WR IELTS

Writing an Effective Introduction - Discussion Essay

IELTS Writing Task 2: Effective Introduction - Discussion Essay 1 This video lesson shows how to write a simple, yet effective introduction on a discussion essay.

Sometimes, you may be required to write a letter to loved ones, such as your friend, family member, classmate, etc. This kind of letter is generally termed an informal letter.

Study the sample letter below and learn from it. Additional information will be provided in the comment section later.

Write a letter to your friend asking for advice for a employment opportunity in his or her country. In your letter,
– say why you are looking for this opportunity in his/her country
– describe your qualification and skills
– ask some questions about salary, culture, benefits etc

Dear Jane,

How're you and your family? I must confess that things have not really been good for me. I was affected by the recent mass retrenchment by banks 3 months ago because of the economic meltdown. Worse still, many companies are not interested in increasing their manpower in order to cut cost; so, getting a new job has been very difficult. I've been thinking of relocating to your country (Canada), since my skills are of high demand there. I need your advice in this regard.

Apart from bachelor's degree in sociology, I've got postgraduate degree in human resource management. In addition, I'm proficient in the use of human resource software for manpower planning and recruitment. My communication skills are commendable too; I recently got 8.5 overall band score in IELTS with the least being 7.5 in the speaking module. To boost my chance of getting a job on a multilingual environment, I've been taken an online self-study class in French.

Please, do you know the salary expectation of a human resource generalist? What other incentives do employees enjoy in Canada? I learnt the pension is very attractive. How are Africans perceived by employers and the general population? I'd like to know some details about the foods and weather condition as well.

Can't wait to receive details from you before making a final decision.

Love,
Fidelis.

Below are sample letters (formal and semi formal). Analyses will be provided in the comment section.
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You have a spare flat (apartment) in your house. Write a letter to the accommodation officer in a nearby university. In your letter,

- Describe the location of the flat

- Describe the rooms

- State the kind of person you want to live in the apartment

A suggested answer*

Dear Sir or Madam,

I kindly wish to notify you of a two-bedroom flat I have for rent situated at the estate. It is the first building in Kings Avenue, just opposite the gift shop. In addition, the location is just about five-minute's drive to the east gate of the college, and a stone's throw to the West End train station.

The apartment, which is on the third floor, has 100 and 144 square feet bedrooms and sitting room respectively, with a balcony overlooking the lake. Also, each room has its wardrobe, spacious bathroom with bathtub. New occupant(s) will enjoy natural ventilation and morning sunlights from the two large windows of the rooms.

I would like to let it out to a married staff member of the university with less than 3 children. Alternatively, I may consider two postgraduate students who are ready to share the rooms. Special consideration would be given to international students from Africa or Asia.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,
Jane Kong.

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A young person is starting work in your office in a month's time. Write him a letter. In your letter,

Describe what you do at the office.

Explain what the person will do on the first day.

Tell the person the requirements needed for work...

Dear Mr John,

I am writing you in anticipation of your assumption of office as a graduate trainee in the next 30 days.

I am the head of human resource department - the unit responsible for recruitment of new staff and manpower development. It is my duty to implement HR policies and strategies as well as coordinate employees-related matters such as welfare and promotion within the organisation. As a policy, we put our employees first and I must ensure that such culture is maintained.

Since you will be reporting directly to me, kindly ensure that all the requested medical documents are submitted on your commencement date. You will also need to go to the ICT department for your biometrics for the production of an ID card and security pass. Thereafter, you will attend an hour induction programme.

As stated in the job vacancy and emphasized during the interview, we expect you to be an excellent team player. Also, for the next 3 years, traveling to other states will be part of your assignment; and we appreciate someone who is willing to do that even at a short notice.

I believe we made a good choice hiring you as we look forward to you seeing you soon.

Sincerely,
Fidelis Guns.

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You forgot some important papers accidentally in a taxi.

Write a letter to the manager of the taxi company. In your letter:

Give the details of your journey

Explain why those papers are important for you

Suggest what can the manager do

Suggested answer

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing you in connection with certain documents I left in your cab. I used your taxi service on the 27th of March (that is, yesterday) for a 100 km journey from Lekki Phase 1 Lagos to Ogun State capital, Abeokuta. The trip (reference number 436) lasted for about 180 minutes and the taxi driver was Mr John Mark.

It is extremely vital I have those papers because I will be using them for a presentation here in Abeokuta. As a matter of fact, they contain my company's 2020 first-quarter sales report which I am to present to the board on Friday. Not having a soft copy on my personal laptop computer heightens my desperation to gain possession of those papers.

Could you kindly use Mr John to bring the documents to my hotel on or before Thursday? Alternatively, you could have the 20-page documents scanned and send a copy to my email ([email protected]). Please, be assured that all costs involved in sending the documents will be borne by me.

I am looking forward to receiving these materials.

Yours faithfully,
Ekhorelen Fidelis

GT Task 1

Kindly study the sample letter below to learn how you could write a good letter. Pay attention to the analyses in the comment section.

You travelled using a plane recently. During the flight, you had an issue with some of the members of staff. Write a letter to the manager

- Give details of the flight
- Describe the problem
- What you want the manager to do about it

Dear Sir or Madam,

I wish to bring to your notice an unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja, when I boarded your plane last weekend. I bought a first-class ticket (TK7443), and we took off from Lagos at about 6 AM and arrived 30 minutes later. On that Sunday morning, the weather was favourable, as we did not encounter any turbulence during the journey.

During the journey, I was served a warm coffee which did not go down well with me. So, I kindly asked the attendant to serve me a hotter one. However, she left without a word and never attended to my request. I brought it to the attention of another air hostess who murmured thereafter. It was really an embarrassing situation for me because they both tried as much as possible to avoid me throughout the flight.

I kindly request for an official apology over this unprofessional behaviour of these employees. It could be directly from you, or you could compel them to do so with the assurance that it would never happen again.

I look forward to your response as soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,
Kim Kate.

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GT Task 1

The following idioms can be used to start your letter:

as regards
in connection with
in/with regard to
in relation to
in respect of
in response to

I am writing to you as regards the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

I am writing to you with in connection with the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

I am writing to you with regard to the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

I am writing to you in relation to the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

I am writing to you in respect of the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

I am writing to you in response to the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

Can you spot the error in this lead-in below?

I am writing to you with regards to the unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

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GT Task 1

You travelled using a plane recently. During the flight, you had an issue with some of the members of staff. Write a letter to the manager

- Give details of the flight
- Describe the problem
- What you want the manager to do about it

Begin your letter as follows:

Dear Sir or Madam,

Example of the purpose of the letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to complain about an unpleasant incident that took place during my trip to Abuja when I boarded your airplane.

Or

I wish to complain about an unpleasant incident....

Or

I wish to bring to your notice an unpleasant situation that occurred ...

etc

Take note:

It is important you use the right prepositions in your lead-in .

I am writing to complain about...

Dissatisfied with
Happy/sad with/about

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GT Task 1

For formal and semi-formal letters, it is strongly advisable that your first sentence should start with the purpose of the letter.

You are scored for a clear purpose at the beginning of your letter. You should express the purpose as clearly as possible, and use appropriate expressions to make it clear.

Here are examples of right expressions to use in various situations:

When applying for a job
I am writing to express my interest in the position...

When complaining:
I am writing to express my disappointment at...

For a informal letter, it is allowed to acknowledge one's friendship in the first few sentences using friendly statement(s) that are not related to the purpose of the letter.
For example:
How're you? I hope you are fine.

There is a common mistake I have observed among some candidates when using the word 'hope'.
'I hope...' is a statement, not a question.
I hope your new job is great. ✅✅✅
I hope your new job is great? ❌❌❌

GT Task 1

From your basic education, you might have been taught the three types of letter: Formal, Informal, and Semi-formal. Your school teacher was right about this. 😁😁😁

However, there are some adjustments you need in your writing to meet the standard of IELTS in each type of letter.

Formal letter: This is a letter written to those you have or desire to have official/professional relationship with and do not know their names (or maybe you are not expected to know their names). This latter part is very important.

Begin with:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Dear Sir/Madam,

Conclude with:
Yours faithfully,
Jane Joy.

Take note:
*The tone should be official.
*No contractions, such as can’t, haven’t, I’m etc.
*There is a difference between 'Dear Sir' and 'Dear sir', 'Yours faithfully' and 'Yours Faithfully' or 'Your's faithfully.'

You see, every part of English language is govern by rules. You show your mastery by observing these rules even to the minutest detail.

Can you identify why some are correct and other are wrong?
Dear Sir or Madam, ✅
Dear Sir or madam, ❌
dear Sir or Madam, ❌
Dear Sir or Ma, ❌ (Ma is informal)

Yours faithfully,
Jane Joy ✅

Your's Faithfully, ❌❌❌

Semi-formal letter: This is a letter written to those we have business relationship with and know their names (or expected to know their names)

*Begin with:
Dear Miss Mary,
or
Dear Mr John,

* The tone should be business-like.

*Conclude with:
Yours sincerely,
Jane Joy.
or

Kind regards,
Jane Joy.
or

Regards,
Jane Joy.

*Take note that the following are acceptable:

Dear Mr. John,

Dear Mr John,

Dear Miss Jane,

Dear Ms Jane,

Dear Mrs Jane,

Dear Mrs. Jane

Informal letter: This is a letter written to those we have close and friendly relationship with and know their names. (FnF)

* Informal styles reflect everyday speech patterns and may include contractions and colloquial expressions.

* Begin with

Dear Mary,
Dear John,

* The tone should be friendly and a bit casual.
*You may use some less formal language, but an informal tone does not include slang like wanna or
gonna, or SMS language like "c u later"
* Use contractions, such as 'can’t', 'haven’t', 'I’m'

Conclude with

Best wishes,
Jane.

or
Lots of love,
Jane.

or

Love,
Jane.

Master the description of the three types of letter. Don't write an informal letter and conclude with 'Regards' or 'Yours sincerely'. There is only one way to write those ☝ correctly. If you are careless about them, IELTS might be happy to see you write again and again and again and....!😳🙈🙈

Anything short of the above description will not be accepted. Master and follow them faithfully.

A teaser:

Suppose you faced this question below, how would your address the recipients?

Last month you had a holiday overseas where you stayed with some friends. They have
just sent you some photos of your holiday.
Write a letter to your friends. In your letter
• thank them for the photos and for the holiday
• explain why you didn’t write earlier
• invite them to come and stay with you.

Comment:

It is improbable that this kind of question will appear on your test day. However, improbable doesn't mean impossible - after all, the above question was taken from the Cambridge series.

This is an advice from the MOD training material:

If the instructions say Begin your letter as follows: Dear..., write a name, for example Dear John. Do not used
professions or relationships instead of names, for example, Dear Manager, Dear Teacher, or Dear Friend,

So, it is wrong to use Dear Friends in this case

Since you are to write to more than a friend, two would be okay as in:

Dear John and Mary,
or
Dear Helen and Paul,

I am not sure you will ever be asked to write a semi-formal letter to more than an individual, whereby you need to pluralise Mr, or Mrs.

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GT Task 1

Here are examples of right expressions to use in various situations:

To apply for a job...

I am writing to express my interest in the position....

I would like to express my interest in working in your shop at the weekends.

To complain...

I am writing to express my disappointment at...

The purpose of a letter is also referred as the lead-in statement. It should be the first sentence in a formal or semi-formal letter.

Also, the lead-in statement should properly fit the problem under consideration.

GT Task 1

Overview:

The IELTS General Training writing test is 60 minutes long. It has Task 1 and Task 2. In the Task 1, candidates are asked to respond to a situation, by writing a letter, for example, requesting information or explaining a situation. Your response should be at least150 words long.

What is General Training Writing Task 1?

In GT Task 1 you need to write a letter responding to a given problem or situation. The letter may be formal, semi-formal or informal, but it is in a standard format. You may be asked to request information, make a suggestions, express opinions or make complaints. The situations are common, so that anyone can complete them.

You should do this in at least 150 words and in about 20 minutes.

The question for this task will have three sections:

Task background: From here, you will be able to see the purpose of the letter and who your reader is.

Task requirements: These will help you develop your ideas.

Task instructions: These are the overall instructions for your task.

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