You Can Write Better English

Barry Kalb has taught reporting and news writing at the University of Hong Kong’s Journalism and Media Studies Centre since 2005, emphasizing the basics of good English writing. His work with hundreds of Chinese from Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia has given him an insight into the problems native Chinese speakers encounter when trying to write English. You Can Write Better English is an easy-to-follow guide to correcting these problems. Kalb started his journalism career in Washington, D.C., in 1967. He was a CBS News correspondent in Hong Kong, then joined TIME Magazine as Eastern Europe bureau chief, and later moved with TIME to Rome, New York and back to Hong Kong. After a detour into the restaurant business, he served as an editor at the Voice of America’s Hong Kong bureau. Stories he has covered include the Watergate scandal in Washington, the deaths of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in China, the beginnings of the Solidarity movement in Poland, and the attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in Rome.

“This little book is a delight, offering a seasoned writer’s advice backed up with examples from many years in the classroom with native speakers of Chinese. By writing down his wisdom with a clear, authoritative voice, Barry Kalb has earned a place on the shelf beside Fowler, Orwell and Strunk and White.” —Ford Burkhart, former New York Times and AP foreign desk editor