applying oneself and studying hard to cultivate oneself / friendly competition, improving oneself by learning from others

apply oneself and study hard to improve oneself / try to improve by learning from others

skill (capacity to do something well)

together, with

combined, merged, unified

combination; a state which is combined / meeting

improvement, progress

improve, rise

(chiefly women's speech) first person singular pronoun: I, me

(polite) first-person singular pronoun: I, me