The English language is a complex beast at the best of times, and mastering English as a written language can be a minefield even for those of us who have been brought up with it as our first language. It is a language of many complexities – words that sound the same yet mean different things, punctuation that is complex and divisive, and sentence structure that can often be deceiving – and nobody can ever claim to have mastered the art perfectly.
This is why English writing classes, even for those of us who are greatly experienced in written English, are something that should be considered very carefully indeed.
Writing English is considerably different to speaking the language, for very often the way the words are laid down on the page can lead to punctuation quirks that confuse and contradict. The comma, for instance, if misplaced can be troublesome.
We all know of the famous ‘eats, shoots and leaves’ example, a phrase that is used in a joke about a murderous panda; remove the comma, and the phrase ‘eats shoots and leaves’ makes more sense. There are many examples of such misuse, and this is why the comma – like many of the punctuation marks in English – is becoming less frequently used in common writing.
The apostrophe is perhaps the most troublesome example of English written parlance, and as such is best avoided if at all possible; after all, using the phrase ‘he’s’ rather than the full ‘he is’ is not considered good written form.
English writing classes will guide you in the right direction and help you to overcome the basic errors that many of us – even the vastly experienced – tend to commit; the misuse of capital letters, full stops, colons and so on, and will also give you an idea of how words look – and read – when on the page. Reading written text, after all, is much different to listening to speech.
Joining an English writing course will also put you in touch with other like-minded people – those who wish to write – and networking is a great benefit whether you are pursuing writing as a hobby or as a potential profession.
Mastering written English these days is, contrary to the belief of many, more necessary than ever as while the computer spellchecker is a valuable device it -too- does not understand the finer nuances of written English; it should be used as a first line of defense, and not relied upon. To find writing classes near you you could use the internet, or look in your local library or community center, and add another string to your bow.
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