Why You Need to Improve Your Writing Skills Constantly
In this hypercompetitive business world, knowing how to improve your writing skills can help you in several ways. For example, you can achieve new promotions at work or elevate your small online business.
If you haven’t considered it until now, remember that grammatical errors look unprofessional. Many companies have gone out of business because their owners neglected their writing.
In a sense, poorly drafted pieces of text communicate a lack of respect towards your business partners. Unfortunately, data show that people’s writing degrades with each generation.
Fortunately, this is not your case. You strive to become better and grow along with your business. That’s why you are on our website and why you want to improve your writing skills.
Improve Your Writing Skills in the Age of AI
You may wonder why you would need to improve your writing skills in the age of AI. This is indeed an age in which, with the help of Grammarly or QuillBot, any text can be corrected in no time. No grammatical error can stand a chance with these AI agents. However, things aren’t always that simple.
Remember that artificial intelligence is your assistant, not your replacement. While at first, Grammarly may appear to correct all grammatical errors in your writing, it can still skip certain errors or mistake perfectly well-written English sentences for grammatical errors.
That’s why it is important to know how to improve your writing skills constantly. While AI may assist you, it is only your intelligent mind that can settle whether a sentence is well-written and free of grammatical errors.
Of course, not all grammatical errors are created equal. While basic subject-verb agreement errors are elementary, some jump from the domain of grammar into that of style.
Style and grammar are complementary to each other. Grammar affects style, and style can also affect grammar. In what follows, we will look over some grammatical errors that, by correcting them, you will improve your writing skills and increase the opportunities for yourself and for your business. That’s why it is important to improve your writing skills as an entrepreneur who wants to make it in the business world.
Wordiness & Redundancy
The most important advice you can receive about writing is this: omit needless words!
Lack of wordiness can clutter your writing. Don’t forget that your readers are time-pressured and solution-oriented individuals. They are too busy to read your piece several times before understanding what you are saying. They want to get to the core message as quickly as possible.
That’s why it is important to cut every unnecessary word. The reader must read quickly; the message must be clear.
An Example of Needless Words and How to Avoid Them
Unfortunately, many write “due to the fact that.” This clumsy phrase takes up too much space. Instead of using five short words, a writer can simply use “because.” Although much longer, it is a single word.
Error: Due to the fact that our sales numbers have decreased, we are in the process of implementing new strategies in order to improve our overall performance.
Better: Because sales have decreased, we’re implementing new strategies to improve performance.
The second sentence is shorter, clearer, and more concise. Whenever you write a sentence that’s more than one row of text, ask yourself if you can make it shorter.
Passive Voice Overload
Any style and grammar manual will tell you that the active voice is better than the passive voice. Why? It simply carries more force than the passive. In business writing, as well as in copywriting, you want to make the reader take action. That’s why taking him or her straight to the point can be done better by using the active voice.
Unfortunately, often when writing a piece of text that is designed to target a large audience or carries a certain authority, the passive construction is overused. This is avoidance, and it denotes a certain fear on your part, the writer.
Let’s offer a simple example of using the passive voice.
> The report was written by our team.
This sentence is lengthy and not dynamic at all. It isn’t inspiring and can even make the reader feel bored. Instead, we can deliver the same message more actively.
> Our team wrote the report.
The sentence is shorter. Also, it feels more spirited and dynamic. Clearly a better option.
The passive voice hides responsibility and weakens authority. While it isn’t a grammatical error in itself, your writing style is weakened because of it. If you want to improve your English writing skills, you must become more aware of the voice in which you write.
Whenever you see a passive sentence, convert it mentally into an active one. Whenever you write a passive sentence, improve your writing skills by transforming it into an active one.
Misplaced & Dangling Modifiers
One way to create confusion and destroy confidence with your writing is to misplace phrases. The error is called misplaced modifiers, and it implies using the wrong order of your words in your text.
Let’s work with an example. Suppose that someone writes the following:
After presenting the proposal, the investors were impressed by the team’s slides.
Why is this sentence problematic? How could it affect the relationship with a business partner?
This sentence implies that the investors presented the proposal—which is not what the statement was meant to say. Such ambiguity in a pitch deck, press release, or investor report can make your communication look sloppy and careless.
Instead, you can write something like the following:
After the team presented the proposal, the investors were impressed by their slides.
The corrected version makes it clear who presented the proposal and avoids confusion in a professional context where clarity equals credibility.
Clarity is at the heart of good writing, and you can make your business texts clearer by knowing how to place phrases properly. Detect and repair all misplaced modifiers, and you are sure to improve your writing skills.
Comma Splices & Run-On Sentences
Confusion is at the heart of bad writing. A way to avoid it and to improve your writing skills is to detect grammatical errors. Two central—and unforgettable—grammatical errors are the comma splice and the run-on sentence. These two make your writing appear negligent and even confusing to the reader.
There are various reasons why the dot and period were introduced in the English language, and the first of them was for clarity.
We launched the product, it was a success.
Can you spot the grammatical error in this sentence? Maybe, at first, you are unable to tell what’s wrong with this sentence. Still, reading it, you can tell that it is rushed. Still, what is the grammatical error in this sentence?
That is correct. After “product,” a period should follow. Using a comma, as in this example sentence, to unite two independent clauses is a grave grammatical error that goes by the name of comma splice. Also, given the wrong punctuation, the sentence can be classified as a run-on sentence. The words are “running,” but without following the rules of good English.
Understanding how to separate ideas within a sentence will greatly improve your writing skills and will make your business partners appreciate your writing more.
Overuse of Jargon and Buzzwords
Some wrongly believe that big, pompous words make good writing. This is not the case. While pompous words can be impressive for language lovers, they can also be confusing and intimidating.
At worst, they can simply be filler words. In this case, we can call them buzzwords. These are words that are present to fill in empty space in a document. The writer may think he or she is smart by using large, complicated words when in fact, readers are left confused, if not angered.
“We leverage cutting-edge synergies to optimize scalable solutions.”
Before questioning what is wrong with this sentence, we want to know if you even understand what the main idea is. The truth is that we don’t either. We’ve just asked ChatGPT to write a sentence full of buzzwords about a business decision.
This is what it offered us. It’s confusing. It’s annoying. It’s pretentious. In other words, it’s not something that your target audience wants to read.
Again, this is a sentence ridiculously filled with jargon and buzzwords:
Our company leverages cutting-edge synergies to deliver next-generation, value-added solutions that optimize cross-functional alignment.
This kind of sentence is stuffed with vague corporate jargon. It sounds impressive, but communicates nothing. Clients and partners may see it as fluff or lacking substance.
Instead, you can write the following sentence:
Our company helps businesses work more efficiently by improving collaboration across teams.
Fewer words have been used, and the reader grasps its meaning easily.
Inconsistent Tense Usage
Tense inconsistency is one of the most common grammatical errors in the English language. But in business environments, it can have real-life consequences. Use the incorrect tense, and the potential client can understand something different.
If we were to write
We are offering a new service that improved client satisfaction.
Then the person reading it may be confused. The service IMPROVED client satisfaction, but will the service continue to improve it? What we should write instead is
We are offering a new service that improves client satisfaction.
Now, the statement is a matter of fact. The new service improves client satisfaction.
Use the wrong tense, and a group of people may take a different action. Synchronization suffers when people don’t know when they need to do something.
By being consistent with your tense usage, you will improve your writing skills and cause less confusion for your customers.
Subject-Verb Agreement Errors
Like tense-consistency issues, subject-verb agreement errors
> are basic grammatical errors
> cause a lot of confusion for the readers.
Use the wrong agreement, and you can fall short in the eyes of your readers. Let’s take a couple of examples to understand the grammatical error better.
Our leadership team believe in putting customers first.
In this sentence, the subject is singular. Thus, it requires a singular verb. So, the correct sentence should be:
Our leadership team believes in putting customers first.
Why is this relevant? Press releases often represent the company’s public voice. Small grammatical errors can make your writing sound rushed or inconsistent with brand professionalism.
Let’s offer another example:
The results from the latest campaign was very positive.
This is not good English. The sentence should have been written:
The results from the latest campaign were very positive.
Why does it matter? In business emails, especially those sent to clients or partners, these errors can make the message feel unpolished. Clear, correct grammar reinforces trust and attention to detail—qualities people look for in business relationships.
Overusing Nominalizations
Perhaps, we should first clarify what nominalization is. To keep it short, it’s when you transform a verb into a noun. For example, instead of writing “We improved efficiency,” we can turn the verb “to improve” into a noun and write “We made an improvement in efficiency.”
Can you see what is wrong with the second sentence? For starters, it takes longer to read. Also, the noun “improvement” is very abstract. We cannot see an improvement as well nor can we improve on something concrete. Abstract language, in this regard, is the enemy of good writing. If you want to improve your writing skills, you need to avoid nominalizing verbs.
(In fact, many authors recommend you avoid this practice. Nelson, the author of An Introduction to English Grammar, warns about the dangers of nominalization. But a more beloved and more popular also warns us about these constructions—George Orwell.)
Remember that nominalizations are not intrinsically bad. However, overusing them in your writing can make it hard to read and make it feel impersonal.
Incorrect Parallel Structures
Uneven sentence structure feels awkward and unpolished. That’s what happens when you don’t apply parallelism in your writing. Instead of giving the same weight to all the phrases in a sentence, you make one longer or shorter than the other.
For example,
Our goals are to grow revenue, improving efficiency, and expand reach.
The sentence is poorly written and denotes a poor command of the language. If you want to improve your writing skills and become a proficient writer, you will have to master parallel structures.
That’s why you should rewrite the above sentence in the following way:
Our goals are to grow revenue, improve efficiency, and expand reach.
Three infinitive verbs are placed in a parallel structure. The sentence reads clearer, and it’s easier to understand.
In keeping the parallel structure, you can rewrite the sentence in the following way:
Our goals are growing revenue, improving efficiency, and expanding reach.
The sentence is longer and more difficult to read than the previous one. However, the principle of parallel structure is maintained. And with these structures, your business partners feel that they can have more trust in what you write and do.
Confusing and Misused Words
Writing ‘effect’ instead of ‘affect.’ Instead of typing ‘than,’ you type in ‘then.’ Instead of ‘ensuring’ someone, you ‘insure’ somebody. There are many confusing words in the English language, and typing in the wrong word can come with its setbacks in the business environment.
Remember: Even one wrong word can distort meaning or credibility. Your reputation is at stake, and this is why you should make a habit of spotting fake friends in your journey for improving your English writing.
Double-check usage with examples or tools before publishing. After you have proofread the text yourself, you can put your trust in an AI agent like Grammarly.
Improve Your Writing Skills by Improving Your Grammar
Grammar and style are two parts of the same coin. Grammar affects the quality of the style in your writing, and the style affects your grammar. That’s why it is a must in your journey to improve your writing skills to spot grammatical errors and correct them.
It is also important to have a good grasp of the perks of the English language. If you want to become a freelance writer, you have to master subject-verb agreement, but you also need to distinguish between confusing words and handle parallel structures efficiently.
You can start improving your writing skills by reading our blog articles. Here, you can read about the most common English grammatical errors. Also, if you are interested in the subject of freelance writing, several articles on how to become a freelance writer exist on this blog.
