Introduction to Writing Skills

In this section, we look at the most important features of real life business
writing and how these skills are reflected in the Written exam.
What do you write in your everyday life? Make a list of all the things you've
written over the last few days? Now look at the questions below.
Questions
Think about the following questions, then look at the information below.
1. Who are you writing for?
2. Why are you writing?
3. How can you learn to write appropriate texts?
4. How can you learn to organise your writing?
5. How can you improve a written text?
Answers
1.

2.

3.

4.

Writing is a form of communication between the person who writes and

the person who will read the text. Therefore, there are always a
minimum of two people involved - the writer and the target reader. In
the Writing paper, students will always be asked to produce a piece of
writing with a specific target reader in mind.
We write for a variety of reasons: to request, to complain, to inform, to
recommend, to propose, etc. In the exam you must also be clear about
the reason for writing.
There are established writing conventions which most writers normally
follow. These affect layout, style, register, etc. (for example, formal
letters conventions or business reports). We learn these conventions at
college or work, and often learn by following guidelines and models.
Before writing (as opposed to speaking), we usually have time:
to plan what we want to say
to organise the information in a logical manner
to decide how we are going to express ourselves

5.

After writing, we should build in time to edit our texts (e.g. make
improvements and corrections).

Audience, Purpose and Register

When you write you should have a clear idea of WHY you are writing (your
purpose) and WHO you are writing to (your audience). Your choice of style
and register will then be determined by this.
WHAT?
WHO FOR?
Text type
Audience
An advertisement
Target customer
A memo
A letter to a newspaper
A business report
A leaflet
A cover letter
An e-mail to friend
A business e-mail
WHAT?
An advertisement
A memo
A letter to a newspaper
A business report
A leaflet
A cover letter
An e-mail to friend
A business e-mail

WHY?
Purpose
To persuade

WHO FOR?
Target customer
colleagues
Readership
Of newspaper
Colleagues/bosses
/stakeholders

WHY?
To persuade
To inform,remind
To express an opinion,
complain report an incident
To compare and contrast
To give information.
To evaluate.
Target customer
To give information. To
persuade
Potential employer To give information. To
persuade
friend
To tell news or to entertain
Colleague/custom To ask for information
er/client
To give information
To make a request
To complain

The register you use when writing depends on who you are writing to.
Which level of formality would you use when writing the following?
>>Very informal >> informal >>neutral >>formal >> very formal>>
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

A letter to the Dean of your faculty

A business e-mail
A letter of application
An advertisement
A business report
A text message to a friend

What makes language more or less formal? Complete the table.

Formal
Longer sentences

Informal
Simpler structures

Non idiomatic language

Spelling mistakes
abbreviations
Contractions (isnt dont)
KEY
Formal
Longer sentences
More complex structures
Latinate words (depart, obtain)
Non idiomatic language
No slang
No abbreviations
No contractions

Informal
Shorter sentences
Simpler structures
Anglo saxon words ( leave,get)
Idiomatic language
slang
Spelling mistakes
abbreviations
Contractions (isnt dont)

The level of formality (depends on the balance of the above characteristics)

Look at the following phrases. What register are they in? Where would
you see them?
11 I am writing with reference to the advertisement in yesterday's Times
11 Sorry if it caused you any bother.
11 Catch up with you later.
11 We're extremely sorry about the mix-up with your order.
11 Sorry haven't been in touch for a while.
11 cu l8er
11 I look forward to a prompt reply.
11 We are delighted that you will be able to give a lecture to our faculty.
11 We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

111 YOLO! bfn

Complete the table
Latinate word
repair

Anglo saxon or other

chew

obtain
get in touch
inform
put off
call off
receive
buy
arrange
require

KEY
Latinate word
repair
masticate
obtain
contact
inform
postpone
cancel
receive
purchase
arrange
require

Anglo saxon or other

fix
chew
get
get in touch
tell
put off
call off
get
buy
Set up
need