For many students, writing is the largest hurdle in the Selective Test. The fact that there is no one correct answer makes the entire process daunting – almost unknowable, and because of this, it’s easy to find yourself stuck in a pattern of poor writing and, as a result, low grades. However, improvement can easily be just around the corner, and sometimes all you really need is a few quick pointers in the right direction.

1. USE STRONGER VOCABULARY

One way to quickly improve your writing is to use words with more connotations. Take the sentence below for example:

The man walked past the shop.

Grammatically speaking, this sentence does its job - providing basic information about a man walking past a shop. However, when we try to picture this event in our minds, there simply isn’t enough information to form a clear image. 

What kind of man is it? How is he walking? What kind of shop is it? 

All of these questions remained unanswered, and as a result, we as an audience are left confused and dissatisfied.

This is where connotations come into play. Connotations are the hidden meanings that certain words possess – the things that you first imagine when you hear a word. Take a look at the improved example below:

The businessman sauntered past the restaurant.

The word ‘businessman’ conjures images of well-dressed, professional individuals, perhaps carrying a briefcase, or wearing a watch. The word ‘sauntered’ replaces the much more mundane ‘walked’, creating an atmosphere of relaxation and confidence. ‘Restaurant’ helps build the setting as we picture smells of food cooking and sounds of plates clattering.

By simply choosing vocabulary with more connotations, we’ve managed to establish the scene in crystal clear detail, allowing our readers to immerse themselves in our writing without having to directly describe the setting to them.

2. USE ACTIVE VOICE

Another way to improve your responses is to write in the active voice as much as possible. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence is performing the verb, while passive voice is when the subject is the recipient of the verb. For example, the sentence “Chris ate the cake”, has the subject (Chris) performing the action (ate), and is therefore written in active voice, whereas the sentence “The cake was eaten by Chris” The subject (Chris) is now receiving the verb (was eaten).

In general, an active voice lends a strong, clear tone to our writing, and makes us sound more direct and sure of ourselves. In contrast, passive voice can often sound confused or vague, and sometimes just makes the sentence longer than it needs to be.

While there are some situations where passive voice can be effective (e.g., when the actor of the sentence is unknown or irrelevant), it is far more common for primary school writing responses to benefit from a consistent and frequent use of active voice.

3. ALWAYS GET FEEDBACK

Finally, the most critical step to improving your writing is to receive feedback. As a writer, it is almost impossible to properly judge your own work from an unbiased perspective – you will always lean towards being too easy or too harsh on yourself – never hitting that golden spot right in the middle. 

This is where the opinions of others become extremely valuable. Every time you finish a piece of writing, show it to your teachers, tutors or other experienced writers and ask them the simple question: “How do I make this better?” 

Taking on board criticism from a variety of perspectives means your writing becomes much more rich and diverse, allowing you to develop not only the response, but yourself as a writer. 

Need extra help with improving your writing abilities? Enrol in our Intensive English course for years 5 and 6 to better develop your vocabulary, grammar, sentence building skills, literary techniques, idea synthesis and reading comprehension skills.

Published 26 June 2021