April 3, 2022
Practise makes perfect
On my first post I wrote about how I had stumbled across LangCorrect after finding out that Lang-8 was no longer available. Over the years I used Lang-8, it was my most useful tool for improving my writing skills. There was a period of time in which I wrote almost every day. It was when I was studying to take the B2 certificate of English. Although I had to write once or twice at month at my language school, it wasn’t enough for me. At the end, writing so many posts paid off and I passed the exam. To take the C1 certificate, I followed the same strategy. If it had worked once, why could it work another time? No sooner said than done, I began to write again. I started writing even before the C1 course. I was very into writing. I couldn’t help but writing about everything I did, every place I visited, every book I read, and every film I watched. I was really hooked. Not only did I have to improve my grammar and increase my vocabulary but I also had to learn how to write pieces of writing that I had never written before. But when you have a clear goal in mind, there is nothing that can prevent you from achieving. So what was successful for my first exam was successful for the C1 certificate exam. In fact, practising so much made my writing skills improve in such a way that I scored the most in the writing test. The thing is I stopped writing a while ago and if I firmly believe that the more you write the more you improve, I have also seen that the less you write the worse your writing skills get.
Practise makes perfect
On my first post I wrote about how I had stumbled across LangCorrect after finding out that Lang-8 was no longer available.
If you wrote about actually stumbling across LangCorrect, then here you would normally wrote "I wrote about how I stumbled across LangCorrect".
If you wrote about the events after you'd found it, then what you wrote is more correct, but honestly many of us natives would probably still write "I wrote about how I stumbled across LangCorrect".
Over the years I used Lang-8, it was my most useful tool for improving my writing skills.
There was a period of time in which I wrote almost every day.
It was when I was studying to take the B2 certificate of English.
I think we would write either "the B2 certificate in English" or "the English B2 certificate"
Although I had to write once or twice at month at my language school, it wasn’t enough for me.
At the end, writing so many posts paid off and I passed the exam.
To take the C1 certificate, I followed the same strategy.
If it had worked once, why could wouldn't it work another timegain?
What you wrote is not wrong, but I think we natives would more likely write "If it worked once, would wouldn't it work again?"
No sooner said than done, I began to write again.
I started writing even before the C1 course.
I was very much into writing at the time.
What you wrote is correct English, and sounds appropriate for a personal letter or a blog (which this is), but "was very into" is a bit slangy for a published work in a more formal setting.
Oddly enough, I think "I was very much into writing at the time" actually sounds less slangy and more appropriate for a book, even though it actually uses the same embedded expression. I don't know why.
I couldn’t help but writing about everything I did, every place I visited, every book I read, and every film I watched.
I was really hooked.
Not only did I have to improve my grammar and increase my vocabulary but I also had to learn how to write piecuse types of writing that I had never wtrittened before.
What you wrote is not wrong, but the expression "pieces of writing" is a bit odd and I'm not sure exactly what it meant, and also it would sound better if you could avoid using "write" then "written" then "writing" in such quick sequence--they give a slightly repetitive sound to the sentence.
I wrote a possible alternative way to express it, I think.
But when you have a clear goal in mind, there is nothing that can prevent you from achieving it.
The verb "achieve" is transitive; it needs an object.
So what washad been successful for my first exam was also successful for the C1 certificate exam.
Your grammar is fine, but I changed the verb tense to make more clear to the reader that the first part is prior to the second part.
I can't explain why I added "also" but I think it sounds more natural with it.
In fact, practising so much made my writing skills improve in such a wayso much that I scored the most in the writing test.
What you wrote is not wrong, but I wrote a version that I think sounds a bit more natural.
The thing is that I stopped writing a while ago, and ifnot only do I firmly believe that the more you write the more you improve, but I have also seen that the less you write the worse your writing skills get.
The "if" was a bit confusing, because the second part doesn't really follow as a logical consequence from that belief; the second part is an observation that I think would be independent of belief.
Feedback
Your written English is quite advanced. Some of these corrections are stylistic at a level that a college level student might receive the same corrections to a written composition.
April 4, 2022
(Trying to figure out how to submit this to get it out of draft.)
April 4, 2022
In fact, practising so much made my writing skills improve in such a wayso much that I scored the most in the writing test.
I used "in such a way" because I didn’t want to repeat "so much" twice in the same sentence. I’m not very sure whether “in such a way” and “so much” have the same meaning. I think you told me something like that about using “write”, “written” and “writing” in the same sentence. Please, don’t get me wrong. I appreciate all your corrections and comments. You’re the kind of person I’m looking for to improve my writing skills. I thank you very much for the time you took to read and correct my post.
April 4, 2022
As I told you before, thanks for taking the time to read and correct my post.
April 5, 2022
Oops, I had not noticed that I introduced a repeated use of "so much". You have a good point.
Perhaps:
> In fact, so much practising made my writing skills improve to such a level that I scored highest in the writing test.
I made two other minor changes here.
The first was just because I thought it sounded slightly more natural to put "so much" before "practicising".
The second is because we normally use "scored the most" for sports scores and "scored highest" for exam scores.
April 5, 2022
Many thanks again Zford. I like your changes because I wasn't very sure how to express what I wanted to say.
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Practise makes perfect This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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On my first post I wrote about how I had stumbled across LangCorrect after finding out that Lang-8 was no longer available. On my first post I wrote about how I had stumbled across LangCorrect after finding out that Lang-8 was no longer available. If you wrote about actually stumbling across LangCorrect, then here you would normally wrote "I wrote about how I stumbled across LangCorrect". If you wrote about the events after you'd found it, then what you wrote is more correct, but honestly many of us natives would probably still write "I wrote about how I stumbled across LangCorrect". |
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Over the years I used Lang-8, it was my most useful tool for improving my writing skills. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
There was a period of time in which I wrote almost every day. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
It was when I was studying to take the B2 certificate of English. It was when I was studying to take the B2 certificate of English. I think we would write either "the B2 certificate in English" or "the English B2 certificate" |
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Although I had to write once or twice at month at my language school, it wasn’t enough for me. Although I had to write once or twice a |
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At the end, writing so many posts paid off and I passed the exam. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
|
To take the C1 certificate, I followed the same strategy. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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If it had worked once, why could it work another time? If it What you wrote is not wrong, but I think we natives would more likely write "If it worked once, would wouldn't it work again?" |
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No sooner said than done, I began to write again. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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I started writing even before the C1 course. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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I was very into writing. I was very much into writing at the time. What you wrote is correct English, and sounds appropriate for a personal letter or a blog (which this is), but "was very into" is a bit slangy for a published work in a more formal setting. Oddly enough, I think "I was very much into writing at the time" actually sounds less slangy and more appropriate for a book, even though it actually uses the same embedded expression. I don't know why. |
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I couldn’t help but writing about everything I did, every place I visited, every book I read, and every film I watched. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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I was really hooked. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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Not only did I have to improve my grammar and increase my vocabulary but I also had to learn how to write pieces of writing that I had never written before. Not only did I have to improve my grammar and increase my vocabulary but I also had to learn how to What you wrote is not wrong, but the expression "pieces of writing" is a bit odd and I'm not sure exactly what it meant, and also it would sound better if you could avoid using "write" then "written" then "writing" in such quick sequence--they give a slightly repetitive sound to the sentence. I wrote a possible alternative way to express it, I think. |
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But when you have a clear goal in mind, there is nothing that can prevent you from achieving. But when you have a clear goal in mind, there is nothing that can prevent you from achieving it. The verb "achieve" is transitive; it needs an object. |
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So what was successful for my first exam was successful for the C1 certificate exam. So what Your grammar is fine, but I changed the verb tense to make more clear to the reader that the first part is prior to the second part. I can't explain why I added "also" but I think it sounds more natural with it. |
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In fact, practising so much made my writing skills improve in such a way that I scored the most in the writing test. In fact, practising so much made my writing skills improve What you wrote is not wrong, but I wrote a version that I think sounds a bit more natural. |
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The thing is I stopped writing a while ago and if I firmly believe that the more you write the more you improve, I have also seen that the less you write the worse your writing skills get. The thing is that I stopped writing a while ago, and The "if" was a bit confusing, because the second part doesn't really follow as a logical consequence from that belief; the second part is an observation that I think would be independent of belief. |
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