In a workshop on writing skills held at the British Library on Sunday, trainers of International English Language Testing System (IELTS) were apprised of forming letters, connected script, spelling and use of punctuation. Professor Deepti Gupta from the Department of English, Panjab University, was the resource person for the workshop.

Addressing the teachers, Gupta said: “We write for different reasons — to pass on information, to ask questions, to keep a record and to organise our thoughts. Sometimes we write to communicate, which can be quite interactive and relatively immediate. These texts are often quite short and simple. We might write longer texts as part of our studies, for a composition, short story or an examination.”

She added: “When we write we should think about the readers. We then need to adjust the content and style accordingly by using formal or informal language and the appropriate layout and conventions.”

Teachers were also informed about the four stages of the writing process — preparation, drafting and editing and rewriting. She suggested them to rewrite several times so that the text is coherent, clear and has fewer mistakes.