Skill of the English Language Lab!

Objective: learn and practice English Writing Skill

What is Writing?
Writing is the fourth of the four language skills, which are: 1. Listening 2. Speaking 3. Reading 4. Writing

Writing Skills Guide
Tips and strategies to improve your English writing skills

Using Capital Letters
In English, we do not use capital letters (large letters) very much. It is not correct or even polite to use a lot of capitals in English. But there are times when they are important.

Spelling Rules
The following rules can help you to decode the mysteries of English spelling. This section includes spelling variations between British English and American English.

Abbreviations
Learn the main types of abbreviation—shortenings, contractions, initialisms, acronyms—and how to write and say them.

Type
Writing that you see in a book or on a computer screen is called “type”.

Punctuation
Punctuation is the system of symbols (. , ! – : etc) that we use to separate sentences and parts of sentences, and to make their meaning clear. Here are the punctuation marks that we use in English, together with some punctuation quizzes and a punctuation song.

Signs and Symbols
English also uses a number of special symbols (like * # & % $) that act as abbreviations or have their own meaning.

Plagiarism And how to avoid it! Plagiarism is an illegal form of copying. It means taking another person’s work (without asking) and calling it your own.

Writing Prompts
Practise various aspects of written English with prompts designed specially for English learners.

Sentence Variety
How to avoid writing boring sentences that all seem the same

Textual Reference Terms
All those strange words like following, preceding, overleaf, PTO that don’t carry any meaning but tell us where the author wants us to look. Illustrated

Peer Editing
Why you need a friend to help you check your own writing – and how s/he can do it

Six Common Mistakes in ESL Writing
and how to avoid them

Typing Test
How fast can you type English?

Creative Writing Forum
Add your own written work or read what other English learners are writing.

Recommended Writing Links