Hello everyone, my name is Anna English.

This is English like a native and if you're learning English and this is your first time here, then be sure to hit the subscribe button and the Bell notification button, so you don't miss out on any future lessons.

Now we're going to look at those five basic writing tips, but first a quick message from our sponsor.

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Okay let's get down to business.

Tip number one. British or American.

Did you realise that there are some spelling differences between American English and British English.

You might favour one over the other when you choose which one you prefer then you must stick to it, because a native reader will recognise if you switch from one to the other.

So make a decision, learn the spellings and stick to it.

Capitalisation! So many students overlook this very basic of rules, when to capitalise a letter.

These rules are so simple that I'm going to give you four of them right now.

Four basic rules of capitalisation.

Number one. Every sentence should start with a capital letter.

So any word that follows a full-stop a question mark or an exclamation mark should start with a capital.

Number two. Always capitalise names of people and places.

My name is Anna and I live in London, England.

Rule number three. the word I referring to myself is always capitalised.

And rule number four. Initials will always be capitalised. For example the UK.

Countable vs. uncountable.

Know your nouns. Are they countable or are they uncountable.

The majority of corrections I do for my students involve nouns.

If it's a countable noun, like spoon, then just one of them would require an article in front, a spoon, the spoon or possessive my spoon, your spoon, and if there's more than one it will require an S on the end.

The spoons, two spoons, five spoons.

But if it's an uncountable noun then you never use an S.

For example, information is an uncountable noun, therefore we don't put an s on the end.

I can give you a little information or I can give you a lot of information.

I could give you some information or no information.

Also the word advice is an uncountable noun, she gave me some advice, they gave me lots of advice.

We never ever use an S on the end.

Don't trust spellcheckers.

Spellcheckers are good because they tell you when you've made a mistake.

However, if they automatically offer you a correction, don't simply trust the spell checker and go with that suggestion, because in many cases the word it suggests is not necessarily the right word for what you want to say.

The best thing to do is to recognise you've made a mistake and then research the correct word, the correct spelling that you want to use before going ahead and making the change.

It's better to be thorough and correct than sloppy and completely misunderstood.

Punctuation. Understand the basics of punctuation and don't underestimate the importance of punctuation.

One simple full stop, question mark, exclamation mark , can change the whole meaning or feel of a sentence and badly placed punctuation really stands out to a native reader.

So first of all, make sure you understand how to correctly use a full stop, a comma, a question mark, and an apostrophe.

And remember the punctuation mark has to hug the previous word so it sits right next to the word it comes after without a space.

So there are my five basic tips for you to improve your writing skills.

Now there are many more videos on writing, listening, and speaking either already on this channel or coming your way.

So don't forget to press subscribe and the Bell notification button so you don't miss out on any future lessons.

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And if you have any comments any tips that you'd like to add or suggestions for future videos that you'd like to see them, please do comment down below.

Until next time take care and goodbye!