Just because you’re adept at speaking a language does not mean that you understand it. For a lot of native English speakers, basic skills and knowledge of writing, spelling, grammar and speaking are left far behind in their school days.
These are essential skills that are easily lost if they’re not used regularly. Writing and grammar skills are things that people assume they have covered, but quite often get wrong. You might not realise it but these basic skills are key to success in everyday life; you use your English skills on a daily basis, when writing emails, letters and even holding a conversation on the phone so it’s something you need to have a fair grasp of if you’re to come across as an authoritative figure in your field.
Everyone remembers the primary school lessons on ‘there, their and they’re’, ‘our and are’ and ‘your and you’re’, but very few people remember the correct uses for each one. It’s not just the use of words that people get hung up on though, punctuation and capitalisation are also huge issues.
It doesn’t matter how high your position in a company, you automatically lose credibility if your English skills aren’t up to scratch. Spelling skills are perhaps the simplest and most obvious thing to tackle, followed by sentence structure, punctuation, word types and organisation. Only after mastering all of this can you progress your English further and start using it in persuasive and promotional ways.
There are plenty of ways to improve your English and it doesn’t need to take a lot of time. In fact, you can do it 100% in your spare time and at your own pace with a home learning course.
Our new English Skills (Basic) course covers spelling, reading, writing, speaking, grammar and punctuation and receiving and responding to information. Take our diagnostic test to find out whether this is the course level for you. If you’re more advanced, you could consider taking an online English GCSE course.
Nick Cooper
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