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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: Me too Say which No, I prefer Because 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… You must answer this question. Write your answer in about 100 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! 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? Let me know if you have any questions. See you soon 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”) 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: 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. Hi Sandy, Thanks a lot for writing back. I’m also really excited about visiting you! On my first evening, I’d like to relax at home. I will probably be very tired from the 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, so I can’t do sport now. How about visiting some art galleries in your town? If you want, we could go. You know I love art! What do you think? Well, I have to go now, but please let me know what you think. Take care, Luis Greeting Opening p Farewell Main p. Main p. Closing p. Main p. Signature
… 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 …: 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? 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. We can give our presentation to the class either in the morning or the afternoon. Which would you prefer? Let me know Alex ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… No, but… Sorry… (^) Suggest… Tell Alex
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
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
