Many students have the impression that they’ll score higher in GT writing than in Academic writing. Some score even lower in the former though. The reasons? They don’t know what kind of letter they should write. Here are things to know:

Depending on who the audience is, e.g. writing to your friend, teacher or neighbor or an organisation, you need to go through these steps:

1. Decide on what register to use.

Informal, semi formal or formal?

      2. Decide on how to use for salutation.

Hi Mike, Dear Mike, Dear Mr. Tyson, or Dear Sir or Madam?

      3. Decide on the degree of formality.

Contractions? Conversational? Politeness? Directness? Respect?

      4. Decide on how to organise the content.

Para 1: Introduction/Greeting + Purpose.

Para 2 & 3: Discuss Questions 1, 2 and 3 in sequence.

Para 4: Goodwill (remember degree of formality).

      5. Decide on how to sign off.

This must be relevant to Step 2.

Informal: Best wishes / Cheers? Kind regards? Yours sincerely? Yours faithfully?

Lastly, remember to check your punctuation so you don’t end up losing marks! Good Luck!

 

24 June 2017

Telaga