Thorogood English

Category: Writing Skills

Writing techniques that work at every level — descriptive writing, persuasive essays, editing, vocabulary, and why strong writing skills help in every subject, not just English.

  • How to Write Descriptively: 7 Techniques That Actually Work

    Descriptive writing is one of those skills that looks effortless when done well — and feels impossible to teach until you break it into its component parts. Here are seven specific techniques that improve descriptive writing at any level, from 11+ to A-Level.

    1. Choose Unexpected Verbs

    The simplest upgrade you can make to descriptive writing is to replace generic verbs with precise, unexpected ones. “He walked across the room” is fine. “He drifted across the room” or “he lurched across the room” or “he picked his way across the room” — each one creates a completely different character and atmosphere. The verb is one of the hardest-working words in any sentence. Make it earn its place.

    2. Appeal to All Five Senses — But Not Equally

    Students are often told to “use all five senses,” which leads to laboured passages that tick every sensory box in turn. Instead, choose one or two senses that most powerfully evoke the specific scene you’re writing. A dusty attic doesn’t need to be described visually — describe the smell and the sound of creaking floorboards and the reader will fill in the rest. Restraint in sensory description creates more atmosphere than exhaustiveness.

    3. Use Specific Details, Not Vague Generalities

    “The room was messy” tells us almost nothing. “Last week’s takeaway containers formed a small civilization on the desk” is specific, surprising, and instantly visual. Good descriptive writing is made of concrete, particular details — not vague impressions. Ask yourself: what specifically would I see if I were standing in this scene? What exactly does it smell, sound, feel like?

    4. Control Sentence Length to Control Pace

    Short sentences create tension and urgency. Longer, flowing sentences slow the pace and create a sense of ease, or depth, or lingering attention. Mixing the two — deliberately — is one of the hallmarks of accomplished descriptive writing. A paragraph that builds through long sentences and then lands on a very short one can be devastatingly effective. Try it.

    5. Avoid the Most Overused Similes

    “As white as snow.” “Like a knife through butter.” “As quiet as a mouse.” These similes were powerful once. They’ve been used so many times that they’ve lost all their force — readers’ eyes slide over them without registering anything. Original similes are much harder to write, but they’re the ones that make readers stop and think. What does this thing actually remind you of — in your experience, with your specific imagination?

    6. Use White Space and Paragraph Breaks Deliberately

    Readers unconsciously experience a short paragraph — or even a one-sentence paragraph — differently from a dense block of text. It feels more significant. It creates breathing room. Many writers use a single short sentence as its own paragraph to land an important image or idea with more weight than it would have buried mid-paragraph.

    Like this.

    7. Show Emotion Through Detail, Not Statement

    “She was terrified” tells us the emotion. “Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking; she’d folded them in her lap so no one would notice” shows it. In descriptive and narrative writing, the second approach is almost always more powerful. Readers want to feel the emotion themselves — and they will, if you give them the right details. Trust your reader to feel what the details are doing. Don’t label emotions; create them.

    The Bottom Line

    Descriptive writing improves fastest with two things: reading widely (see how skilled writers do it), and writing with feedback (have someone who knows what they’re looking for tell you specifically what’s working and what isn’t). The techniques above give you the framework; practice and feedback give you the skill.

    Thorogood English’s Creative Writing Workshop launches alongside the first cohort in January 2027. Register your interest here.

  • Welcome to the Thorogood English Blog

    Welcome to the Thorogood English blog — your resource for IGCSE English, A-Level English, and 11+ preparation tips from a teacher with twenty-six years in the classroom.

    I’m Jacqueline Thorogood. I spent years marking Cambridge IGCSE papers, which means I’ve seen exactly what earns full marks — and exactly what doesn’t. This blog is where I share that insider knowledge with students and parents.

    What You’ll Find Here

    Each week I publish practical exam guidance across five areas:

    • IGCSE English Language & Literature — essay technique, Paper 1 strategy, unseen poetry, directed writing
    • A-Level English — linguistic frameworks, coursework tips, getting from Good to Outstanding
    • 11+ Preparation — comprehension, creative writing, how to prepare without burning out
    • Writing Skills — techniques that work at every level
    • Tutoring Advice — how to choose the right tutor, what to look for in a class

    Opening January 2027

    Small group online classes open in January 2027. If you’d like to secure a place before registration opens, join the waiting list here. Spaces are limited — I keep groups small so every student gets proper attention.

    In the meantime, explore the blog. There’s a lot here — use the categories below to find exactly what you need.

  • How to Improve Your Child’s Spelling: Strategies That Actually Work

    Spelling is one of those areas where well-meaning effort often produces poor results. Writing out a word ten times, testing on a list of twenty words, and then forgetting them all a week later is a familiar cycle for many families. Here are strategies that work better — and why they work.

    Why Rote Repetition Often Fails

    Writing a word repeatedly encodes the visual pattern — but spelling under exam conditions requires retrieving that pattern when you’re thinking about something else entirely. The retrieval practice that actually builds long-term retention is testing yourself (or being tested) after a gap — not immediately after learning. The spacing effect is one of the most robust findings in educational psychology: information tested after a delay is remembered far better than information tested immediately.

    Look, Cover, Write, Check

    This is genuinely effective for individual words: look at the word carefully, cover it, write it from memory, then check. The “from memory” step is the crucial one — it forces retrieval rather than copying. Do this three times per word with increasing gaps between attempts. It’s more effortful than copying, which is exactly why it works better.

    Learn Spelling Patterns, Not Just Words

    English spelling is more patterned than it seems. Teaching children the patterns — ie/ei rules, silent letter patterns, common prefixes and suffixes, etymological patterns (words from Latin or Greek roots often have predictable spellings) — gives them tools to apply to new words rather than individual words to memorise.

    For example: knowing that words ending in “-tion” always spell the “shun” sound that way (not “-shun”) handles hundreds of words at once. Knowing that “ph” makes an “f” sound (and why — it comes from the Greek letter phi) handles another set.

    Personal Spelling Lists Beat Generic Lists

    A list of twenty common words is far less useful than a list of ten words your child consistently misspells in their own writing. Work from real writing — go through a recent piece and pull out every word that was wrong. This creates a personally relevant list, and fixing errors in context means encountering the words in real use rather than in isolation.

    Read More

    Children who read widely have significantly better spelling — not because they’re consciously studying spellings, but because they encounter correctly spelled words thousands of times and the correct form becomes visually familiar. Poor spellers very often read rarely; fluent readers very often spell well. The connection is causal, not coincidental.

    At Thorogood English, spelling, grammar, and writing accuracy are developed alongside analytical and creative writing skills. Join the waiting list for January 2027.

  • The Importance of Punctuation in IGCSE English Writing

    Many students think of punctuation as a set of rules to be followed or avoided — a minefield of commas where wrong answers lose marks. The better way to think about it: punctuation is a tool for controlling how your writing is read. Used deliberately, it shapes pacing, creates emphasis, manages tone, and makes complex ideas clear. Here’s how to use it that way.

    The Full Stop

    The most underrated punctuation mark. A short sentence followed by a full stop creates impact. Students who write exclusively in long, multi-clause sentences lose the power of the short sharp statement. Varying sentence length — including using very short sentences of three to five words — is one of the clearest markers of a confident, controlled writing voice. Full stops earn you that control.

    The Comma

    The comma is the most versatile punctuation mark and the most commonly misused. Its legitimate functions: separating items in a list; separating a subordinate clause from a main clause; separating a fronted adverbial from the rest of the sentence; marking a pause in direct speech. Its most common misuse: the comma splice — joining two independent clauses with a comma where a full stop, semicolon, or conjunction is needed. (“It was raining, we stayed inside.” — should be “It was raining. We stayed inside.” or “It was raining, so we stayed inside.”)

    The Semicolon

    The semicolon joins two independent clauses that are closely related in meaning; it signals that the two clauses should be read together. It’s slightly more formal than a full stop, slightly more emphatic than a comma. Used once or twice in a piece of writing, it signals stylistic control. Used frequently, it becomes distracting. Learn it, use it occasionally, use it correctly.

    The Dash

    The dash is versatile and — used well — adds energy and informality. It can introduce an afterthought, a clarification, or an emphatic aside. In creative and discursive writing at IGCSE, it’s a legitimate stylistic choice. In formal letters or reports, use it sparingly if at all. The em dash (—) and the en dash (–) are technically different; in practice, using either consistently is fine.

    Ellipsis

    Three dots (…) indicating something left unsaid, a trailing thought, an unresolved tension. In creative writing, used deliberately at the right moment, it’s powerful. Used reflexively throughout a piece — whenever the writer isn’t sure what comes next — it signals a loss of control rather than deliberate craft. Use ellipsis purposefully: ask what you want the reader to feel in the gap.

    Punctuation, sentence control, and writing craft are developed across every level at Thorogood English. Join the waiting list for January 2027.

  • How Good Writing Habits Help in Every Subject, Not Just English

    Students who are reluctant about English sometimes need reminding of something that becomes obvious later: the ability to write clearly, structure an argument, choose the right word, and communicate persuasively is not a skill confined to English lessons. It’s the skill that underlies success in almost every other academic and professional context. Here’s why.

    History and the Humanities

    History exams test essay writing. Geography exams test report writing. Philosophy and ethics exams test argumentative writing. The student who can structure an analytical essay, deploy evidence precisely, and write a well-reasoned conclusion will outperform a student with equivalent knowledge but weaker writing ability in every one of these subjects. The marking criteria are different from English, but the underlying writing skills are the same.

    Science and Maths

    At A-Level and beyond, science and maths increasingly require clear written communication — experiment reports, extended answer questions, university application personal statements, research proposals. The scientist who can explain their work clearly in writing has a significant advantage over one who can’t. Many scientists are poor writers, and they know it; the ones who aren’t stand out.

    University

    Almost every undergraduate degree involves essay writing — even those in STEM fields involve dissertations, research reports, and lab write-ups. The students who struggle most in their first year at university are often those who coasted through secondary school in English and arrive at degree-level written work without the foundational skills to meet the standard required.

    Professional Life

    Emails, reports, proposals, presentations, job applications, client communications — professional life is full of writing, and professional advancement is significantly shaped by the quality of it. The ability to write a clear, well-structured email is genuinely rarer than it should be; the person who can do it well is noticed.

    The University Personal Statement

    For UK students, the UCAS personal statement is perhaps the most consequential single piece of writing a student will produce before the age of 18. It requires exactly the skills English teaches: analytical argument, evidence, structure, vocabulary, and the ability to present yourself persuasively in writing. Students who are strong writers write better personal statements. It’s as simple as that.

    At Thorogood English, we build the writing skills that matter not just in English exams but in every academic and professional context your child will encounter. Join the waiting list for January 2027.