Practice:
Step 1 – Analyse the question:
When analysing the question, you want to know:
- What is the situation or topic?
- Who is the addressee? In other words, to whom is the letter addressed?
(This determines how formal the letter should be.)
• What is the purpose of writing the letter? (e.g. to request, to complain, to suggest?)
Task 1 questions are usually in two parts. The first part describes the situation or topic. The second part tells you to whom your letter should be addressed and gives you a task (or purpose).
The best way to identify these pieces of information is to underline the key words as you read carefully through the question. (Remember you are allowed to write on the question sheet.) Look again at the sample underlining in Step 1 in the Demonstration answer.
ACTIVITYÂ 1
Read Sample questions 2 and 3 carefully and underline the key words. Then complete the tables under each question.
Sample Question 2:
You have just spent a weekend staying at the Lilo Hotel in Adelaide.
When you get home you find that you have left a bag at the hotel.
Write to the manager of the hotel and enquire whether the bag has been found. Give any relevant information about the bag and its contents. Ask the manager to contact you immediately if the bag is found and tell him/her the bag can be sent to you.
Topic/Situation | |
Addressee | |
Purpose |
Here are our answers:
Topic/Situation | You have left a bag in a hotel |
Addressee | The manager of the hotel |
Purpose |
|
Sample Question 3
You and some friends had dinner in a restaurant a few nights ago. The service at the restaurant was terrible and the food was bad. You and two friends had severe stomach-aches the following day. The food was also overpriced.
Write to the manager of the restaurant and explain these problems. Give any details that you think are relevant. Ask the manager to do something about the situation.
Topic/Situation | |
Addressee | |
Purpose |
What is you answer?Â
Here are our answers:
Topic/Situation | You had dinner in an expensive restaurant where the food and service were bad |
Addressee | The manager of therestaurant |
Purpose |
|
Step 2—Make a note of ideas
Here you should make a brief note of any ideas which come to mind and which may be relevant. At this stage you do not have to decide exactly which ideas will be used in your writing. (Selecting which ideas to use is done in Step 3.)
The purpose of Step 2 is to help you think of information which is useful for the writing task. The process of quickly noting any ideas which come to mind will help you to access relevant information in your memory.
Remember also that these notes arc for you only—the assessor will not see them—so the notes should be as brief as possible.
ACTIVITYÂ 2
Quickly make notes of your ideas for both Sample questions in the previous activity.
Time target: 2 minutes for each question
Step 3—Make a plan
At this stage you must think about two questions.
♦ Which ideas will definitely be used in the letter?
♦ How will these ideas be organised?
The letter should be divided into paragraphs. When you are planning the letter you should try to put your ideas into logical groups. Each of these groups will then become one paragraph.
There are several common patterns of letter organisation. You should learn these patterns so that your writing will then be organised in an English style.
Firstly, all letters should have an introductory paragraph and a closing paragraph.
The introductory paragraph
In the introductory paragraph, there are several things you can do.
Fomal | Less formal | |
greet the addressee (if he/she is your friend) |
|
• Dear Jack, Hi. How are you? • Dear Annie, Hello. I hope everything is fine. |
tell the addressee who you arc (if hc/she docs not know you) |
• Dear Sir, I was a guest at your hotel from 23 to 25 May. • Dear Mr. Parker, I am a student at your college, enrolled in the cookery course. |
|
thank the addressee (if he/she has sent you a letter or done something eke for you) |
• Dear Mr. Lopes, Thank your for your invitation to the reunion party on 15 January. • Dear Mr. Hendrix, Thank you for your letter asking me about studying in Australia. |
• Dear Peter, Thanks for the invitation.
• Dear Alan, Thanks for your letter. It was nice to hear from you. |
explain your reason for writing |
• I am writing to advise you of the loss of my credit card. • I’d like to inquire about course details. • I am writing to complain about the poor service at your restaurant. |
• I must tell you about a new movie I saw last week. • Can you help me? • I am very sorry I forgot to send you a birthday card. |
The closing paragraph
The content of the closing paragraph depends on what you have written in the rest of your letter, but some possibilities are listed in the following table.
Fomal | Less formal | |
If your letter is making a request: mention what the addressee will do |
• Thank you for your attention to this matter. • I look forward to your prompt response. |
• Thanks for your help. • Please write soon. |
If your letter is giving an apology: make a final apology |
• Once again, I am sorry for any inconvenience caused. • Please accept my apologies once more. |
• I hope I didn’t cause too much trouble. • Sorry again! |
If your letter is making a complaint: mention what the addressee will do |
• I expect to hear from you very soon. • Please give this matter your immediate attention. |
|
If your letter is giving information: • say you hope you have been helpful • offer more information |
• I hope this information will help you. • Please feel free to contact me for more information. |
• I hope all this helps. • If I can tell you anything else, please call me. |
If your letter is making suggestions: • say you hope you have been helpful • offer more help |
• I trust these suggestions have been useful. • Please let me know if I can help any further. |
• I hope these suggestions help. • If there is anything else I can do, please call. |
The ‘body’ of the letter
The body is the middle part of the letter which contains most of the important information. There are several standard patterns for organising the body of your letter in an English style. Look at the following examples.
Type of letter | Plan |
If your letter is making a request | • introductory paragraph • explain the situation • details of your request • closing paragraph |
If your letter is giving an apology | • introductory paragraph • explain why you must apologise • alternative plan (if appropriate) • closing paragraph |
If your letter is making a complaint | • introductory paragraph • explanation problems • say what you think the addressee should do • closing paragraph |
If your letter is giving information | • introductory paragraph • information • offer more information (if appropriate) • closing paragraph |
If your letter is making suggestions | • introductory paragraph • make first suggestion • provide an alternative to this suggestion or make a second suggestion • closing paragraph |
Note that the above plans are examples only. Sometimes, the test question(s) will give you more than one purpose for writing the letter. If this happens you will have to choose from two or more of the above plans. For example, the Demonstration letter on page 107 combines apologising and suggesting.
Check out  Step 4 ( Write a letter) and Step 5 (check for mistakes) on our next post.Â