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Email

1. The document provides guidance on writing emails for the PET exam, including the typical structure and language functions assessed. 2. A sample email task is described that involves organizing a class party, with four points to address: reacting to the news, suggesting a location, activities, and food. 3. The document recommends including an opening and closing formula along with four paragraphs, one for each main point. 4. Useful language functions for emails are listed, such as agreeing, disagreeing, explaining, offering, suggesting, and apologizing.

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18 views6 pages

Email

1. The document provides guidance on writing emails for the PET exam, including the typical structure and language functions assessed. 2. A sample email task is described that involves organizing a class party, with four points to address: reacting to the news, suggesting a location, activities, and food. 3. The document recommends including an opening and closing formula along with four paragraphs, one for each main point. 4. Useful language functions for emails are listed, such as agreeing, disagreeing, explaining, offering, suggesting, and apologizing.

Uploaded by

Deniz Kiz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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WRITING PET - EMAIL

1. Word count: around 100 words


2. Main characteristics: Typical layout, functional language (agreeing/disagreeing, giving your opinion,
offering to do something, explaining something)
3. Structure: opening formula & paragraph, topic paragraphs, closing paragraph & formula
4. Language: specific phrases to start/end an email, agreeing/disagreeing, giving your opinion, offering to
do something, explaining something
5. Example

Dear Mrs Lake,

Thank you for your email. I think it’d be a great idea to have a party with the whole class.
WRITING PET - EMAIL
I think we should have our party at the park because we’re in the classroom all the time so this would be a nice
change.

At the park there are some ping pong tables and I can bring my football so why don’t we make teams and have
a tournament of different sports?

In my opinion, we should have a barbecue. We can bring what we like, for example, meat and some drinks like
Coca Cola and everyone will be happy.

Thanks again and see you in class.

Phill

What does a typical email task look like?


When you look at a writing task in the PET exam, there are always some questions that you have to ask
yourself.

1. What is the situation?


2. What do I have to include in my email?
3. Who is going to read my email?

A typical email task looks like the one above. You read a short email (100-120 words) with four prompts which
are connected to the text with lines. So, let’s have a look at our questions from earlier.
First of all, the situation is about organising an end-of-year party with your class and your teacher, Mrs
Lake, is asking you for a few ideas.

You always have to include four main things in your emails. In this case, you (1) have to react to the news
that there is a party, (2) explain if the party should be in the classroom or the park, (3) make a suggestion about
possible games and activities and (4) tell Mrs Lake what kind of food you would like to eat at the party.

It is very important for you to know exactly what you have to include because you have to use specific
language for each of the four points.

Last but not least, your teacher is going to read your email so you can’t use the same informal language you
would use with a friend, but it also doesn’t have to be super formal. Somewhere in between the two (neutral) is
probably the best option.

In neutral English you can use contractions like ‘I’m’ or ‘she’s’ or phrasal verbs, but no slang words or
anything that is not in the dictionary.
WRITING PET - EMAIL
How to organise you email
Emails can always be organised in the same way. If you follow my recommendations in this article, you will get
good results every time you sit down to write an email.
In the last section you learned that in every task there are four main things that you have to include in your text.

1. React to the news that there is a party.


2. Explain if the party should be in the classroom or the park and why.
3. Make a suggestion about possible games and activities.
4. Tell your teacher what kind of food you would like to eat.

Because there are four main points it is a good idea to make four paragraphs in your email, one for each main
point. In addition to that, we always have to include an opening and closing formula to start and finish our email
the right way.

A typical PET email looks like this:


1. opening formula
2. four main topic paragraphs
3. closing formula

Opening formula
In an email we always start by saying hello to the person we are writing to. There are different ways to do this,
but generally, there are two main options:

1. Hi Phill,
2. Dear Mr Smith,

The first option is better for informal emails, for example to a friend or classmate. We use ‘hi’ as informal way
to say hello and the first name of the person

We use the second salutation in formal writing to a teacher, manager or someone similar to that. ‘Dear’ is a
polite option to say hello and we use ‘Mr’ or ‘Ms’ plus the family name to be extra polite.

Always check in the task who is going to read your email because your salutation depends on formal or
informal English.

Main paragraphs
In your main paragraphs there are two things you need to focus on. You want to talk about all the main topic
points and use good language.
Remember what the four topic points are:

1. React to the news that there is a party.


2. Explain if the party should be in the classroom or the park and why.
3. Make a suggestion about possible games and activities.
4. Tell your teacher what kind of food you would like to eat.
WRITING PET - EMAIL
You can make one short paragraph for each idea because that’s what Mrs Lake did in her email to you.

Now, you only have to think about what good language you can use to say what you should say in each of
these paragraphs. In this part I will only give you an example of a paragraph, but if you keep reading, you will
find useful examples for all the different types of language you might have to use in email writing task.

An example paragraph could look like this:

Dear Mrs Lake,


Thank you for your email. I think it’d be a great idea to have a party with the whole class.

You can see that you don’t have to write a lot to react to good news. First of all, I thanked Mrs Lake for writing
and then reacted to the good news. If you do something similar with the other main topic points, you will pass
the email task easily.

Closing formula

Finishing an email is just as easy as starting it. There are some expressions that we can always use. Just be
careful because you need to check who you are writing to so your closing formula is not too personal or
informal. Here, is a possible closing formula for our example task:

Thanks again and see you in class.

Phill

Again, you don’t have to write a lot in your closing formula. Keep it simple and you’ll be fine.

Useful language for emails


In a PET email writing task you can use a lot of good language to get high marks. You have to think about an
opening and closing formula as well as expressions to talk about the main topic points.
Most of the time you have to do some of these things:

1. React to a piece of news


2. Agree / Disagree
3. Explain something
4. Offer to do something
5. Give your opinion
6. Apologise for something
7. Make a suggestion
8. Make a recommendation
9.
WRITING PET - EMAIL
This seems to be a lot, but with a little bit of practice it will become much easier. So, let’s have a look at some
useful expressions.

Opening formula Hi [name],


Hello [name],
Dear [name],
Closing formula Talk to you soon.
All the best,
Take care,
Best regards,
Warm regards,
Love,
Lots of love,
Reacting to a piece of news It’s good/great/sad to hear that …
I’m glad/happy/sorry to hear that …
Thanks (a lot) for letting me know that …
What great/fantastic/brilliant/wonderful news!
That’s awful / a pity / unfortunate!
Agreeing / Disagreeing I agree / disagree (with you).
I couldn’t agree more.
I (don’t) think so.
I think you’re right.
That’s so true!
Yes, but …
I’m not sure about that.
Explaining something because (of)
That’s why …
This means …
for example / such as / like
Offering to do something I/We could …
If you want, I/we could …
Shall I/we …
Do you want me/us to …?
Giving your opinion In my opinion, …
I think …
For me, …
Apologising for something I’m sorry for (+-ing)
WRITING PET - EMAIL
I apologise for (+-ing)
I (really) didn’t mean to …
Making a suggestion Let’s …
I suggest (+-ing)
How about (+-ing)
Why don’t you/we …?
Don’t you think …?
Making a recommendation (I think) you/we should …
Don’t miss …
I (highly) recommend (+-ing)

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