WRITING

Here you can find some webpages to practice writing

https://www.flo-joe.co.uk/preliminaryenglish/pet-writing-practice-tests.htm

TIPS FOR WRITING B1

Check your spelling carefully. 

• Give yourself time to write, check and edit your work. If you do change anything, make sure that your writing is easy to read. 

• Write about 100 words for each question, which is the required number. This will mean that you should be able to include all the relevant information without writing so much that your message isn’t clear

EMAIL

How to write an email? 

Email structure The first thing you need to know is the different parts of an email: 

• 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.

EXPRESSIONS TO USE IN YOUR EMAIL

Greetings

• Hi John, 
• Hello John,
• Dear John,

Opening paragraph: The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s email.

• 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. 

And many more. 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)?

Main paragraphs: For the main paragraphs, you should try to make use of connectors and appropriate punctuation.

• … and… : to connect two similar things or ideas.

 I love reading and listening to music. 

• …, but… : to connect two contrasting ideas.

 I love watching Tv, but I don’t have a favourite show. 

• . However, … : to connect contrasting ideas.

 Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn’t enjoy the movie. 

• 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 it’s 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. 

Closing paragraph: 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. 
• 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. 

Saying goodbye

 There are many ways in English to close an informal email. The most frequently 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!

STORY

How to write a story? 

Story structure

Important aspect to consider when writing a story: 

• Write your title in capital letters.
• Leave a clear space between paragraphs.
• Verb tenses: One of the reasons why stories are particularly challenging for B1 students is that they tend to take place in the past, which makes it necessary to use a range of past tenses approriately. The main three past tenses you should really try to use are the following:

           Past simple (-ed/irregular form) 

          Past continuous 

          Past perfect 

Past simple and continuous: It was midnight and I was trying to sleep. 

Past perfect and simple: I had completely forgotten it was my birthday.

Past simple: This time I picked up the phone quickly and shouted, «Hello?!»

Expressions to use in your story

How to begin a story: When you start a story, if the first sentence isn’t given to you, you can use phrases like these:
 

• It all began…
• When I first…
• At the beginning…
• It was a hot/cold summer/winter day. 
• Once upon a time
• One day
• At the beginning
• When it all began
• When it al started

Time phrases: One of the great differences between writing a letter, essay, article and so on, and writing a story is the need to pay careful attention to the time over which the story develops. In order to define the order of the events in the story, we must use time expressions or time phrases. So let’s see a few:
 

• Then
• After that
• Not long aftewards
• As soon as
• While
• Meanwhile
• As
• Some time later
• A little later
• ____ minutes later
• a moment later
• Later (that morning/afternoon/day/night…)
• Just then

Creating suspense: When writing a story, the aim is not to inform or to convey information; the real purpose is to entertain the reader, just like when you read a novel you expect to be entertained And a cool way to entertain is to create suspense, which we can do by using some of the following expressions:
 

• Suddenly
• All of a sudden
• Without warning
• Just at that moment
• Unexpectedly 
• Out of the blue
• Out of nowhere
• Right away
• Straight away

 
 Direct speech: In every story there are characters and they usually interact with each other, so it is always good if you know how to use direct speech, that is, reproduce the words the characters actually say or think. The tricky bit about this is the punctuation and the verbs to choose, because it’s good to use some verbs other than «say». Let’s take a look at some examples: 

• «I’m coming with you,» she said.
• She said, «I’m coming with you.»
• «Do you like it?» he asked. 
• «Don’t do it!» he screamed. 

 Pay close attention at where the comma (,) or other punctuation marksgo (?, !). Also, don’t forget to use inverted commas («…») to enclose the direct speech. In British English we normally use single inverted commas (‘…’), but it’s not important so choose the one that suits you best.   Finishing your story: This paragraph, the resolution, should be separated from the rest, and it’s a good idea to start it with one of the following expressions:
 

• In the end
• Finally
• When it was all over
• Eventually 
• After everything that happened
• Luckily
• In the end
• finally
• When it all ended
• After all of that
• After everything that had happened
• Once and for all
• At the end of the day

ARTICLE

WHAT IS AN ARTICLE?

An article is a text that expresses your opinion and knowledge about something. It should be an entertaining text that gets the readers attention and informs them.

THE STRUCTURE OF AN ARTICLE IS SIMPLE:

• Title
• Introduction
• Description (develop your idea)
• Recommendation and ending

Structure of an article:

Separate each part into a separate paragraph.

Beginning:

Engage the reader and make them want to read more, you can begin with a question or a general opinion

Middle:

State your main points and relate them to personal experiences and opinions

Ending:

Summarize your main points but make an overall point to make the reader think they have learned something from reading the article

Suggested grammar structures:

Impersonal passive: It is said that HBO make the best movies in the world.

Modal verbs: It might be a good idea to take your time.

Conditionals: If I were you, I would watch it at the cinema.

Relative clauses: I know someone who lives in that area.

Wish: I wish I could eat chocolate every day.

Example of a question: 

You see this post on an English language website

 

What types of books do you most enjoy?

Do you prefer reading or watching TV and what is the best way to take advantage of your free time?

 

Write an article about these questions. The best articles will be published on the site.

Example answer:

The most interesting way to spend your free time

Have you ever thought about the best way to spend your free time? If you want to know the key to making the most of your leisure time, this article is a must read.

Instead of turning on the TV every time you get home, why not try picking up a book. Reading is a great way to relax and it is also a fantastic way to open your mind. There is nothing like looking forward to getting home and reading a book that you are into. It helps you unwind, improve your imagination and it can even help you to learn a foreign language.

I have no doubt that reading will improve your life. If I were you,I would choose a new book today!

Useful language: Use these key phrases to answer the questions in the task

Involving the reader

• Have you ever thought about…?
• How would you feel if …?
• What would you think of…?
• Are you one of those people who …?
• If the answer is …, you should….
• What do you reckon to …?
• What would live be like if…
• Just think for a moment…
• Just imagine…

Try to use extreme adjectives instead of intensifiers

• Very good = awesome, excellent, fantastic
• Very bad = awful, terrible, disturbing

Making the article lively and interesting (use adverbs)

• importantly
• surprisingly
• worryingly 
• the most amazing 
• absolutely
• suddenly
• amazingly
• fantastically
• frighteningly

Developing your points

• Another advantage of …
• On top of all that…
• What is more, …
• Above all,,,
• The reason I think this is…
• The reason I feel this way is…
• On top of that, …
• Let’s start with …

Giving your own opinion

• In my opinion, …
• In my eyes, …
• To my mind, …
• As far as I am concerned, …
• Speaking personally, …
• From my point of view, …
• As for me / As to me, …
• My view / opinion / belief / impression / conviction is that …
• I hold the view that …
• I would say that …
• It seems to me that …
• I am of the opinion that …
• My impression is that …
• I am under the impression that …
• It is my impression that …
• I have the feeling that …
• My own feeling on the subject is that …
• I have no doubt that …
• I am sure / I am certain that …
• I think / consider / find / feel / believe / suppose / presume / assume / reckon that …
• I hold the opinion that …
• I dare say that …
• I guess that …
• I bet that ….
• I gather that …
• It goes without saying that …

Justifying opinions

To begin, you can use these basic (B1) phrases to justify an opinion in English:

• because…
• the reason is…
• the reason I believe that is…
• the facts suggest…
• the evidence shows…
• taking into account what I have seen…

Making recommendations and suggestions:

• It would be a good idea to…
• Wouldn’t it be better to…?
• Why don’t we…?
• What about… ?
• How about… ?
• Shouldn’t we… ?
• Let’s consider…
• Why not… ?