Tips & Stuff
Editing your own writing
Here are some tools you can find online (and for free!) to help you improve your writing:
1. Get creative and avoid repetition, use synonyms: https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/synonym
Thesaurus actually gives you antonyms and definitions as well, but I find the 'synonym' page quite inspiring.
For example, for the word "big":
And notice at the top, the 5 different folders for each meaning of "big".
2. Check if you're using the best collocation: http://www.ozdic.com/
Collocations are how words combine with each other. Strong collocations happen frequently, therefore, makes your choice of words sound more natural and easy to comprehend.
For example, in Brazilian-Portuguese, you'd often hear a person say, "vou ligar o carro" ou "vou acender a luz", these are strong collocations, usually when starting a car you say "ligar", and for light, you use the verb "acender". But, you might hear once in a while "vou ligar a luz", it's a weaker collocation, but still possible. On the the other hand, however, you might never or very rarely hear "vou acender o carro", it sounds very unnatural, and a fluent speaker of Portuguese would have to stop and think about the meaning you're trying to convey; therefore, the verb "acender" does not collocate with "car".
The same happens in English. That's why we say "make a cake" and not "do a cake". Both verbs mean practically the same, but they collocate with specific words. Another example: it's ok to say "turn/switch off your computer", but it's not as a strong collocation as "shut down your computer"; and you'd probably never hear "blackout your computer", because this combination "to blackout" + "computer" doesn't collocate.
This dictionary gives you options of adjectives, verbs and prepositions that collocate with the words you want.
The example bellow from the www.ozdic.com. The site gives adjectives, verbs, prepositions, and phrases that collocate with the word MEETING. Let's suppose I want to say "the meeting will be in person". If we check what the dictionary suggests, we'll find out it's more frequent to say "face-to-face" rather than "in person". Or instead of "declaring the meeting finished", you'd say "declare this meeting closed" or even "meeting adjourned".
3. Check if you're using the right preposition, if spelling is ok, if a word has plural or not, using a good dictionary online. Here are some suggestions:
Cambridge: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/
Pearson Longman: https://www.ldoceonline.com/
Macmillan: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us
Which one is best? All of them are pretty good. If compared to the dictionaries from a few decades ago, these dictionaries are very complete. They bring not only several possible meanings to thousands of words, but also their phonemic transcript, the audio for the British and American pronunciation, expressions used with the word you're researching as well as collocations and grammar advice.
Should I write using American or British English? Ideally, choose one style and keep the consistency, especially if you're practicing to pass an exam or if you're aiming at getting a teaching award; For example: if you always spell "organise", "realise", "colour", "metre", which is the British way of spelling some words, if you write "to practice" (American spelling) instead of "to practise" (British spelling) you are likely to be penalized. The good news is that some words, like "dialogue" (originally British) and "dialog" (American) is commonly accepted either way.
Nonetheless, if it's something informal and you mix a little, I don't see any harm there. Just ensure you're making yourself understood.
For more info in this topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences
4. If you need to translate a word or expression, try https://www.linguee.com.br/
It brings suggestions of the equivalent in the language you want, and a series of examples of how professional translators have translated that particular word or expression you are looking for.
The example below is Portuguese to English:
5. Finally, to check if an expression or short phrase you are using is too weird, use Google.
Just type in the expression between inverted commas and see the number of occurrences. If the number is very low, it's probably a direct translation or ungrammatical chunk. Keep in mind, though, that this technique is quite "informal", maybe you'll want to double check with a friend or tutor.