How to write an essay in English: improve your grammar skills

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16 January 2025

English-learners

Oleksandra Kulish

Book expert

At first glance, it may seem that an essay is the easiest type of written work. All you need is to write a few pages. However, experts do not consider this genre the most difficult for nothing. Many students gave up without mastering the wisdom of proper essay writing. Therefore, we have collected all the effective recommendations on how to write an essay in English, so that you can quickly learn.

The structure of the essay and its parts

Structure is not only the correct organization of thoughts, but also the presence of all the required elements of the work. Their number may differ depending on the type of essay, but in general it is the introduction, the main part and the conclusion. The basic three-act structure provides a logical and consistent presentation of information.

Having a clear structure is like having a solid foundation for a building. It is the foundation on which you will build your argumentation. The right structure of an essay improves the reader's perception of it. This applies to absolutely any essay regardless of whether it is written in English or another language.

Let's get acquainted with each structural element in detail:

Introduction - the beginning of the essay. It is here that the topic and idea are presented. It is the introduction that creates the overall mood of the work and shows where you will go next.
Main section. In this section, the author proceeds to present his thoughts and argues them. Here, coherence and conciseness are especially important, because the essay is a short genre. Only then the work will look coherent.
Conclusion. In this part, you summarize and summarize everything said earlier. It is important to summarize and deliver the main idea here.

Each of these components plays an important role in the overall structure of the essay.

Basic grammatical rules for writing an essay

No one will tell you how to write an essay in English without knowing the grammatical constructions. Writing an essay starts with grammar. Therefore, first of all, you need to make sure that you know it. You can use a quality textbook for this purpose. Here is what you should pay special attention to:

Rules regarding the structure of essay sentences. You have to make sure that you use the correct sentence structure, just like you would for any other text. This starts with subject and predicate agreement, avoiding fragmented sentences. Each sentence should be connected to the previous one so that the logic of the narrative does not suffer.
Punctuation marks such as commas, semicolons, and colons are used to indicate sentence structure and make it easier for the reader to understand the meaning of the text. For example, a comma is used to separate phrases in a sentence and a semicolon is used to separate independent clauses. Watch your use of punctuation to avoid confusion or misinterpretation of the text.
Avoid using ambiguous language. Ambiguity occurs when a sentence can be interpreted in more than one way due to lack of information. Minimize such speech patterns.

Writing a text correctly is not that difficult. With practice you will come to understand the basic rules, and you will know what word to use and how to formulate the thought.

The logic of the text: the correct use of tenses

To follow the basic rules of grammar in your writing, you not only need to follow the correct sentence structure and the use of adverbs, but you also need to be mindful of verb tenses. When you are learning how to write an essay, it is best not to change tenses throughout a sentence or even a paragraph. By avoiding unnecessary changes in tenses, you will help your readers understand what you are trying to say, and you will also be able to present your thoughts correctly and coherently in the main body of the paper.

How to avoid frequent grammar mistakes

By keeping all these grammar rules in mind, you will be able to create exceptional essays. If you follow the above guidelines, you will have a proper sentence structure and each phrase will be understood by the audience. However, here are a few final tips that you should apply while editing:

Check your work: never turn in an essay without checking your work. It is best to check it yourself or even read it aloud to make sure you spot any mistakes.
Take time to edit: it is always a good idea to take a little break from your text before editing. By going back to writing with a clear head, you'll be able to spot problems that you might not have noticed before.
Spell check is your friend: if you have access to a tool like Grammarly or use Microsoft Word, remember that spell check is your friend. Use it to spot any errors you may have missed.

Always check dictionaries to see if a word is spelled correctly. You shouldn't always blindly trust autocorrect. Sometimes it doesn't understand the difference between British and American English well, leading to incorrect corrections.

How to diversify sentences for better readability of the text

If you are wondering how to write an essay in English correctly, you should take into account the rhythm. Yes, it is important not only in music. Written speech is well perceived when a long sentence is framed by several short ones. If you use the same length of sentences, the text will look artificial. The same goes for paragraphs - alternate between long and short ones.

Be sure to alternate simple sentences with complex sentences. This has the same effect as the previous point. This way you will show a high level of English proficiency.

You can use a one-sentence paragraph to convey an important point.

How to use special words to make a coherent thought

If the links of a chain are not fastened together, they will fall apart. The same thing happens with text. There are plenty of words to link sentences together seamlessly. The simplest examples are: therefore, thus, on the one hand, finally, etc. It is best to find lists of such constructions in advance and practice using them. Then the text will be coherent and logical. At the same time, they do not need to be inserted in every sentence.

How to learn from examples of quality English-language essays

You have been assigned an essay in English. How to write it? It is best to start with analyzing examples. Of course, these should be high-quality essays. There is no point in working with poorly written texts. First of all, read the text and note the logic of the presentation of thoughts. You can write a detailed plan. Your work will be built on this sample.

Then move on to working out grammatical constructions and sentence structure. You will learn a lot of new and useful things. After working through many essays, you will have accumulated a decent amount of knowledge. Write out your insights and use them in your own work. After such preparation, writing your own text will be much easier.