Writing. Task 1. E-mail. Tips for writing — teorija. Eksāmens angļu valodā, 12. klase.

Task 1. E-mail (15 points)
You should spend about 25 minutes on this task.

Write between 100 – 120 words.

You are organising a ‘Careers of the Future’ event at your local youth centre. A British university professor, Mrs Green, has agreed to take part in the event as a guest speaker. Write an e-mail to her.
In your e-mail:

express your thanks;
give details regarding her presentation (topic, length);
inform her of the transport arrangements you have made for her and about an excursion after the event.

WRITING TIPS

Before you do anything, read the question(s) carefully and find out the following:

who you are writing to
why you are writing (e.g. to ask for information, to complain etc.)
what you are writing about

When you have worked out what the purpose of your letter is, you should be able to work out what kind of style you will need to use.

SALUTATION OR GREETING
Dear Mrs. Green,
If you know the name, use the title (Mr, Mrs, Miss OR Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only.
If you are writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs or Miss, you can use Ms, which refers to married and single women.

PARAGRAPHING

Work out a paragraph plan before you start.
Each paragraph should have a specific purpose. All the information provided in the questions should be included and used as the paragraph purpose.

THE BODY OF THE LETTER
The next stage is to decide what will be in each paragraph. Usually the answer will have four or more paragraphs:

A very short opening paragraph – in this case express your thanks to Mrs Green as she has agreed to take part in the event as a guest speaker.
The paragraph or paragraphs – the topic for this is usually provided in the original question(s), so make your plan based on the exact topic of the letter - give details regarding her presentation (topic, length);
The last paragraph is usually short and should briefly summarize your purpose and suggest how you might want to proceed further. – In this case you should inform her of the transport arrangements you have made for her and about an excursion after the event. You can also mention time, the place and people involved in it.

ENDING A LETTER

Yours faithfully,
If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
Yours sincerely,
If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
Your signature, Sign your name. Do not use a comma or a full stop.

USEFUL EXPRESSIONS

REQUESTING