Writings

Plan your paragraphs

Before writing an essay, you should plan how to organise your ideas. For example, if you
want to write about your family, you could use a paragraph for each member of your family.
Then, you could think about the things that you want to say about each person. It’s a good
idea to draw a diagram before writing your text.

Also, make sure that you use connectors to link your sentences.
Check the word order
When you are writing, check the word order in each sentence. Don’t forget to start your
sentences with a subject + a verb, and then add other details that you want to include. The
elements of an English sentence usually appear in this order: subject + verb + object + how +
where + when.

Plan your grammar

Your text should be rich in grammar and vocabulary. Make sure that you use different
grammar items. For the example essay in Exercise 1, we used grammar items such as be
going to, possessive ‘s, comparative adjectives, infinitives and gerunds, etc.

After you write a sentence, you can try to say the same thing in different words. For
example, imagine you write this: “I have a brother. His name is Albert. He is a mechanic.”
These sentences are OK. But you can change them and say this: “My brother’s name is
Albert. He is a mechanic.” In the second sentence, we used the possessive ‘s, so the text is
richer in grammar elements.

Check your grammar

When you write your text, make sure that your grammar is OK. Read each sentence two or
three times and correct the mistakes. If you are not sure of a word or expression, don’t use it
— or check how to write it correctly first.

Exercise 1
Check the ‘Explanation’ tab above before doing these exercises. Complete the text
below with the words in the box.

a dad’s going His in loves reading ’s got taller than twice

Dear Marta,

I'm 0……….. to tell you about my family. I live with my brother, my mum, and my dad. We
live 1……….. Lincoln, a nice city in the East Midlands region of England.
My 2……….. name is Albert. He's 51 years old, and he's 3 ……….. History teacher. He's
medium height, and he 4 ……….. short grey hair and green eyes. He loves 5……….. books
and watching documentaries about prehistoric times. He doesn't like sports.

My mum's name is Melissa. She's 49 years old. She's a little shorter 6……….. my dad, and
she's got long brown hair and blue eyes. She is a shop owner. She sells beauty products in a
shop near our home. She 7 ………..swimming. She goes swimming 8 ……….. a week.

I've got a twin brother. 9……….. name's Luke. He's 21 years old, and he's got brown hair,
like me. But he is much 10 ……….. than me. He is very big and strong, and he loves playing
rugby and going to the gym.

Another very important member of our family is Cooper, our dog. He is ten years old, and
we love him!

What about your family?

Love, Sam

Exercise 2

Check the essay in Exercise 1 and match each gap in this diagram to the correct
option. There are TWO EXTRA options that you don’t need to use.
Answer the questions here:

1. Gap 1: _____

a.Hobbies

b.Job

c.Place where we live

d.Name and age

e.Physical appearance

f.Brother

g.Dad

2. Gap 2: _____

a.Hobbies

b.Job

c.Place where we live

d.Name and age

e.Physical appearance

f.Brother

g.Dad

3. Gap 3: _____

a.Hobbies

b.Job

c.Place where we live

d.Name and age

e.Physical appearance
f.Brother

g.Dad

4. Gap 4: _____

a.Hobbies

b.Job

c.Place where we live

d.Name and age

e.Physical appearance

f.Brother

g.Dad

5. Gap 5: _____

a.Hobbies

b.Job

c.Place where we live

d.Name and age

e.Physical appearance

f.Brother

g.Dad

Exercise 3
Choose the correct options to complete these sentences.

1. I _____ tell you about my family.

a.'m going to

b.going to

c.'m going
 2. _____ is Albert.

a.My father name

b.My father's name

c.The name of my father's

3. We live _____ Lincoln.

a.on

b.at

c.in

4. He's _____ teacher.

a.-

b.a

c.an

5. He _____ short grey hair and green eyes.

a.got

b.have

c.'s got