STEP-BY-STEP

WRITING IN ENGLISH
Muhammad Ikrar Lagowa, S.T., M.Eng.Sc
 General Tips

READ MORE, START WITH PRACTICE, MAKE MIND YOUR

WRITE BETTER SENTENCES, MISTAKES, READERS
THEN LEARN, AND
PARAGRAPHS, PRACTICE MORE
THEN AN ESSAY
General Rules
• Start names of people, places, and title with a capital letter
Ex : Elon Musk
Spiderman : Far From Home
Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia
• Avoid repeated words, use pronoun
Ordinary : I come from Tokyo. Tokyo is the capital of Japan
Better : I come from Tokyo. It is the capital of Japan (use of pronoun)
Alternative : I come from Tokyo, the capital of Japan. (use of comma)
• Exercise : My parents have a baker’s shop. My parents get up early every day
Pronoun
Subject / object Pronoun Pronoun (Object) Possessive
(Subject) Pronoun
Single (male) He Him His
Single (female) She Her Her
Plural (3rd person) They Them Their
Plural (1st person) We Us Our
Single (non-human) It It Its
Plural (non-human) They Them Their
Sentence This/that This/that -
Pronoun Examples
• Budi is a generous friend. This is what I like from him.

• President Joko Widodo, who has resisted calls for a lockdown to

combat the virus, has ordered strict enforcement of social-distancing
and monitoring to limit its spread in rural Indonesia
General Rules
• When possible, join sentences, and give more details

Ordinary : I get home late. I have a bath. I watch TV. I go to bed.

Better : I get home late, have a bath, watch TV, and go to bed. (parallelism)

Alternative : I usually get home late, have a long hot bath, watch my favorite TV
show, and go to bed when I feel sleepy (more and more addition)
Parallelism (examples)
• Mary is singing, and John is dancing (correct)
• Sahlan is tall, but Ali is writing (incorrect)
Find out what are being paralleled
• They need to talk to the manager or the assistant manager.
• She invites us to her home but never talks with us.
• My boss is sincere and nice.
• The checks will be ready not at noon but at 1:00.
• He is here because he has to be and because he wants to be.
How to join sentences (FANBOYS)
Formula : S + V, FANBOYS S + V
• For : She looks so happy, for her boyfriend will come tomorrow.
• And : My mom is cooking in the kitchen, and I am studying in my room.
• Nor : I can’t be at the meeting, and nor can Andrew.
• But : I gave Lea a smile, but she did not respond.
• Or : I can ride you home, or you can take a taxi.
• Yet : He’s overweight, (and) yet somehow, he’s attractive.
• So : I want to have more money, so I apply for a part time job.
Note : never put FANBOYS at the beginning of a sentence