obj-fce-writing-folders(1).pdf

Writing folder r

Informal letters

1 Look at the extracts from three letters below.

\\hich two u'ould you describe as informal? How

did you decide?

The sample answer below rvould get a low mark,

for several reasons. What are thev?

Dear Frat*iz

WhaL bri&i"allL ne*ts in gour LetLer! | wlsh to offer

gou congratuLahbns abouL the exatn. Morenver, how

hi.e to h&ve some spare cash.

You sag gou can't decid.e uf to Oug a comVtter

garle or some clol:hes. Don't gou thi*k thaL i,f gou

choose some neo cLolhes gou must save up a. blt

more moneg fksL? Cl^othes are noL as cheap than

cnmputer games atd I know gou like exrynslve

desi,gner out'fits. lf gou choose comVtte* gane,

whkh one? There ate so mang availabLe a*d, to mg

mind theg are all lhe satne. ln mg opininn gou

shouLd spend the moneg in somelhlng else. lvhg

don't gou get goursel{ L neN d.irttbnarg, fur

exanpLe? Then iL wouLd.. be easier {or gou to studg,

wou/.d,n'L il?

I hope gou will consider ng suggestinn serinusLg atd.

I lnok {orward to recclving a, repLg {rom gou in due

cour,e.

gt-(W losl "attr

^ns a lwift, alush.

@ffa!' *'d bic,rkt.

'lhLs Ls tn mhrm gou of lhe drxLsans tnken aL

WsL week's me*-t)ng. Plxase notx, lhaL aJL

metnbexs ol thls dr.parLnenL are s&rcH4 re4uixeA

b 6e presenb aL such me*.Ungs and actLon ma4

be Laken rn luhlre Lo ensure lhls.

A,tyway, \et me trell you about the party Jack ie

.tavinq on Salurday. We l, juel aboul everyone ia

c:-,it4 - even Lhaf, weird 4uy )an from colleqe!

,a.< aayg he wanLs ue all to be trhere, eo you'd

be-v-ver nol miee iL. Why noL come down for a few

daye? You can 6Lay aN ny place if you wanl.

Yours slncereLu

Decide for each extract who could have written

the letter, who it rvas probably written to and wh,v.

Correct the errors in paragraph 2 and rervrite

paragraphs I and 3 in an appropriate stvle.

4 How r.t'ill you ans\.ver this task? Work in pairs.

@xam spot

In Paper 2, you may have to write an informal letter in Part r

or Part z. Think carefully about who you are writing to and

why, before you decide whether to use informal language.

You may be given an extract from a letter to reply to, which

can also give you clues about a suitable style.

Content ideas

I)ecide whether 1.ou think your friend should buy a

game or clothes and note down some reasons to

support your vie*'. Then think about one specific

game or itern of elothing. What is special about it?

Compare your ideas.

Game: tnp:w, besL poinLs, pr'rc*-

Clothes: maI,ex'nL, abur, sLgLz

2 Read this writing task and find the st,vle clues.

Here is part of a letter from an English frieno:

Language input

You need to include these functions:

Congratulations Opinion Advice/Suggestion

Think of some informal examples of eaeh function,

Then read the informal expressions from sets 2-4.

Write a suitable reply to your friend. (rzo-r8o words)

Organisation

A letter needs adequate paragraphing, to make it easy

to follow In the sample answer, paragraph 2 is too

long and the ideas in it are muddled. It is important

to plan r.r'hat you are going to say in note form before

you start writing.

. Use this plan for your letter.

- Opening formula

Paragraph I Initial greetings and congratulations

Paragraph 2 Opinion about which item the

friend should buy

Paragraph 3 Description of one specific item

Paragraph 4 Final remarks

- Closing formula

Formal or informal?

Write ftrf next to the expressions that are informal.

I Initial greetings

It was great to hear from you. ......... ..........

I am writing with reference to your letter. .................

Thanks for writing to me. ....................

2 Congratulations

WelI done!

I would like to offer congratulations on

Let me congratulate you on

3 Opinion

In my opinion ....

To my mind

I hold the view that

Personally, I have no doubt that

My own thoughts are

4 Advice/Suggestion

Why not try .................

What about trying

It is recommended that you ....

You could

I urge you to ......................

I suggest that ......................

If I were you ................ ..

Contracted forms, for example,I'm, don't

Phrasal verbs

Phrases with get, take, have, etc., for exarnple, take a

look

Short sentences

Simple linking words, for example, Then

Direct questions, for example, What about ...?

Some exclamation marks (not too many!)

Linkers

Moreover

Also ......................

Then again

Furthermore

B etter still ......................

As well as that

Whot's more ......................

Addirionally

Editing your work

It is irnportant to read through what you have

s'ritten and put right any mistakes. Check your work

for the foilor.ving:

a Is the grammar accurate?

b Is the spelling correct?

c Is there enough punctuation?

d Is the style consistent?

Endings

Do drop me a line if you have time. ......................

I look forward to hearing from you without delay.

The first letters of the five headings above spell out the

word C-L-O-S-E. It is important to think about these

five elements (Content, Language, Organisation, Style,

Editing) for all FCE Paper 2 tasks. And the word'Close,

will also remind y-ou to finish a piece of writing, for

erample by signing off a letter. Some candidates in the

exam forget to do this and iose marks.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Keep in touch. ......................

I hope to hear from you at your earliest conyenience.

7 Opening and closing a letter

Match these opening and closing formulae and say

when you should use each of them.

Dear Jayne

Dear Sir

Yours faithfully

Yours sincerely

Dear Ms Jones Love

. Tiy to use linkers within each paragraph, to improve

the flow of the letter. Choose appropriate ones from

set 5 to present your ideas in a clear order.

o Do not include any postal addresses, as they are not

needed in the exam.

Style

Here are some typical features of infbrmal rvriting.

There is at least one example of each in the saruple.

Writing folder z

',j....-... r.: 1;7 a;7 t 7. 4.n?. 1:t 1;, Z -.'.,, 2.,.. ".: :-: .-:,

2 ltead this example of a ilart I task,

You have just returned from a trip to Florida. You flew

there and back with Ocean Air. You decide to write to

the airline to complain about your flight and ask for

some money back.

Question 1 in Paper 2 is compulsory - all exam

candidates have to answer it.'Tiansactional' means

that the letter has a particular purpose, and will

require further action by its reader, usually in the

form of a written response. The letter must be based

on the information given in the question. Examples of

transactional letters include: writing to a school to

request details about a language course; complaining

to a company about a holiday; replying to a friend

about arrangements for a party. The letter could be

formal or informal.

Read the advertisement and the notes you made and

then, using the information, write a letter to the

airline. You may add other relevant points of your own.

! {,**:k at the fo}l*vring extracts and deciatre *,qrhat t}re

writer is doing il: each. i5ome maybe useel {wiee,

rvhile sithers are nat- used at ail.)

a complaining

i,lte bot,r'cttt,<1

i,. it, q,"t,te rl:,1,t

d giving information

r(,;rr:eet.tr'ttt,

fr'r t,e)

b suggesting

e asking for information

c correcting information

I musf point ouf that the ar-l-icle in 3our

oetnspdpe-( aborf our International Club, gave

some misleading information. UJe aciuall3 meet

once a DeeV-, r,o't once a fortnight and De

begin at g o'clocV--, ^of ? o'clocL. You also

tt(tv' r e ll ! r e A.r,1. L t

htet: r:r, I \"1l.

gave tne impression tha-l- the club |,a5 just

for joung VeoVle In fact, de d(e verj happj

lo ,oelcon\e- people of all ages.

Write your letter in rzo-r8o words. Do not include any

postal addresses.

3 trn pairs- cJilicuss whrt ycrr are being asked tr; elo.

o Do you need to write a formal or an informal

letter? How do you know?

e Do you know the name of anyone at the company?

How will you begin and end the letter? What kind

of tone will your letter take (rude, polite, etc.)?

o How are you going to organise the letter? For

example: How many paragraphs? What kind of

linking words?

o \,Vhich points do you think are the most important?

o Are there any points you think you can leave out?

o Is there anything you think it would be a good idea

to add?

I ha/o alwgs uiyoA v'toAtttj wit'h animals ud ha,to,

spul Uoy suMmcr vJotlitv es a ddi^J ins(nx*or al a

lowl slablu I am aVaila.blo fur infur,tio.,,,t f.o- wtoq rttL

(Lis jotr and I iadodo, j'|^a nw^as and ad*usw- ol

l"to pupla "/i^o ao,tld,bo willig fu ji'la wa o rofin'^u,

4 trVith a partner decide rvhat is \vrong lvith the

follolving letter. For exanrpl€, there ;rre punctuation

rnisttrkes so a is ticked (/'t.1)o the sirme rvith Lr-i.

Abbreviations

6 YoLr will sometirnes hnd abbreviations given in the

Part I task, Decide rvhat the following colnmon

zrbtrreviations mean. Use your English-English

dictionary to help you.

a RSVP f Sq., Ave, St, Rd

b e,g. g PTO

c etc. h kgs, kms

d N.B. i nos.

e tel.

j max., min.

kDr

I c/o

m approx.

n cont'd

o mrns.

7 Another type of transactional letter task is

correcting infbrrnation, usually from a newspaper

article. Look at this task.

Dear Sir,

I am writj-ng to complain about the flight to Florida that I

made urith your airline on 12th qlune this year. We were

bhree hours late boarding the pl.ane. No one was able to

tell us wtry. Another problem was ttre air trostess. She was

very untrelpful. I had problems with my hand luggage. She

told me she was too busy to help me. Wren she came

round with the lunches there were no vegeta;rian meaJ.s

left. I had ordered one when I had booked my flight. I

think this is disgusting. All I had to eat in eight hours

was some bread and ctreese. I demand some compensation

for th.e problems I had flying wittr your airline, especia)_ly

for not having a hot meal du-ring a long flight. If you don't

send me ttre money immediately, I wj-1l call my lawyer.

Yours faithfully

In the summer you had a job at a workcamp in Kirby in

England. A friend in Kirby has just sent you this article

from the local newspaper. You decide to write a letter

to the newspaper to correct some of the information in

the article.

Read carefully the article and the notes you have made.

Then, using this information, write a letter to the Editor

of the newspaper. You may add other relevant points of

your own.

Student Slaves at Workcamp

All summer some 30 foreign students, mainly from

France and Sweden, were working long hours for little

more than pocket money on a local farm. Sleeping in old

tents and with only one shower between 30 people, the

students spent their days picking fruit and vegetables.

It's a disgrace that visitors to this country, who come to

these so-called 'intemational workcamps', should have

to put up with such dreadful conditions.

I rhink rhar

,5 Hlth a partner clecide rvhich of these sentences \.ou

rr,ould use in a formal letter and rvht. You must

renrelnber that your letter rreust htrve a'positive

eil-ect' on the person reading it.

a I want you to give me back my money.

b I look forward to hearing from you in the near

future.

Notes

- max. 15 stud,uLs

- mang il,ffuent natinnalitizs

- nonings onl.g, wee*erd.s {ru

- md,an, wod.en buihings wi*t showess

- fun, grut atrnosy'rte

The food was OK.

I have decided not to fly with your company again,

I would be grateful if you could send me a refund.

The service was satisfactory.

If you don't do what I tell you, there's going to

be trouble.

I would appreciate an apology from your company.

Hi Steve!

See you soon.

Dear Sir or Madam

And, another thing, I won't fly with you again

because it wasn't very comfortable.

Write a letter of between rzo and r8o words in an

appropriate style. Do not include any postal addresses.

It is irnportiurt not to \\.a-cte time or space rvritine

aclclre sses" l'ou must begii: lr,ith [)ew .., . . ., aild

firrish applopriateiv with !.irrrr-s sincerely or 1'orrrs

laitlftulll'.

Writing folder 3

Stories r

In Part 2 of Paper 2, you may be asked to write a short

story. The first or last sentence of the story is given in

the question and you must remember to include this.

Make sure that the story you write fits with the sentence.

I Look at these trvo questions. Discuss with a

partner rvhat tenses you would need to use in each

storl'"

a You have been asked to write a short story for your

college magazine.The story must begin with the

following sentence:

lf he hadn't answered the phone, it would have been

just another ordinary day.

b You have decided to enter a short story competition.

The rules say that the story must end with the

following sentence:

Suddenly, he woke up and reqlised it had been a

nightmare.

2 Nolv read this sample

trnsllier: which rv<lrks

for hoth questions.

Notice which tenses

har-e been used. \bu

can ignore the

underlined rvords

and spaces for the

nloment.

W he ha.dx'L answexei, lhe phone, 'k woulA have be*.n jusL anothet ordtnarg

dn4. BUL he hai. U'l+*A Ue rerziNer and" ha/" heud- lhe ne*ts IhaL btrneA

hLs lt'fe upsdz dnwn. HLs guLftand" hatr- bexst ttke,n hosta4e anL her

kdxappess were dr,mand,irng $1,OoO,OoO.

He was tn shock buL he sU)L moveA tasL. He fot+nd" hls lal*'tet's gun and-

6) N L ouL of th. ttnt. A bus na.s pvLlrrg auog and. he mana4eA ta

jump on. He l**vdkd. donrntown Lo lhe c)i4's br4gesL bank. As ne (Z) wqL

n hratgh the gl-ass doors, penpln bokeA, 6L hun (3)............

'lhen someane notkxi- lhe gun and. scxenne)". 'lf gou d-on'L move, gou uron't

geL hurL,' he shattr/. (1)...................... 'l wayrt u md)inn d.oU,ws, now.

Hand. iL over.' He w*ve), lhe gun arannd. (5)......................

'IheA stut{eA the c.ash &on +*le s0-+? t^ L bag. He grabbeA ih, t*,lL the

budilng and" heaA,ed. {or the rwex, whexe the hA,nappexs Nexe wdt)mg. He

ran and" r6n, end),esst4, buU lhe rLvex goL {urthe* and" {urthex u,ta4. He

lta: crging rnouo.

S^dta1lU, he woke up and, ru-liseA, iL hal be*st a. ni4htnare.

-l Look at numbers 1 and 2 in the text. To get a good

mark in the exam, you need to use a range of

vocabularv. Choose suitable ltrtrds to replace ttre

ones given from the sets belolr.. These rvords have

all come in previous units so vou should kno.iv

them!

I Arushed Bshuddered Chammered

D stomped

2 Acarrted Bthrew Cburst Dturned

Now choose suitable adverbs for spaces -3-5, fion-r

the ones below. More than one answer is possible.

lf ecide rvith a partner rvhich three words fit best

together.

anxiously desperately nervously

suspiciously tragically wildly

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