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How to Deal With Repetition in ESL Writing

Avoiding repetition in writing can be difficult for anyone, but it presents a particular challenge for ESL learners, who often have a limited English vocabulary and may be less familiar with the constructions and conventions of written English. In addition, some ESL learners may come from a linguistic tradition where repetition is accepted or even desirable in writing. While ESL learners may find difficulty in learning to use more variety in their writing, a few simple tips and tools can make this task much easier.

Thesaurus

Instructions

- 1
  Scan your writing for overused words, then use a thesaurus to replace them with alternative choices.
- 2
  Learn the basic sentence types and use them all in your writing. Purdue's Online Writing Lab suggests writing with a variety of simple, complex, compound and complex-compound sentences to avoid repetitive sentence structure.
- 3
  Use conjunctions to join sentences. For example, "I have six younger brothers and sisters. I have had lots of experience taking care of children" can become, "I have six younger brothers and sisters, so I've had lots of experience taking care of children."
- 4
  Change the order of clauses in a sentence. Gnosis Learning recommends flipping clauses in a sentence so that a repetitive phrase will be buried in the middle instead of repeated at the beginning. For example, "She will meet her sister at the cafe for lunch. She will take a nap once she's eaten," can become, "She will meet her sister at the cafe for lunch. Once she's eaten, she will take a nap."
- 5
  Make a writing plan to avoid repetition of ideas and points you are trying to express. Samantha Stroh of Oxford University Press suggests that organizing your writing before you begin will help you avoid repeating an idea over and over in hopes that it will become more comprehensible.

Techniques for a Parody

Helping a Child With Sequencing

Writing Guides