WRITING OVERVIEW

MARKING CRITERIA
Your writing competence is rated on 4 criteria as follows together with some advice given on how to
meet each criterion:

Task Coherence and Lexical Grammatical

achievement Cohesion (CC) Resource (LR) Range and
(TA) Accuracy (GRA)

How to how well you how well is your how good is your how good is your
interpret answer the text structured vocabulary grammar
the criteria question

How to To increase score To increase score To increase score To increase score

meet the for TA, you for CC, you for LR, you for GRA, you
criteria should: should: should: should:
 present the  manage  use a wide  use a wide range
information paragraphing range of of grammatical
accurately vocabulary structures and
 make sure that
tenses
 answer all parts each paragraph  use less
of the task has a central common lexical  manage
idea items punctuation
 provide a clear
overview  use linking  avoid errors in  avoid errors in
words and spelling and sentences
 include the
cohesive word formation
prompts in the
devices
email (Task 1)
 give a clear
position (Task
2)

* Each of these criteria receives a score from 0 to 10 points. An arithmetic mean is calculated to
determine the writing total score.
 MODULE 2: EMAIL WRITING

Email is a system of sending written messages electronically from one computer to another. Email is
an abbreviation of ‘electronic mail’. (Collins)
1. INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING AN EMAIL
In this part of the test, you are given an email from an English friend or relative, and you are asked
to respond to it in about 100 words. This email contains annotations which help you identify
exactly what you need to respond to.
As regards the topics, they are usually not very difficult, as you are expected to write at an
intermediate level about topics you are familiar with: sports, hobbies, TV programmes, weather,
your town / city, best friend etc. Here is a sample email:

You must answer this question. Write your answer in about 150
words on the answer sheet.

Read this email from your English-speaking friend Sandy and the
notes you have made.

From: Sandy
Subject: Your visit!

Hi,
I’m so excited that you’re coming to stay with me for a week!
Me too
On your first evening here, there’s a rock concert in our town. Would you
like to go to the concert or would you prefer us to relax at home?

Also, shall we go climbing in the mountains while you’re here? Say which
No, I prefer
Let me know if you have any questions.
Because See you soon
Sandy Ask
Sandy…

Write your email to Sandy using all the notes

As you can see in the example above, we have received an email from a person so-called Sandy,
who is a friend of ours. In addition, we have made some annotations, which are the points we need
to address in your email:
 Me too!
 Say which I prefer
 No, because…
 Ask Sandy…
2. EMAIL STRUCTURE
The first thing you need to know is the different parts of an email, and these are:
 Greetings: we greet the other person (i.e. say “hi” or “hello”, Dear )
  Opening paragraph: we react to the other person’s news and ask them how they are
feeling and whatever else you feel is appropriate.
 Main paragraph 1: in this paragraph we deal with the first important point, which we can
identify in the instructions.
 Main paragraph 2: if there is a different point to deal with, this paragraph will do so.
(We might have more main paragraphs, depending on the task.)
 Closing paragraph: in this paragraph we “start” to say goodbye by wishing the other
person well and asking them to reply to your email.
 Goodbye: we use a short expression to say goodbye.
 Signature: we sign the email with our name.

3. SAMPLE EMAIL
Let’s take a look at the following example of the email where we can see an answer to the sample task
we saw above:

Hi Sandy,
Greeting
Thanks a lot for writing back. I’m also really excited about visiting you!
Opening p
On my first evening, I’d like to relax at home. I will probably be very tired from the
Main p.1 trip, so I need to rest and get ready for the other days. Is that okay?

As for climbing, I’m afraid I can’t. I forgot to tell you, but I hurt my knee last week,
Main p.2 so I can’t do sport now.

How about visiting some art galleries in your town? If you want, we could go. You
Main p.3 know I love art! What do you think?

Closing p. Well, I have to go now, but please let me know what you think.

Take care,
Farewell
Luis
Signature

In the example above, the different parts of an email are well defined. It’s important that the
writing is visually appealing, apart from having good grammar and vocabulary. This means that
the paragraphs should be well defined, with a space in between, and that you should know when
to break lines. This is especially important after greetings, after opening and closing paragraphs,
and after saying goodbye. This will make your text visually appealing, as it will look like a real
email.

4. EXPRESSIONS TO USE IN AN EMAIL

In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions to use in the different parts of the
email. While the main paragraphs will vary completely depending on the topic of the writing, most
of the other parts in the email can be practised and memorized almost completely. Let’s take a
look:
4.1. GREETINGS
In order to start the email, we can used different expressions, which are really typical and easy to
remember. We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of writing, which is usually for a friend or
family member:
 Hi John,
 Hello John,
 Dear John,
Note: Notice how “Hi” is less formal than “Hello” or “Dear”. Also, don’t forget to write a
comma (,) right after greeting your friend or relative. After greeting the addressee (i.e. the person
who will read the email), you must start the opening paragraph in a new line.
4.2. OPENING PARAGRAPH
The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s email. In order to do so,
you can use a number of different expressions. Here we have some examples:
 It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.
 It’s nice / great / good to read your email.
 I’m glad to hear your news.
 I’m excited about … (your news.)
 It’s great to hear that…
 I’m sorry to hear that…
 I’m really sorry to read your news.
 Thanks a lot for writing!
 It was good to receive your email.
 Thank you very much for your email.
Also, it’s a good idea to ask your friend or relative how they are feeling, which you can do like
this:
 Hope you are doing well.
 How’s it going?
 How are you (doing)?
 How are things (going)?
You can also add some information that you think is relevant or necessary, but don’t expand this
paragraph very much, because the important information must go in the main paragraphs.
4.3. MAIN PARAGRAPHS
For the main paragraphs, there aren’t any fixed expressions which you must use, as it depends
mostly on what you have to write about. However, you should try to make use of connectors and
appropriate punctuation. So let’s take a look at common useful connectors and the
punctuation we use them with:
 …and…: to connect two similar things or ideas.
I love reading and listening to music.
My favourite meal is fish and chips.
 …, but…: to connect two contrasting ideas.
I love watching TV, but I don’t have a favourite show.
I am reading a book, but I don’t remember the title.
 However,…: to connect contrasting ideas.
Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn’t enjoy the movie.
I am a very big fan of this author; however, I haven’t read his last novel.
 Moreover,…: to add more information about something.
 … because…: to justify an opinion or idea.
My mum is the perfect cook because she knows a lot of recipes and has plenty of experience.
Moreover, she experiments with different ingredients all the time.
  Because of that,…: to justify an opinion, fact or idea.
My mum likes to cook using new ingredients all the time. Because of that, she creates
original dishes every month.
 As for…/ Regarding+ N/Np/v-ing…: to switch to a new topic. For instance, you can use this
connector to start the second main paragraph.
As for/Regarding why I like this cookery show, I think because it’s a great way to see new
recipes.
 Time linkers: then, after that, yesterday, this morning, last summer, etc.
Last night, I watched a very good action film.
With many connectors, we typically use a comma (,) after it when we start a sentence (e.g.:
However, Last night, Moreover, etc.).
4.4. CLOSING PARAGRAPH
As we mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in this Writing part 3 is used to start saying goodbye
to the addressee and to ask for a response to your email. So we can use the following expressions:
 Well, it’s time to say goodbye.
 Anyway, I have to go now.
 Well, it’s time to go.
 Anyway, gotta go.
 I really hope to hear from you soon.
 I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
 I hope you write back soon.
 Make sure you write back soon.
Also, if you still have to write more words, you can add a question for a subsequent email. This
question should be related to the topic of your piece of writing.
4.5. SAYING GOODBYE
There are many ways in English to close an informal email. The most frequent used ones are the
following:
 Best wishes,
 Best,
 Sincerely,
 Take care,
 All my love,
 Love,
 Lots of love,
 See you soon,
 Regards,
Notice how there is a comma (,) after each of the phrases. Also, after writing any of these
sentences, make sure you write your name on a different line. And write your name without a
full stop!
WRITING PRACTICE
Now that we know what expressions we should be using in our writing, we are going to take a look
at another task and then practice your writing:
Read this email from your English-speaking college classmate Alex and the notes you have
made. Write your email to Alex using all the notes.
From: Alex
Subject: College science presentation
Hi,
It’s great that we are going to work together on the college science presentation. Do you think
we should choose the rainforest as our topic?
No, but…
We only have two weeks to prepare, so can we start tomorrow? Where can we go to prepare
the presentation? My cousins are staying at my house at the moment, so we can’t work there
because it’s too noisy.
Sorry… Suggest…
We can give our presentation to the class either in the morning or the afternoon. Which would
you prefer?
Let me know
Tell Alex
Alex
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Sample answer:
From: Grette
To: Alex123@gmail.com
Subject: College science presentation
Hi Alex,
I’m very glad to work with you. I think we shouldn’t choose the rainforest as our topic because
I’m not good at this topic. I would like to prepare the science presentation about deserts. In my
opinion, it will be interesting.
Sorry, but my parents have gone to another town and I must look after my little brother so we
can’t start to prepare tomorrow. What about starting in 2 days?
We can prepare the presentation in my house because no one will disturb us.
 I would prefer to give our presentation to the class in the afternoon as this is the most
convenient time.
Best wishes,
Grette

TOP 5 TIPS FOR WRITING AN EMAIL

1. Learn and memorize a set of expressions. Make sure you already know a set of expressions to
use in your greetings, opening and closing paragraphs, and to say goodbye. This will save you a lot
of time while doing a task, and you will avoid making silly mistakes as you will already know the
expressions by heart.
2. Write a well-structured and visually-appealing email. One of the things the examiners pay
attention to is the organization of your piece writing, so make sure not to write a messy email.
Also, remember that punctuation matters, so be sure to separate your sentences with stops and
commas and don’t write excessively long sentences.
3. Brainstorm, write, read and edit. Before starting to write your email, brainstorm a couple of
things and write down some ideas. This can include vocabulary related to the topic. For example, if
you have to write about TV shows, you can write down things like “contestants”, “cookery show”,
“prize”, etc. Then, write your email. After that, read it and look for possible mistakes or
opportunities for improvement (e.g.: adding descriptive adjectives, rephrasing sentences, etc.).
4. Read carefully and identify the task. Don’t start writing right away. Make sure you read the
task carefully and that you identify exactly what you are being asked. Sometimes, we don’t pay
attention to the instructions and we end up writing about something different. This will mean
losing points, in a very silly way.
5. Experiment at home, be conservative in the exam. Homework is the best chance to be
creative and experiment different ways to express yourself. So make sure you try your hardest to
keep improving when you write at home. On the other hand, when you’re doing an exam, don’t
risk trying out new words or expressions, as you may be making a terrible mistake. So be safe in
your exam and stick to what you already knows works.
FURTHER PRACTICE
Read this email from your English teacher Miss Jones and the notes you have made. Write your
email to Miss Jones using all the notes.

From: Miss Jones

To: All students
Subject: Visitor to English class
Dear students,
I’m planning to invite a well-known person to come into our English
class and give a talk.
I’d like to invite either a scientist or an actor. Which would be
better?
I hope that each student will have a question to ask this person –
what would you like to ask?
We want our visitor to enjoy the day with us – what do you think we
can do to entertain the visitor after the talk?
I’m looking forward to receiving your ideas!
Miss Jones
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Read this email from your English-speaking friend Grace and the notes you have made. Write
your email to Grace using all the notes.

From: Grace
To: Nick
Subject: Family dinner
Hi Nick,
We’re having a family dinner for my mum’s birthday next week
My brothers and I are each going to cook a course. Do you think I
should make the starter, the main course or the dessert?
Where can I find some good recipes?
Have you ever made anything for your family? What did you make?
Was it a success?
Love
Grace

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