How to be a Writer

The English language is a large intricate maze of lanes and by-lanes . follow the rules correctly and you will find your way through easily.

THE OPENING Your opening should be like a first goal. you should open with a bang, intriguing the reader to continue.

STICK TO THE TOPIC for example If you are talking about football,stick to football and don't deviate to baseball, unless you need to clarify something.

DO NOT USE BOMBASTIC WORDS There are some of us who thinks that the bigger or more 'bombastic' the words the better the sentence. Remember, no one wants to sit down to read your essay with a dictionary beside them. the use of new, different words do add colour to your piece, only if used effectively and where necessary.

KEEP THE SENTENCE SHORT To keep your sentence 'error-ridden' free, the ideal solution is to keep your sentences short and simple. Stay away from long-winded sentences and will invariably be grammatically incorrect.

MIND YOUR GRAMMAR Bad grammar is like ugly footwork. you might get a sneaky four here and there but you will never win the reader's heart.

USE CORRECT PUNCTUATION Many of us nowadays have no clue as to when to use the comma and when to use the semi-colon. The 'dash' has replaced the colon and a 'double exclamation mark' adorns the end of most sentences if you are not 'punctuation-strong',remember by keeping your sentences short, you can bypass this problem.

USE OF ACTIVE & PASSIVE VOICE The though the active voice is preferred, most grammarians agree that the passive voice should be used when the receiver of the action is more important than the doer. Eg.: 'the city was devastated by a tsunami.' rather than ' a tsunami devastated the city.'

USAGE OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS Adjective and adverbs are the sixes and fours in your essay . they are what make what you write looks all the more interesting . use different adjectives to describe the same noun and different adverbs to express the verb, try it out as a daily exercise - it also makes an interesting game!

MEMORABLE ENDING Like the opening, the ending too must be special and exciting. like your favourite ice-cream, your essay too should leave a lingering taste with the reader.