TAKE A ENGLISH COURSE

Taking a course is helpful but it isn't the only way. Find someone who is better at writing than you are and ask them to proof read your work with you. Ask them to explain any corrections where you don't see the problem. Grammar is just a bunch of stuffy rules about what happens in different lingual situations. Once you start to memorize the rules, your writing will improve. It's gotten to the point for me where I can't remember the specific rules but a sentence may not look right and I'll reword it. Another tip I use to help the flow of my writing is to read it to myself out loud. A lot of times this will help me catch more things than just looking at it over and over. I have a problem with run on sentences so I know that if I run out of breath reading one sentence, I should probably break it into two :) You should also find a good reference book that you can look something up in when you have a question. I've been using Keys For Writers by Ann Raimes http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0618437851/sr=1-1/qid=1155445221/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0113790-0799204?ie=UTF8&s=books but there may be something better out there. One nice thing about it, though, is that it also tells you how to do citations in case you have to write a research paper. Finally, one of the best ways to improve your writing skills is to practice. Try to write a little bit every day. As you learn the rules and apply them, you should be able to see a big difference between something you wrote a month ago and something you wrote today. ===Update=== I found a site that has common grammar mistakes and what to do about them http://englishplus.com/grammar/mistcont.htm

READ, READ, READ, it will help develop your vocabulary.....

Satine, you assume your writing skills are poor, but they're not. I don't know how else to say it. They're just not. I recently helped a friend grade term papers for a class and I saw 26 examples of poor writing in all its sad glory. These were college-level term papers. It's probably safe to assume that most of the students gave it what they thought was a good shot. Your worst effort on Answerbag is better than the best of what I just read. I'm serious. I've read your writing. You have a long, long way to fall before you even think of writing something like this: "It is best to check every component used in the construction of a system as it may save them a lot of pain later of a future faulty component or something other than that." That is poor writing, Satine. Or how about, "This is why a person designing the network needs to decide what the needs are and why those needs are needed." Need I say more? That said, you can always improve. As Darkling advised, “Practice, practice, practice.” I can’t improve upon her answer, but I do want you to realize you’re better than you think you are.

What makes you think you have poor writing skills? Your answers and questions don't seem to indicate that is the case. If you mean by "poor writing skills" that you are having trouble constructing an essay or trouble writing a story that you don't feel is stupid, then studying out how good authors phrase things, making lists of whys and wherefores, and bloody-minded persistence are essential in improving.

Read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write and read and write... There's nothing better than practice. Taking a course would help you improve your techniques, but practice makes perfect.

I would CHAT in the CHAT rooms, each day you start a convesation with a new online friend. You'll learn fast, there are a lot of people out there who love to point out grammical mistakes on the internet. That is good practice.