Tips for writing sentences like a native speaker
English isn't my native tongue, but I've been writing novels in English for a while. Most of the time, I can be aware of what's grammatically correct and what's not. But making sure that a sentence sounds like one written by a native speaker is a harder task.
I've been trying the following:
- Writing everyday (I try using simple words and simple sentences)
- Reading every day (and check in the dictionary words that I don't know)
- I copy paragraphs from my favorite novels (I read the paragraph once, I write it, and I correct the differences.) In the process, I check in the dictionary every word I don't know (or translate it to Spanish, my mother tongue).
- Writing everyday
- Check my sentences on Google Books (the more results the more confident I am. If there are zero results, then the sentence is probably wrong).
I'm not sure if these are the best ways of accomplishing what I want. Any suggestions? (other than looking for a native speaker to correct my work)?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/7524. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
2 answers
If you want to write like a native speaker, try to read a variety of texts and learn to use phrasal verb and idioms. Most of the time, we are exposed to the formal English language in news channel and always use it as a formal language in our workplace. But native spaker won't speak in this way. They will use more informal language in daily conversations and informal writings such as diary. Try to get one or two friends using English as their native langauge and start to write to them using phrasal verbs and idioms in the format of diary or some casual online chat. That would improve your English a lot.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/10525. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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If you want to write like a native speaker, you should also be listening. So listen to radio broadcasts, podcasts, and TV shows. (Movies can vary; because they are shorter, they can be narratively compressed, so dialogue is often more focused on moving the plot forward. TV shows have the luxury of time, so they can afford to have people just banter.)
In particular, try to find series: soap operas, long-running (four or more years) TV shows and podcasts, radio hosts who have been on for a long time. When you have character (or real-person) relationships which are ongoing, it becomes less important to tell a story and you can spend time just enjoying one another's company. So your speech is more relaxed, more "native." The idea is that this is how people actually talk to one another.
Also, try improvised or ad-libbed shows. Search on YouTube for "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (the U.S. cast). People who are ad-libbing aren't thinking about how they're constructing sentences, so that's about as pure of "native" speech as you can get.
Record these and transcribe what you hear, if you can. That will give you something to compare your work to.
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