And for heaven sakes, don't start all your transmissions with "And,". This may sound stupid, but more and more I've been hearing this - especially with some of the older pilots but even students are doing it.
"And local tower, Cessna 123 direct runway 36R"
"And local tower, Cessna 123, 36R at Alpha ready for departure"
"And local departure, Cessna 123 3,000 climbing 5,000"
"And local airport, Cessna 123 short final 36, local airport"
And? And what?!?
/pet peeve
But as others have said, spent sometime listening to live atc. The more and more you listen, the more you hear there is a certain formula and that each transmission follows a template, as does the read back.
I remember the first time I was issued an approach clearance. Didn't get a word of it but my instructor read it back no problem. Second time same thing happened. Third time it was about to happen then suddenly it clicked - I read the clearance back almost without knowing what I was saying!