Remember the good old days of having a pen-pal? The excitement of receiving the stamped envelope in your mailbox, only to tear it open so that you can devour every word of the content it holds. 

And then comes the hype of finding the exact words to write back, sometimes staring at the blank page, in front of you, for hours. Writing letters is not only reserved for pen-pals and lovers but can serve as a fantastic way to improve your English skills. We look at five ways to do just that!

Grow your Vocabulary

The only way to truly find your way is to get lost. The same is true for growing your vocabulary. The more you read, speak, and hear words and phrases you do not understand, the more you will be encouraged to find out what it means and so expand your vocabulary. 

Whether you aspire to sing Bohemian Rhapsody, quote your favorite TV show word for word, or read the daily news back to front in record time, you would need a great vocabulary, and writing letters is the perfect way to hone your skills. 

Pick some new words every week and work them into your letters and before you know it, you will be writing letters with beautiful words that everyone would want to read.

Read, write and learn famous quotes

There’s nothing better than learning English and the best ways to use it by reading the golden words shared by famous people. You can save all the screenshots of the famous quotes that you come across on your Mac.  You can find out more about it from the internet and even learn how to save them to iCloud. 

Studying famous quotes and repeating them word for word gets stuck in your subconscious, much like the screenshot on default to your desktop. Most famous quotes include words of great meaning that capture various emotions, and by reading and writing these into your letters, you do not only sound like you know a thing or two, but you will inspire your pen-pal to up his or her game too. 

Spelling, spelling, and more spelling

There are a hundred tools available to make sure that your spelling and grammar, with the writing of every letter, is nothing but perfect. From spell check on Pages to Grammarly, every tool is available to make writing error-free letters less daunting. How, you might ask? 

Well simple! The more you type letters and make mistakes, the more you will be able to pay attention to how words are spelled. This will surely come in handy when you are writing your letters by hand. 

If you are still unsure if Mississippi has two p’s and two s’s, well, there is always the old faithful dictionary. Practice makes perfect! The more you write, the better you will get at spelling words perfectly.

Put pen to paper

There is something deeply personal and romantic about a handwritten letter. The smell, the touch, the look, and the excitement of waiting and then wondering what stories it holds. Something magical that whispers that you were worth the effort. Something that holds a promise of surprise. 

It lies in the curls of the y’s and the length of the l’s, and in the embedded pen-marks that shapes every word onto the canvas you hold as if it tried to carefully capture the wandering soul of the one who wrote it. 

Handwritten letters boost creativity and create a hunger to explore. It also reveals a great deal about the personality of the writer, but at the same time creates the mystery of what comes next for the reader. 

Build confidence

To write or not to write…? That is the real question! Writing letters do not only improve your spelling, grammar, style, and structure, but also build your confidence. The written word leaves extraordinarily little room for falseness and can help us weigh our spoken words more carefully. 

When we write, we learn to pay attention to how we speak, what we say and in what tone we say it. And when you speak better, you become better. It is as simple as picking up your pen and to start at the beginning. 

Romeo did it, Caesar swore by it and Cleopatra died for it – Letters. 

Pages filled with confessions of betrayal, love, fraud, murder, and master plots that would in some way or another be captured, forever changing history. Writing that perfect letter to describe your deepest secret, capture your greatest joy, paint your biggest fear, or simply mouth your greatest emotion, can be nerve-wracking. 

Staring at the empty pages can sometimes make you feel like you do not know one single word that is deserving enough, but the more you write, the easier it gets, and the better you get, the more you will want to write. After all, what have you got to lose?

About the author

James Dorian is a technical copywriter. He is a tech geek who knows a lot about modern apps that will make your work more productive. James reads tons of online blogs on technology, business, and ways to become a real pro in our modern world of innovations.