A graduate of Sanggo High School was accepted to a doctoral program in the United States.
English Writing Secrets

The English skills of beginners and experts are judged by their writing skills, not their conversational skills.
Fluent conversation skills and elegant writing skills are two completely different things.
This is because the target and purpose of the words/writing being produced are different from the beginning.
While speaking can be learned naturally, writing requires a separate set of principles to master. This is why the discriminatory power of advanced English tests like the TOEFL, GRE, and SAT hinges on the writing section.
This is not unrelated to the reason why Koreans are weakest in the writing section of the GRE, the American graduate school entrance exam.
This is because we are accustomed to the 'Korean-style English composition' education that prioritizes grammatical accuracy and mechanically creates sentences while being confined to textbook English that is faithful to the curriculum.
It is only natural that we become stuck in awkward Korean-style English writing in a Korean-style English education system that evaluates the ability to produce standardized answers in a rush to score high marks.
The writing section of the English exam taken as an adult is unlikely to be easy because the habit of writing in Korean style, which lacks the logic of writing and English-style thinking, has been ingrained in me since childhood.

Is it possible that native Koreans who have never studied English in an English-speaking country can never overcome the barrier of English writing?
The author of this book is a living witness who has personally proven that anyone can do it.
The author graduated from a commercial high school and a night school and went on to a doctoral program at a graduate school in the United States with only his English skills.
What was the secret behind the author, who started off far behind others, being able to excel in English writing, a skill that Koreans are known to be particularly weak at?
The answer is simple.
The secret is 'American-style writing' rather than 'Korean-style writing'.
"American style"? How exactly should I study to become a master of English writing?

The most important function of a colon, and the most important reason to use a colon, is to focus the reader's attention.
For example, in Korean, instead of saying, "We have no money and no time," you could focus your attention by saying, "We have two problems," and then say, "We have no money and no time." This would double the impact of your message. The same holds true in English.
(…) Since the fact that ‘something was said’ is conveyed first and then the specific content follows, it has the effect of focusing attention on the latter half where the main point is presented.
--- pp.19~20

Participles act as adjectives that modify nouns, but can modify objects much more specifically than regular adjectives.
Because the root of the participle is a verb, it can express both the adverb that modifies the verb and the noun that is the subject of the action.
Additionally, it has the effect of making sentences more concise.
(…) The sad thing is that most people are not good at using participle phrases when writing in English.
(…) What could be the reason? Perhaps it's because we're so focused on our own language that we don't have the capacity to think of other structures.
We have to completely forget the structure of our own language and think of English sentence structures that fit the core message, which is actually a process of shifting our thinking that requires a lot of time and effort.
There is no royal road to learning English other than memorizing key sentence patterns through repetitive writing practice and using them consciously.
--- pp.35~36

What kind of sentence structure do these classic texts, which even American college students struggle with, use? As I read these classics over and over again in the library, even the difficult sentences that initially seemed incomprehensible gradually became easier to understand.
I also thought, 'This is why it is considered a classic.'
But I couldn't figure out why I felt comfortable.
After digging into sentence structure, I realized that the key lies in the 'balanced sentence'.
Most students are so busy writing that they don't see the structure well.
But at the core of concise and persuasive writing lies this 'principle of sentence balance.'
--- p.53

Ironically, my first encounter with 'English as an academic language' was through Korean studies.
The English in academic books seemed much more complex than the English books I had read before.
Since I didn't understand the sentence structure well, I couldn't easily understand the context.
As I looked closely at the text to find out what was causing the problem, one thing stood out.
I've found that advanced academic English commonly uses figures of speech such as inversion, ellipsis, and apposition.
Borrowing from rhetoric can help you make your argument compelling and concise.
Of course, I had already learned various investigative techniques from grammar books, but when I actually encountered them in the original text, they seemed completely different from the theories I had learned from the books.
--- p.71

The virtue of a well-written sentence is, above all, its conciseness, which eliminates unnecessary details.
When you feel like a sentence is getting too long, it's best to boldly omit it.
When sentences are concise, the message is conveyed more effectively.
As long as the meaning is clear, various components such as predicate, subject, complement, and infinitive phrases can be omitted.
--- p.78

I once said that the process of creating English sentences is like a puzzle, where you fit pieces into their designated places to complete a picture. "Positions" are divided into the subject, predicate, object, nominative complement, objective complement, and auxiliary modifier positions, which are essential for creating the sentence's framework.
The important thing is that the core concept that should be in the required position should not be in the modifier position.
If you write without distinguishing between core and supporting concepts, your logic will also disappear.
(…) If you add too many modifiers to the subject without considering the weight of the sentence elements, the conciseness and readability of the sentence will decrease.
--- pp.92~93

Why can't I write? First, it's because I lack the ability to form sentences.
If you can't express your thoughts in English sentences, then of course you won't be able to write.
To solve this problem, you need to store the advanced sentence patterns you learned earlier in your head and consistently practice expressing them in English sentences at the right time.
Any language expert will readily agree that writing in English only improves through constant effort and arduous repetition.
Secondly, it is because of the lack of composition.
You're saying you don't know how to write logically.
To address this, you need to learn how to organize your ideas and connect paragraphs in your introduction, body, and conclusion.
Fortunately, the ability to construct sentences can be learned more quickly than sentence patterns.
It is completely possible if you just read this book diligently.
Thirdly, it is because of a lack of information.
Simply put, it means that you know nothing about the given topic.
Although this problem can be solved more easily than expected, most people find writing difficult due to a lack of background knowledge.
This isn't just an English problem.
The same applies when writing in Korean.
Of course, even if you are armed with knowledge, if you lack the ability to effectively expand or develop it, you will quickly run out of things to say after writing just a few lines.
--- pp.112~113

A concept refers to universal knowledge or ideas shared by members of a group.
There is a hierarchy between concepts, and because this hierarchy determines their position in a sentence, writing logically requires a thorough analysis of the concepts.
(…) The standard for dividing the hierarchy of concepts is abstractness and concreteness.
For example, the concept of 'love' is abstract and cannot be touched or seen.
But if we break this concept down into sub-concepts like 'hug', 'smile', and 'gift', it becomes tangible or visible.
The process of breaking down abstract concepts into concrete sub-units is called 'operationalization of concepts'.
--- p.114

The basic units that make up an essay are introduction, body, and conclusion.
In the introduction, you should clearly state the reason for writing, that is, the writer's argument.
The sentence that makes the claim is called a 'thesis statement', and if this statement is not clear, logical writing is impossible.
In the main body, the 'topic sentence' that serves as the basis for the argument is written as the first sentence, and the topic sentence is supported with related examples and additional explanations.
In conclusion, I will summarize the argument once more.
Looking at it this way, logical writing may seem very simple, but once you actually start writing, your thoughts will change.
--- p.117

If you're not sure how to develop your introduction, there are three approaches you can consider.
The first way is to present your argument by criticizing it by listing facts that contradict your argument.
A second way is to question the topic by asking, "Is that really so?"
Finally, there is a way to preview the content of the main text by explaining the proposition in detail.
(…) Let's take a closer look at the main text. It's mostly concrete vocabulary, isn't it? In essays, the more concrete the words, the more logical and well-written the piece is.
Because concrete words can be proven in practice.
It is also easy to develop writing.
(…) Generally, the conclusion develops by reiterating the argument and organizing the basis, and various rhetorical devices are also used to maximize the effect of the writing.
--- pp.129~130

In good writing, the writer's intelligence shines through like this.
Just as food tastes good when the ingredients are good, writing becomes good when the ingredients are good.
In this article, the material of the article is the writer's erudition, and this erudition refers to information power.
I remember my professor telling me to look at the references first to determine whether the writing was well-written or not.
Typically, social science writing is 10 percent ideas and 90 percent examples.
This is exactly the information the author found.

--- pp.133~134