CAE WRITING STRUCTURE: LETTER/EMAIL (part 2):

What can you see in the exercise?

You will be given a situation that you will have to answer to. The situation may change and with
it, you may need to change the style of your letter.

What styles are possible in a letter?

You have two styles you can use: narrative and factual. You will use the former when you are
writing to a friend to tell an anecdote or a story, which will be informal. The latter you shall use to
explain a situation or describe it in a more formal manner.

What can I do to make my letter narrative?

Make sure that your letter sounds natural. If your friend writes to you, it’s natural to ask things
like “How have you been?”, “What’s up?” or “It’s been a long time!”. React to the information
they give you to begin with and make sure you sound human.

The structure:

 Letters have headers and footers. How you write this will give a tone of formal or informal to
the rest. Use exclamations and question marks in your informal writing to emphasize your
style.

Informal/narrative Formal/factual
Hey, Mark! Hello pal! Dear Sir, Madam

It was nice to hear from you! Write soon! In hopes of hearing from you soon. I am
looking forward to hearing from you soon.
See you soon! Talk to you later! Lots of love!
Yours sincerely, Best regards,

 Divide the letter in different paragraphs to address the different information you must
answer to. Use the first paragraph to open your letter and address the information they give
you. This paragraph should be short. The second and third paragraphs should take into
account pros and cons. These should be the longest paragraphs. The last paragraph should
be your conclusion: sum up and make it short.

First paragraph I heard that you.../ From what I can see...

Second paragraph I see some advantages
Third paragraph I see some disadvantages
Conclusion All in all.../to conclude...