Writing Skills

I am not a good writer. I can make the excuse that English is my second language, except that my Chinese (first language) is much worse. One measure we used to compare in high school was the difference between your math and verbal SAT scores. If it was really high, you should study engineering; if it was negative, then English or History. Mine was +210. As proof, I have two degrees in electrical engineering.

This lack of verbal/writing skills is more evident after I installed the Microsoft Editor extension in my browser. It unfailingly highlights my poor grammar and word choices. Even after 45 years of speaking English, I still confuse verb conjugation, especially stuff like was/were and has/had. I also write in the passive voice quite often, something that multiple English teachers have mentioned to me. Finally, I use a lot of wishy-washy words (probably, likely, maybe) and redundant adjectives (definitely, positively, totally).

Ever since I installed the extension, I try to correct everything that was flagged, so hopefully the writing quality is a bit better. I did go back a few earlier posts to fix errors (SIEU instead of SEIU for dialysis proposition posts) and it was depressing to see how many words and phrases were flagged for correction.

I should hire a ghost writer if I ever get more than three subscribers to my blog.