In the 1950s, going to school would demand the knowledge of rudimentary English grammar. Knowing the difference between “their,” “there,” and “they’re” and synonyms and homonyms and antonyms were all a vital facet of learning, and a student would not be able to advance in their studies if they weren’t aware of such fundamental conventional concepts. However, it’s now 2017 and a lot has changed in those 67 years.
Now, a grammar lesson is practically nonexistent in most public schools and the only guidance a student is given in writing is, “here’s this picture of a hamburger with all the works – this is what your essays should look like.” Teachers are so busy shoving those categorical rubrics down their students’ throats that no one ever really knows what they mean or why a good essay needs a 4 in organization and elaboration of evidence. So often we’re given words like “voice” and “academic audience” and “tone” and expected to understand what is meant by them.
A cardinal flaw in contemporary teaching is the incessant focus on random school rules.
Essays are everything to schools – but when will you ever write a formal literary analysis essay in real life? Every school and teacher also have different preferences on what they think the best way to write is – but how will that really educate students on the universally accepted way to write? Real life has its own rules on how best to formulate sentence and if anyone really wants to make it as a writer – whether that be as a journalist, a technical writer, or a novelist – they have to be able to write as the world accepts and needs them to.
The best advice I can give perspective writers is: use outside sources.
Never depend on the work of teachers to mold you into the perfect penman – teachers are great but they can only take you halfway, you have to finish by yourself. Here are three ways I have found are helpful when trying to improve my own writing fundamentals.
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
On Writing Well is a book that I was assigned to read for my journalism class. Not only is the author’s style hilarious at times; but, being a previous college professor, he is also full of useful information. Zinsser addresses some topics throughout his book that I had never considered before. Though some of his advice is notably frustrating as it seems to contradict everything taught before, the new perspective is extremely helpful and presented in such a way that it’s easily comprehensible.
Take those SAT/ACT writing and language sections seriously.
As annoying as standardized test are, one of the best teachers of grammar is a test that’s designed to be a guide to the perfect grammar. Half the punctuation rules I learned weren’t from any class or person – they were from studying for the SAT. The best tools I’ve discovered for doing this are Khan Academy; a website that includes practice problems, videos and articles to ensure testing day success, the official ACT website, and the Barron’s SAT prep book.
Read!
Possibly the best way to improve your own writing skills is to emulate those of an author that’s a personal inspiration. The simple act of reading will also advance your vocabulary through osmosis. Without trying, the words read will become ingrained in the reader’s brain and in no time it’ll have you being able to effortlessly integrate words like “acquiesce” into your writing without even the consultation of a thesaurus.
