If I tell you reading can help writing, you may not be that impressed, especially when you think writing is about putting together a bunch of grammatically correct sentences. And don't we all have reading classes, which are often developed and employed as an extension of grammar learning in school or at 'bu-shi-bahn'? Yes, reading certainly works.
But reading can do more than that, way more. The reward from reading is that it sharpens our mind power or thinking abilities, which are key to successful writing, and speaking. Here are some of its effective uses to help us write better:
a. Rewrite the story – pick any short, simple article (few new words to you) that you can finish reading in a matter of few minutes (read a couple of times if you have to). Then rewrite the story in your own way and in your own words and sentences without looking back at the article again.
For a sample practice, read this news article titled Banks Share Information on the website http://www.cdlponline.org/index.cfm?fus ... toryID=124, and then rewrite it.
b. Summarize the story – recap the most significant, important or interesting part of the reading, again, in your own style without twisting the author's meaning.
Practice summary writing using the same news article mentioned above.
c. Comment on the story – to what extent do you agree or disagree with the author's points? Can you develop your argument logically and persuasively? Just developing one short paragraph after every reading is probably the best training you can have for any writing test prep.
These three writing practices associated with reading will help you develop solid writing skills if you do them regularly. Post your practice writing and I'm more than happy to share mine with you.
Write on.
