9 Fun Exercises to Improve Your English Writing Skills

1. Vocabulary story

Do you have a vocabulary list of English words you’re learning? If you do,
great! If you don’t, grab one from here or here.

Now, write a story using as many of the words on the list as you can. Aim to include
10-20 words in your story, depending on how much time you have for this exercise.
Have some fun with it and try to get the finished story to make sense.

What you’ll learn: This exercise will help you understand and remember vocabulary
words better for a number of reasons. Here are a few:

Using words in a sentence ensures you understand how to use them.

It’s easier to remember words in context (with some other words around them). The
sillier your story, the more easily you’ll remember the words you used. (Memory
experts use this method to remember the order of hundreds of playing cards!)

Writing things down activates a different part of your brain, helping you remember
vocabulary words even better.

When your story is finished, you can share it with friends or on a blog. Encourage
readers to point out any mistakes you made.

2. Picture story

Grab the closest magazine to you and choose a random picture. Describe it in as
much detail as you can. Don’t just write what you see. Imagine you’re in the picture.
Think about what you would smell, feel or even taste.

You can also use this random image generator or browse Pinterest for ideas.

What you’ll learn: We use descriptions in our daily life all the time: “I’m tired.” “Her
dress is so stylish.” “This mocha tastes amazing.” Descriptions like these are used
often in conversational English! Through this exercise, you’ll learn more about
adjectives, feelings and perceptions (how we see and experience the world).
3. Structured summary

Think back to the last book you read or movie you watched. Summarize it (say what
happened briefly) using this formula:

“[Somebody] wanted…but…so…”

Confused? Here’s what it looks like in action:

“Bruce Wayne wanted to save Gotham but supervillains were trying to destroy it, so
he trained hard and became Batman.”

Recognize that story? That’s a summary of “Batman Begins.” To use the formula in
the same way, just fill in the blanks:

Somebody: Who is the main character of the story? This character’s name can
replace [Somebody] in the sentence above.

Wanted: What is the character’s motivation? (In other words, what does he or she
want?) This should come after the word “wanted.”

But: What stands in the way of the character and what he or she wants? Put
whatever it is after “but.”

So: What does the character do to overcome this obstacle? Follow “so” with
whatever they do.

You can also add another part:

Then: What happens after the character overcomes the obstacle (how is everything
resolved)?

Here’s another example:

“Little Red Riding Hood wanted to visit her grandmother but when she got there she
found a wolf instead, so she yelled for help and a passerby came to her rescue.
Then everybody lived happily ever after!”

What you’ll learn: This method can help you summarize almost anything. You might
find it difficult to explain an entire story or book in just one sentence. That’s the great
thing about it: You learn to explain a complex idea in a simple sentence. This skill will
be useful whenever you need to explain something concisely (in a simple and short
way). For example, if you’re writing an email about a party, it will be easier for you to
pick out the most important parts.
You can also improve your reading comprehension with this summarization method.
Every time you read a book or a story in English, you should summarize it to
yourself, to make sure you understood it. If you can’t write a good summary, you
might want to re-read the book or story more carefully.

4. Idiom soup

An idiom is a saying that doesn’t actually mean what it says. For example, “it’s
raining cats and dogs” doesn’t mean animals are really falling from the sky (it just
means it’s raining very hard).

A cliché is an extremely overused saying or phrase that’s used so often it’s not
original anymore.

Clichés are like idioms that have been used so often they’ve stopped being special,
like saying “only time will tell” or “easy as pie.”

Write a story that uses as many clichés and idioms as you can!

You can find a list of clichés here, and a list of idioms here.

What you’ll learn: Sometimes learning English feels like you “bit off more than you
can chew” (took on a task that’s too big). A great way to build confidence is to know
phrases and sayings you can use in many situations. Using clichés and idioms will
build your vocabulary and ensure that when you hear them spoken by a native, you’ll
know exactly what they mean.

5. It was a dark and stormy night

Grab the closest book to you and open to the first page. What’s the first sentence? A
good first sentence sets up the story and makes you want to keep reading. Some
first sentences are classics, like the opening line to George Orwell’s “1984”:

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Some others…don’t do the job as well.

In fact, one first sentence was so absolutely terrible, that it started an entire
competition. Called The Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, it encourages everyone to
send in their best worst first lines.
Try to write your own! Look through a few of the past contest winners, then write
your own terrible first line. Let your sentence use humor and maybe even some
cultural references. Let the sentence run long, but make sure the grammar is perfect.
How bad is your first line? It’s hard to be worse than the original first sentence that
inspired the competition:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional
intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets
(for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely
agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

— Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford (1830)

This first sentence is terrible because it tries to put a lot of unnecessary information
into one sentence. It goes on for way longer than it should, without giving you any
important information. Use this exercise to practice your compound sentences, and
try some comparisons or metaphors (when you compare two different things based
on a shared characteristic).

For example, if you start your sentence by talking about bad weather, you can
compare it to a wet dog who has gone swimming in the Gowanus Canal in NYC
(known for being disgustingly dirty and unhealthy) without wearing a biohazard suit
(a suit that protects you from harmful chemicals). See how much you can pack into
just one sentence?

What you’ll learn: How much information can you include in just one sentence? This
exercise lets you pack a lot in. Like summarizing, this exercise will help you express
yourself clearly and be understood better. Another benefit of doing this exercise is
the chance to use English-language humor, which requires knowledge of English-
speaking culture. Plus, it’s fun!
6. Story of my life

Think of something that you did in the past, like playing the piano or going to school.
Write about your experience with this activity. Your writing should start in the past
and end in the future.

For example, you can write:

“I started playing the piano when I was five, but I stopped only two years later. Right
now I can’t play anything, but I hope to start learning again in the future.”

What you’ll learn: We love talking about ourselves. Everyone does! That’s why a
large part of our daily conversations are about us. In this exercise, you learn how to
speak about personal experience and describe something about yourself. It’s also a
good way to practice using correct verb tenses.

7. How to breathe

A “how-to” is a type of writing that describes how to do something step-by-step. Most

how-to’s teach something new, like how to bake a chocolate cake, or how to use a
certain feature on your phone.

For this exercise, write a how-to for something a bit…different. Think of something
you do every day without thinking, and write a how-to about that. Write about
something like tying your shoelaces, checking your email on your phone or even
breathing. Your how-to should look something like this, using clear language and
organized by steps. The how-to in that link teaches how to write a how-to…whew!

What you’ll learn: You would be surprised at how difficult this is! Even something as
simple as walking can be a disaster if you don’t organize the instructions well. (Let’s
take a moment to thank our legs for knowing how to work without us. Otherwise we
might all be flopping around like in this “walking simulator” game.)

Writing a how-to will teach you to organize your thoughts better. It’s also a chance to
practice informative writing, or writing that teaches new information. By using easy-
to-understand language, you’ll also be practicing using many common words.