Writing: Exercise 5 (Letter writing)

These are usually to your friends or family, usually asking you to detail a recent event you took part in and they didn’t.

• You must be familiar with the format of an informal letter: salutation (Dear/Dearest..), introduction, body (maybe two paragraphs), conclusion, signature (With Love/Yours Truly..)
  The salutation and signature are simple. What about the others? Let’s take a look.
• Introduction:
• • Start with a warm, friendly opening. Ditch the boring ‘How are you doing?‘. Go for these:
• • • It was good to hear from you.
• • • Sorry for not replying sooner. I have been very busy.
• • • I’m so sorry for taking so long to reply. I have been revising for my
      exams.
• • • Congratulations on your award! It’s been an hectic week over here. So sorry I couldn’t write to you earlier. (This is a good opening, because it tells the examiner that you know this person well).
• • Tell them why you’re writing the letter. This will be specified in the question paper itself. Keep it very short. In the example above, you could say: I’ve been dying to tell you about this circus that came to town last Friday!!
• Body: This is the actual content of your letter. Provide more details about the topic. Use lots of adjectives and verbs and really relay your thoughts and emotions. Use the prompts and pictures in the question. You can write it in two paragraphs to organise your ideas.In the example above, you could write:
  Nobody knew about the circus arriving. But the moment they opened the entrance, all the villagers started flocking in. Steve and I begged for mom and dad to take us there! It was magnificent, in every sense of the word! There were talking parrots, tigers jumping through fire hoops (Steve ran away scared when he saw the Tiger!), an elephant that could predict your weight, a fortune teller and all sorts of things you see in the circuses in movies!
  Mom was fascinated by the ‘Guess the Price’ tent and spent a lot of money on it but didn’t guess a single one right. Dad and I went to every single tent. My favourite was this magic show! The magician literally turned a rat into a rabbit! I have no idea how. It was truly magical! We stayed there till dusk and then very reluctantly went back. The circus clearly had won the hearts of all villagers!
• Conclusion: The conclusion has to wrap up the letter. For example, I really wish you were there! You would have loved it! Give my regards to Margret and Aunt Marie! Reply soon!

TIPS

• Take care of spelling, punctuation and grammar. It’s a writing task after all.
• Don’t use abbreviations and slang such as ‘u’ and ‘OMG’! This is an international exam, not an actual email to your friend!
• Keep the tone very light and warm. An informal letter should be informal.
• Writing a paragraph for each bullet point (given in the question) can be a good method of keeping the letter organised.
• Give personal anecdotes. Add details that tell the examiner you really know each other. In my sample answer above, I used the names Steve, Margaret and AuntMarie without giving any explanation for who they exactly are, because my friend knows who they are!
• Try using time phrases. Eg: shortly after that/later/that afternoon/after dinner etc.
• Keep to the word limit. It should be at least 150 words and shouldn’t exceed 200 words. However, I remember my teacher telling me it was alright if I wrote 10-15 words in excess. Any more than that, they would deduct marks.

FORMAL LETTERS

These will be written to somebody in a position of authority, usually to your school principal, the manager of a company etc. I’ll give a very brief idea of how to write one.

• Salutations and Signatures: use either of this format
• • Dear Sir or Madam……. Yours faithfully
  • Dear Ms Weasley………….Yours sincerely
  • Details of situation: give previous history of event or your background or experience. Say what happened exactly if you are making a complaint, or focus directly on the text you are arguing with. This section should include specific data such as names, dates, facts and details.
  • Further development: Give further support to your claim or request. Summarise the current situation and why you should be given consideration. Persuade the reader.

  TIPS

  • Use formal vocabulary only. Instead of ‘can’t wait for your reply’ say ‘I hope you will consider the above suggestion and take prompt action‘.
  • Don’t use contractions like can’t, won’t, don’t, we’re etc. Use their full forms. Contractions are informal.
  • Don’t use exclamation marks.
  • Your tone should be serious and respectful.
  • Keep to the word limit.

  For the core paper 1, take about 20 minutes to attempt this question.

  For the extended paper 2, spend about 30 minutes.

  Notes submitted by Lintha

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