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How to learn writing effectively in US English

By Smart15
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If you are trained in UK English writing but want to quickly learn how to switch to US English writing, here are a few pointers

Things You'll Need

  1. Links to a few US English teaching websites.
  2. If you can manage, pick up the Chicago Manual of Style (8th Edition), Merriam Webster dictionary, and the Economist Style Guide where there's a section of differences between UK English and US English.

Steps

1

Concentrate on a few grammar rules:

  1. Serial comma: If there are three or more elements in a sentence joined with "and", there's a comma before the "and". E.g., A, B, C, and D.
  2. Prepositions: You live on XYZ Road not "in" XYZ Road; Children are in school, not "at" school. US English lately avoids using prepositions while indicating day/date. E.g., The meeting will take place Monday. The preposition "on" before Monday has been dropped.
  3. If the sentence ends with a sub-sentence within quotation mark, the period/full-stop is contained before the closing quotation mark. E.g., She was reading a section of "New Man." The British way will be   She was reading a section of "New Man".  The full stop/period in British English will be at the end of the whole sentence. Also, "full stop" is British usage while "period" is the US usage.
  4. Avoid passive voice, be with active voice.
  5. Use simple past "I went to the park" instead of the UK use of present perfect like "I had gone to the park" to iindicate an event that has happened in the recent past.
2

Concentrate on a few spelling rules:

US spellings are "color", neighbour" "analyze", "analog", "center", "check", "program" "license" instead of the UK "colour", "neighbour" "analyse", "analogue", "centre", "cheque", "programme" "licence"

3

Acquaint with a few common idiomatic usages:

  1. At a premium (meaning, at a high price)
  2. Brownie point (credit for doing something good)
  3. Fat-track something (make something high priority)
  4. Hard sell (aggressive way of selling)
  5. Pull the plug (to stop something)
  6. Turn around a venture (make the venture profitable)

Tips

  1. Keep the sentences short
  2. Read your written piece aloud to check whether it is crisp and interesting
  3. Ensure you run the spell check after writing

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