Добавил:
ivanov666
Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз:
Предмет:
Файл:Основы письменной речи английского языка. Учебно-методическое пособие
.pdf
5) Writing an informal letter
1. Titles and addresses
- When writing an informal letter you sometimes write your own address and the date
(but not your name) at the top right-hand corner of the page, then start the letter on the left-hand
side. Addresses and dates are not given in an email, but emails do need a subject title. A subject
title should be brief and should summarize the main point of the email.
- EXAM TIP
- Many exams do not require you to write your address and the date at the start of your
letter, so make sure that you follow any instructions carefully.
- Start with Dear followed by the first name of the person to whom you are writing. In
emails, you can also start with Hi (and the person's name), or just the person's name.
- Informal letters sometimes have a comma after the person's name, and the letter starts
on the line below and is often indented. However, because of the popularity of word processing
and emails, the rules on punctuation and layout have now become more relaxed. The important
thing is to be consistent with the style that you choose to use (so if you use a comma after the
person's name at the start of the letter, use a comma after the closing statement at the end).
- STUDY NOTE
- Don't forget to use only the first name of the person you are writing to, not x Dear Mr
John, which is never used, or x Dear Mr John Brown, which sounds too formal.
- 3 Covering all the issues
- When you have finished your opening comments, begin a new paragraph and cover all
the information that you want to mention. A letter that is written accurately and with a good
range of language will still not be effective unless you make sure that you say all the things you
need to say.
- Make sure that your reply answers any questions that you were asked in the original
letter or email and takes into account any additional information that you have been told to
mention.
- EXAM TIP
- In many exam questions, you will be told what to include in your reply. There will
also often be additional notes which serve as prompts for your reply. It is important that you
include these in order to get a good grade.
- Using informal language
- An informal letter or email is an opportunity to demonstrate informal language skills.
There are a number of ways to make your language informal:
- USEFUL PHRASES
- Use intensifying adjectives and adverbs to show enthusiasm: I've got a fantastic new
job. | My new boss is an absolute nightmare.
- Use idiomatic language: Things have been getting on top of me at work lately. | It's
been ages since we last managed to meet up. | What have you been up to lately? | Let me know
what you think. | I'll fill you in when we next meet.
- Use question forms to make the letter read more like a conversation: How are your
studies going? | How does that sound to you?
- Use informal vocabulary: use get instead of receive, I guess instead of I think
- Use phrasal verbs and phrases: we get on well, write back soon, get in touch.
- Use contractions: I can't help thinking I should've told you sooner.
- Range
- It is important that you use grammatical expressions and vocabulary appropriate to the
level of the exam. Even if there are no mistakes in your writing, you will not be able to get a
good grade if you use only the language and vocabulary that you learnt at elementary level. Even
in informal writing, there is a good range of language you can use.
31
- USEFUL LANGUAGE
- Use the present perfect progressive to give news: I've been helping my parents out at
their shop.
- Use a future progressive for future plans: I'm going to be staying at my grandmother's
house all summer.
- Use conditional sentences to make suggestions: If you let me have your number, I'll
give you a call at the weekend.
- Use polite question forms for requests: Do you think you could send me a copy of the
photos? | Would you mind if we didn't go camping?
- Use question tags to check information: Nobody else knows, do they? | You don't
mind, do you?
- Connectors
- All good writing makes good use of connectors. However, many of the connectors you
have learnt for other styles of writing are inappropriate in an informal letter or email. For
informal writing, you need to use some of the connectors that are more specific to spoken
language.
- USEFUL PHRASES
- To introduce a topic: Well, you'll never guess who I bumped into yesterday. | I know
how much you love tennis, so I've got us some tickets to Wimbledon. | By the way, did you
know that John's got a new job?
- To go back to a previous topic: Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I really wasn't very
happy there. | Now where was I? Oh yes, I nearly forgot, Mary asked me tell you about the
cinema.
- To introduce surprising or bad news: Actually, he came to the party after all. | I'm
really sorry but I can't make it. | To tell you the truth, I don't really like sports much.
- To summarise what you've already said: Anyway, we had a really nice time in the end.
| Well, to cut a long story short, we didn't get there on time.
- Closing statements
- The end of your letter is as important as the beginning. There are some standard ways
of finishing an informal letter or email.
- USEFUL PHRASES
- Give a reason why you're ending the letter: Anyway, I must go and get on with my
work! | I guess it's time I got on with that studying I've been avoiding.
- Make a reference to future contact: Anyway, don't forget to let me know the dates of
the party. | I'll try and phone you at the weekend to check the times. | We must try and meet up
soon. | I can't wait to hear from you.
- A closing statement, such as Take care, Best wishes or Love should be written on a
new line. If you used a comma after the opening greeting, use a comma here too. Your name
then follows on another new line. People often write an X below their name to indicate a kiss.
- If you have forgotten something important, add it at the end, after your name, after the
letters PS.
Here is an example of an informal letter
65, Allendale Road
London — GI5 8SG
February 20, 2014
Dear Jane,
How are you doing? I‘m just writing to let you know that everything is all right now. This
is a nice quiet place. The people are friendly, and the weather is warm. We‘ve been staying here
for ten days now, and we are already used to it.
32
I walk a lot, but Phil just spends his time reading newspapers and writing business letters.
The Court Hotel
Chilcompton Bath
Avon BA3 4SA
UK
Mr. S. Ghislain
Slembrouck BVBA
Violetstraat (5) 187
B – 1000 Brussels
Belgium
Sometimes we are going for a walk together.
Last week I went to the nearest park. This is a wonderful very beautiful place. I saw a lot of
squirrels, they were so noisy and begged for food all the time. I gave them all the peanuts that I
had. There is also a small pond at the park with ducks and beautiful water lilies.
Next week I‘m going to start writing my new book, and it‘s going to be very hard work.
That is all for now.
Give my regards to Paul and the family. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Your loving sister,
Ann
Exercise 1 Test your knowledge of letter writing:
Choose the correct variant:
1. This is a letter. The part of the letter in bold is
Blocks and Panels,
78 Victoria Park Street,
Salton OK894
Telephone 875 34 53 77, fax 875 58 87 93
4 June 2005
Director General, Globus, 15 High Street, Salton PO576
Dear Sir/Madam,
Your company has been recommended to us by a business associate and we are
writing to enquire about your translation services.
We would be grateful if you could send us your prices and terms of payment.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
_____________
Jim Forms
Managing Director
a) The signature;
b) The greeting;
c) The inside address;
d) The reference to enclosures;
e) The heading.
2. This is an envelope. The information in bold is:
a) the ZIP Code in the return address;
33
b) the sender‘s company name;
The Court Hotel
Chilcompton Bath
Avon (2) BA3 4SA
(3) UK
Mr. S. Ghislain
Slembrouck BVBA
Violetstraat 187
B – 1000 Brussels
Belgium
c) the country the letter comes from;
d) the sendee‘s company name;
e) the addressee.
3. This is an envelope. The information in bold is:
a) the ZIP Code in the return address;
b) the country the letter comes from;
c) the sender‘s company name;
d) the house number in the mailing address;
e) the country the letter is sent to.
4. Choose the words to fill in the blanks:
(1)_____: All Staff
From : R&D Director
(2) _____: the Chairman‘s visit
The Chairman of our corporation, (3)_____, will visit our company next Friday, 15
November. He is coming to visit our new production centre. He will arrive at 11:30 am and you
are kindly requested to be at the welcome reception for him at the Conference Hall.
(4) _____
a) To;
b) Subject;
c) U.T.;
d) Mr. Schnabel;
e) From.
5. What kind of document is this?
34
a) Letter of complaint;
b) Contract;
c) CV (Application for a job);
d) Letter of apology;
e) Letter of enquiry.
Exercise 2. Write all kinds of letters following the rules and samples
35
Lesson IV. Writing an Essay
Types of essay
I. Informing
2) Expository
3) Narrative
4) Descriptive
II. Persuasive
1) Discursive
2) Argumentative
Expository
Gives clear and precise information about a subject without arguing.
E.G.
―Malnutrition has become a problem in poor countries. A lot of people die of
malnutrition in Africa and Asia nowadays‖
Narrative
Tells the story, which should be detailed. You should follow the 5 questions (5
WQs): What, Who, Where, When, Why.
E.G
―Larry suddenly woke up from a deep sleep, because the sun was dazzling his half-
open eyes, and he couldn‘t figure out what time it was. He slowly got out of his bed and
came up to the bench next to the window. For a moment, he thought, he heard a tapping
sound coming from the attic.‖
Descriptive
Presents a single and clear picture of a person, a place, or any idea. It should
contain a plenty of sensory details, sounds, specific signs and smell. It should contain as
many adjectives as possible.
E.G
―My Mum is a very funny person. She is always uplifting and communicates well
with other people. She can always find a way out of any situations. All people respect
and love her in our village. As for my Dad, he is a good- tempered man. He always tries
to understand me and to help me with my homework . He is very sociable. He never
shouts and explains everything calmly. Dad gives me his hidden money.‖
Persuasive
Expresses somebody‘s opinion about something. There should be some sound
arguments. You can say or persuade somebody that your opinion is right. It should
consists of some reasons.
E.G
―In my opinion, everything what is going on with the climate is really serious
because arctic ice has begun melting so that it can lead to the global elevation of the
ocean level. Also climate changes because of the air pollution. Our plants produce a lot
of harmful substances which destroy the ozone layer and solar radiation can cause
overheating of the planet.‖
Writing an academic essay means fashioning a coherent set of ideas into an argument.
Because essays are essentially linear—they offer one idea at a time—they must present their
ideas in the order that makes most sense to a reader. Successfully structuring an essay means
attending to a reader's logic.
36
The focus of such an essay predicts its structure. It dictates the information readers need to
know and the order in which they need to receive it. Thus your essay's structure is necessarily
unique to the main claim you're making. Although there are guidelines for constructing certain
classic essay types (e.g., comparative analysis), there are no set formula.
37
The Parts of an Essay
A typical essay contains many different kinds of information, often located in specialized
parts or sections. Even short essays perform several different operations: introducing the
argument, analyzing data, raising counterarguments, concluding. Introductions and conclusions
have fixed places, but other parts don't. Counterargument, for example, may appear within a
paragraph, as a free-standing section, as part of the beginning, or before the ending. Background
material (historical context or biographical information, a summary of relevant theory or
criticism, the definition of a key term) often appears at the beginning of the essay, between the
introduction and the first analytical section, but might also appear near the beginning of the
specific section to which it's relevant.
It's helpful to think of the different essay sections as answering a series of questions your
reader might ask when encountering your thesis. (Readers should have questions. If they don't,
your thesis is most likely simply an observation of fact, not an arguable claim.)
"What?" The first question to anticipate from a reader is "what": What evidence shows
that the phenomenon described by your thesis is true? To answer the question you must examine
your evidence, thus demonstrating the truth of your claim. This "what" or "demonstration"
section comes early in the essay, often directly after the introduction. Since you're essentially
reporting what you've observed, this is the part you might have most to say about when you first
start writing. But be forewarned: it shouldn't take up much more than a third (often much less) of
your finished essay. If it does, the essay will lack balance and may read as mere summary or
description.
"How?" A reader will also want to know whether the claims of the thesis are true in all
cases. The corresponding question is "how": How does the thesis stand up to the challenge of a
counterargument? How does the introduction of new material—a new way of looking at the
evidence, another set of sources—affect the claims you're making? Typically, an essay will
include at least one "how" section. (Call it "complication" since you're responding to a reader's
complicating questions.) This section usually comes after the "what," but keep in mind that an
essay may complicate its argument several times depending on its length, and that
counterargument alone may appear just about anywhere in an essay.
"Why?" Your reader will also want to know what's at stake in your claim: Why does your
interpretation of a phenomenon matter to anyone beside you? This question addresses the larger
implications of your thesis. It allows your readers to understand your essay within a larger
context. In answering "why", your essay explains its own significance. Although you might
gesture at this question in your introduction, the fullest answer to it properly belongs at your
essay's end. If you leave it out, your readers will experience your essay as unfinished—or, worse,
as pointless or insular.
Mapping an Essay
Structuring your essay according to a reader's logic means examining your thesis and
anticipating what a reader needs to know, and in what sequence, in order to grasp and be
convinced by your argument as it unfolds. The easiest way to do this is to map the essay's ideas
via a written narrative. Such an account will give you a preliminary record of your ideas, and
will allow you to remind yourself at every turn of the reader's needs in understanding your idea.
Essay maps ask you to predict where your reader will expect background information,
counterargument, close analysis of a primary source, or a turn to secondary source material.
Essay maps are not concerned with paragraphs so much as with sections of an essay. They
anticipate the major argumentative moves you expect your essay to make. Try making your map
like this:
State your thesis in a sentence or two, then write another sentence saying why it's
important to make that claim. Indicate, in other words, what a reader might learn by exploring
38
the claim with you. Here you're anticipating your answer to the "why" question that you'll
eventually flesh out in your conclusion.
Begin your next sentence like this: "To be convinced by my claim, the first thing a
reader needs to know is . . ." Then say why that's the first thing a reader needs to know, and
name one or two items of evidence you think will make the case. This will start you off on
answering the "what" question. (Alternately, you may find that the first thing your reader needs
to know is some background information.)
Begin each of the following sentences like this: "The next thing my reader needs to
know is . . ." Once again, say why, and name some evidence. Continue until you've mapped out
your essay.
Your map should naturally take you through some preliminary answers to the basic
questions of what, how, and why. It is not a contract, though—the order in which the ideas
appear is not a rigid one. Essay maps are flexible; they evolve with your ideas.
Signs of Trouble
A common structural flaw in college essays is the "walk-through" (also labeled "summary"
or "description"). Walk-through essays follow the structure of their sources rather than
establishing their own. Such essays generally have a descriptive thesis rather than an
argumentative one. Be wary of paragraph openers that lead off with "time" words ("first," "next,"
"after," "then") or "listing" words ("also," "another," "in addition"). Although they don't always
signal trouble, these paragraph openers often indicate that an essay's thesis and structure need
work: they suggest that the essay simply reproduces the chronology of the source text (in the
case of time words: first this happens, then that, and afterwards another thing . . . ) or simply lists
example after example ("In addition, the use of color indicates another way that the painting
differentiates between good and evil").
1) Expository essay
In an expository essay, you inform readers about a meaningful and interesting
subject. You are not arguing for or against the subject or reflecting upon its value or
worth. Your main purpose is to convey a certain amount of information clearly and
completely.
Before you get started, make sure that you clearly understand the assignment,
including the standards that will be used to assess your work.
Prewriting
1. Choosing a Subject
In most cases, your teacher will give you a general subject or a writing prompt to
get you started on your subject search. Carry out your search until you discover a specific
subject that interests you and meets the requirements of the assignment. Then determine a
focus (a specific angle or direction) for your writing.
General Subject – Health & Medicine
Specific Subject – Childhood Malnutrition
Limited Focus – Its Devastating Effects
2. Gathering Details
Carry out as much research (interviewing, reading, observing) as necessary to
collect a variety of information.
3. Forming a Thesis Statement
A thesis statement identifies the focus for your writing. It usually highlights a
special condition or feature of the subject, expresses a specific feeling, or takes a stand.
You can use the formula below to help you form this statement. You need to know, too,
that you may revise your statement a few times during the writing process as you find
new information.
39
A specific subject (Children suffering from malnutrition) + a limited focus (have
little chance of living long, productive lives).= an effective thesis statement
4. Planning and Organizing Your Essay
Review your research, highlighting the facts and details that support your thesis.
(Do more research if necessary.) Then decide on the best way to organize this
information. You may find it helpful to outline your ideas.
Writing and revising
1. Connecting your ideas
2. Write as freely as you can, using your prewriting and planning as a general guide.
Your goal is to get all of your ideas on paper. You may have to write one or two more early
drafts before your essay really begins to take shape. (Devote extra time to your opening
paragraph, which should catch your reader‘s attention and identify the thesis of your writing.
Once you are satisfied with this paragraph, you‘ll find it much easier to develop the rest of your
essay.)
3. Improving your writing
Carefully review your draft for completeness, organization, and writing voice: Do
you sound interested in and knowledgeable about your subject? Also have a classmate
read and react to your draft. Be prepared to do some adding, cutting, and rearranging to
make your essay say what you want to say.
Editing and proofreading
a. Checking for Style and Accuracy
Review your revised writing for style. Make sure that your sentences read smoothly and
clearly, and that you have used the best words to express your ideas. Then check your writing for
spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence errors.
b. Sharing your work
Prepare a neat final copy of your work, following your teacher‘s directions or the
guidelines in your handbook. Proofread the final copy before sharing it with others.
Tips for writing Expository essays
If your essay needs a shot of energy, try one or more of the following activities. Each one
is guaranteed to refuel your thinking.
Pretend that you are the first person to know about and understand your subject in the
way that you do; write freely about your ideas and discoveries. Some fresh ideas are bound to
develop.
Write a negative definition of your subject (what it is not). Then expand upon this
definition in a freewriting, working in new thoughts and ideas as they come to mind.
Ask yourself, ―What am I trying to say here?‖ And then answer the question in your mind
or out loud. Pick up on anything that sounds better than the way you initially expressed yourself.
Re-examine your subject from a number of different angles.
Get into your writing. Grumble and mumble when the words aren‘t coming the way you
want them to, and whoop it up or clap your hands when you hit on the right way to say
something.
Bend the rules (if your teacher‘s okay). If you don‘t feel like starting with a typical
opening paragraph, open in a way that feels right to you – perhaps with a personal story about
how you got interested in your subject in the first place.
Step back and reassess your feelings about the subject. Do you still feel that your thesis is
effective? Can you effectively support it?
Talk about your subject with someone new. How about your younger brother, your
grandmother, or your guidance counselor? What are their feelings about your subject, and why
do they feel the way they do?
Find new sources of information, new points of view. Decide if this information changes
your thinking on the subject.
40
Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]