WRITING GUIDE

Preparation and Exam Tips

WRITING EMAILS
Although the widespread habit of writing short, emotional texts on social media sites overshadows
other text types, writing formal emails is still a basic requirement in professional life and in a wide range
of everyday situations, as well. And it hasn’t yet gone out of fashion.

In these emails, the writer produces a purposeful, clear text to a specific reader to achieve a particular
communicative aim (e.g. to complain, apply, enquire etc.). Your aim or purpose is what matters most,
because if the email is not clear, if its style is not appropriate, the goal cannot be achieved. Thus, this
genre needs to meet certain requirements as far as its structure and style are concerned.

Email Structure
There seems to be a consensus, that even reviews written on social media sites follow the pattern below.

Opening Paragraph

• The function of this paragraph is obvious: you make it clear for the reader what the purpose of your
email is (e.g. to recommend someone, to introduce yourself, to request or recommend some action
etc.) in one or maximum two sentences.

• You can or rather should extend this short paragraph by making a concrete reference to the source of
your information or to the subject of your mail (e.g. an advertisement, a website, a product).
Body Paragraphs (3-4)

• In real life, the content and length of this section of your email depends on what you want to detail,
explain, or give reasons for. The main rule is that each issue you want to emphasise needs a separate
paragraph of about 2-3 connected sentences.

• In the exam situation, you will focus on the bullet points under the heading “My Notes” on the
Question Paper and will devote a full paragraph to each of those 3 (B2 level) or 4 (C1) points.

• Try to concentrate only on your own experience, opinion, or evaluation. These points will convince the
reader that you have a real reason for writing and ensure that they receive the relevant information
to respond to in an appropriate way. Avoid referring back to the source, the advertisement, the
promises, the obvious facts (e.g. “…you promised us that…”; “In the flyer I read…”) in each paragraph,
as these will unnecessarily lengthen your text.

• Particularly in the body section, you will need to connect your sentences within a paragraph, as well
as the paragraphs themselves, with a range of linking devices to show the reader how your ideas are
related to each other. Examiners will expect you to use such words and phrases: e.g. “in contrast”, “on
the contrary”, “specifically”, “To highlight this”, “in particular”, “As for” or “More to the point” etc. RMIT
University’s Australian branch provides a list on its Coherence: Linking Words and Phrases page.

Closing Paragraph

To achieve your goals with your email, you must close with a very important separate paragraph. Here,
you either specify what you expect from the reader, or inform them about what action you plan to take
(see points below):

• COMPLAINT: make the most concrete demand for compensation (e.g. ask for a refund, for discounts,
for free tickets or meals etc.)

• ENQUIRY: give conditions and timing of your requested reply (e.g. paper-based or electronic format,
urgent or not)

• APPLICATION / RECOMMENDATION: express your hope that the points above are convincing enough
to gain the reader’s or their organisation’s support.

Saying Goodbye!

• The real closing of the email is, of course, a kind of greeting to say goodbye. However, if you want
to show the reader – in the exam, the examiner – that you are aware of the concrete situation, make
sure you choose an “I am looking forward to…” sentence that is appropriate to the context. Don’t
expect a reply when a reply is not what you want (e.g., in a recommendation email), instead indicate
that you look forward to seeing action and not just a reply.
Style
In real life, most such emails are written between people who don’t know each other at all, or their
relationship could be called formal. This fact pushes you to write these texts in the most formal style
possible. Here are 4 suggestions to bear in mind:

• Use full verb forms (e.g. “I do not…”; “we have…”), rather than informal contracted forms (e.g. “…I
don’t…”; “… we’ve…”).

• Choose more formal synonyms for the specific context (e.g. use “inform” instead of “tell”, or
“complete” instead of “do”).

• You can show the reader your respect by using a couple of set phrases, which are not part of the
content: e.g. “Let me draw your attention to…” or “I would like to start by saying…”. The phrases can
be “moved” from one email to another with the same communicative purpose.

• Even in a complaint, try to avoid being emotional, aggressive and threatening. Most formal or official
emails are quite factual, as they try to inform or convince the reader through specific and concrete
points and not through emotions.

Suggestions for further preparation

■ In the 1st and 2nd parts of the 4-part online e-learning course in MyEuroexam, you can
practise and develop your email writing skills with some awareness-raising and creative
exercises. There, you can also upload your texts for certain tasks, and you will quickly receive
a score, some feedback and preparation tips from an experienced examiner.

■ A set of simple but useful reminders are offered on this 7 Tips on How to Improve Your Email
Writing Skills page.

■ The City University London offers its students and you their 10 Rules for Writing Professional
Emails in a clear and easy-to-read list.

■ The popular ThoughtCo. reference site has also produced a list of How to Write a
Professional Email guidelines. Don’t miss the short video at the bottom of the list about the
etiquette of email writing.