EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

CAE WRITING PART 1

THE BASICS
 You must write an essay.
 You must write between 220-260 words.
 You have about 45 minutes to do the task, 5 of which you should spend planning.
 Don’t “lift” too much from the question: use your own words as much as possible

CONTENT

 The task always looks the same: you must discuss two ideas and say which one is more important
and why.
 At all times you must give your opinions and support them with reasons.
 A good way of making sure you’re not forgetting to mention anything is to read and analyse the task
at least two times before you start planning.

COMMUNICATIVE ACHIEVEMENT

 Your writing should read like an essay, hence, it must follow all the conventions of such a text
type. (E.g. unlike reports, essays don’t have sub-headings)
 In general, the intended reader is your tutor or teacher, hence, essays are always formal and
written in an academic style.
 Your writing should keep the reader interested throughout. There’re different ways in which you
can hold your reader’s attention (rhetorical questions, quotations, etc.)

ORGANISATION

 Paragraphs must be logically divided.

 You must write at least four paragraphs.
 Linking words and expressions as well as synonyms and pronouns to avoid repetition contribute to
the overall cohesion of the text.
 Using

LANGUAGE

 Use a variety of sentence structures to impress the examiners. These include: passive voice,
conditionals (0, 1, 2, 3 and mixed), cleft sentences and inversions.
 Punctuation is also key. *See appendix 2
 Use different instances of modality throughout. Speculating is a good idea.
 Use a wide range of vocabulary. If you think something is written rather simply, then it probably is.
Remember that impressing the examiners is key. Double check the words you choose.
 Use a collocations dictionary to step up your writing game.
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

CAE WRITING PART 1

STRUCTURE

 You may include: a rhetorical question,

INTRODUCTION
Aim: Introduce the topic and your angle on it.
Mentioning which two points you will tackle is
a good idea and will provide good guidance for
the reader.
a quotation, or a fact/ stat. Doing this
will make your introduction sound
stronger, which will keep the reader
interested.
 If you include a quotation, include the
person who said it.

 Choose a view/ method you think is

PARAGRAPH 1
Aim: Discuss one of the two methods / views
you chose from the task. Give reasons for your
opinions on it.
PARAGRAPH 2
Aim: Discuss the other method/ view you chose
from the task. Give reasons for your opinions
on it.
important and a view/ method you don’t
believe to be so. Doing this will provide
more opportunities to use a wider range
of vocabulary.
 The transition from P.1 to P2 should be
smooth. These paragraphs must be
logically tied together by means of a
phrase, linkers, etc.
 One way to keep the reader interested is
to include a “surprise factor” (E.g. In a
recent survey, 80% of Scottish residents
said prisoners should be given kittens to
take care of”). You’re allowed to lie; no
one cares if what you’re saying is true.

CONCLUSION
 The ideas in this part will be the same as
Aim: Restate why you believe the method/ those in previous paragraphs, but you
view you support is more important must use different words.
 Never introduce new ideas or concepts in
the conclusion.
 You may include a rhetorical question
asking what would happen if the method/
view became a reality. A thought-
provoking question always makes for a
great ending.
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

CAE WRITING PART 1 SET PHRASES

Guiding the reader  I shall consider two of the proposed

(methods)
Include sentences or phrases that act as  In view of the above arguments, I
signposts to guide the reader through your believe…
essay. These often come at the beginning of a
paragraph.

Linking words and phrases *See appendix 1

These contribute to the overall cohesion of the

essay.

Introducing your opinion  (Personally,) I believe/ think/ feel

that…
 From my point of view…
 In my view/ opinion
 I would argue that
 As far as I am concerned
Introducing other people’s opinions  Some people claim/ believe/ suggest
that.
It is often a good idea to show the reader how  It is often/ sometimes said/argued/
your own ideas contrast with the opinions of suggested that…
other people.  It can be argued that
 According to many/ some people
 It has been suggested that
Pointing out something obvious  Obviously
 Clearly
When you need to express an obvious point as  Undoubtedly
part of an argument it is often useful to show  Of course
that you’re aware you’re not saying anything  Without a doubt,….
unusual.  Needless to say,…
 It goes without saying that…

Appendix 1.

Linking words and phrases.

● Listing points: First,...; Firstly,…; First of all,...; To begin with,…; Second,…; Secondly,…; Third,…;
Thirdly,...

● Adding information:, What is more,…; Additionally,…; In addition (to this),…; Apart from that/
this,….; Moreover,…; Furthermore,...
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

● Giving examples: Such as, For example, For instance.

● Expressing contrast: However,…; In contrast,…; But; Although + clause; Even though + clause; in
spite of + NP or +ing; Despite + NP or +ing; On the one hand,…; On the other hand,…

Although I don’t like your attitude, I will support you. // I will support you, although I don’t like your
attitude.

Even though I don’t like your attitude, I will support you. // I will support you, even though I don’t
like your attitude.

In spite of his prison record he got the job. // He got the job in spite of his prison record

In spite of being terribly overweight he was very fast. // He was very fast in spite of being terribly
overweight.

Despite the fact that he was terribly overweight, he was fast // He was fast, despite the fact that he
was terribly overweight.

Despite being terribly overweight he was very fast // He was very fast despite being terribly
overweight.

● Expressing results: Consequently,…; As a consequence,…; As a result,…; Therefore,....

● Giving reasons: Because of this,…; For this reason,…; This is the main reason why.

Appendix 2

Punctuation.

CAPITAL LETTERS
A capital letter is used:

 to begin a sentence.
e.g. There’s a great film playing at the cinema.

 for days of the week, months and public holidays.

e.g. This year, Christmas Day falls on the last Sunday of December.

 for names of people and places.

e.g. My best friend’s name is Claire and she’s from Cardiff, Wales.

 for people’s titles.

e.g. Mr. and Mrs. Graham; Dr. Stevens, Professor Brown; etc.

 for nationalities and languages.

e.g. They are French.
We love Italian cuisine.
He is fluent in Portuguese and German.
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

 For the first word and/or the most important words (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs)
of titles of books, films, plays, TV programmes, etc.
e.g. Finding Nemo
Alice in Wonderland
Note: the personal pronoun “I” is always a capital letter.

COMMA (,)
A comma is used:

 to separate words in a list.

e.g. We need water, fish, meat and vegetables

 to separate phrases or clauses.

e.g. He stopped walking, looked down and realised that he had lost his wallet.

 to separate long sentences linked by “and”, “but”, “so”.

e.g. He said he loved me, but he didn’t mean it.
She brought a lot of delicious sandwiches, and Peter brought some great wine.

 to introduce a non-defining relative clause. (A clause which adds extra information, but it is
not necessary to make sense of the sentence)
e.g. Maria, who is a ballerina, lives in Paris.

 after certain linking words/ phrases.

e.g. In addition, …; For example,…; However,…; In conclusion,….

 When an “if clause” starts the sentence.

e.g. If I had known, I wouldn’t have called you.

before and/ or after expressions such as “she said”, “he said”, “said Tom/ Mary” when reporting
someone’s exact words.
e.g. Opening the door, he said, “Wake up kids”.
BUT: “I am exhausted,” said the teacher.

 to separate a question tag from the rest of the sentence:

e.g. He likes water, doesn’t he?

FULL STOP (.)

A full stop is used:

 to end a sentence that is not a question or an exclamation.

e.g. I’m having a wonderful time. There’s so much to do here.
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

ITALICS
Italics are used:

 to show the titles of books, plays, newspapers, films, etc.

e.g. Romeo and Juliet
The Daily Mail

 to show names of hotels, restaurants, etc.

e.g. The Majestic Hotel

QUESTION MARKS (?)

Question marks are used

 to end a direct question.

e.g. Are you coming to the party?
Note: a question mark is not used when we ask an indirect question.
e.g. He asked me how old I was.

EXCLAMATION MARKS (!)

An exclamation mark is used:

 to end an exclamatory sentence, i.e. a sentence showing admiration, surprise, joy, anger, etc.
e.g. What a beautiful baby!

QUOTATION MARK (“”)

A quotation mark is used;

 in direct speech to report the exact words someone said.

e.g. “Come with me and I’ll give you the book,” he said

 for quotations (something you read in a book, sayings and proverbs)

e.g. As my father used to say “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”.

COLON (:)
A colon is used:

 to introduce a list.
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

e.g. There were four of us on the boat: my mother, my father, my brother and me.

SEMICOLON (;)
A semicolon is used:

 instead of a full stop, sometimes to separate main sentences where their meaning is
connected. Semicolons are not used as often as full stops or commas.
e.g. Some teenagers find it extremely hard to choose a career; others consider it a fairly easy task.

APOSTROPHE (‘)
An apostrophe is used:

 in contracted forms.
e.g. I’m an English teacher.

 before or after the possessive “-s”

e.g. My teacher’s booklet.
My cousins’ dog.

 to form the plurals of letters, numbers or abbreviations.

e.g. I was born in the 90’s
UNICEF’s efforts to control the situation in Venezuela were useless.
She often writes j’s instead of g’s

HYPHEN (-)
A hyphen is used:

 to form a compound word.

e.g. kind-hearted; ten-year-old girl

DOTS (...)
Three dots are used to show that words have been left out from a proverb, a saying, proverb, sentence,
etc.

e.g. As Edward Guthman once said, “Thirty seconds on the evening news is worth a front page headline...”
 EFL Teacher Gianna Guastella

DASH (—)
A dash is used:

 in informal English, in the same way as a colon or semicolon.

e.g. There are many things I couldn’t imagine living without — my family, my friends, my dog and my
computer.

 To introduce something that you thought of or added later. Something surprising, unexpected,
etc.
e.g. They’re closing down the old library — at least that’s what I’ve heard.

BRACKETS ()
Brackets are used:

 to separate extra information from the rest of the sentence.

e.g. These days, you can buy popular newspapers (for example Le Monde, The Daily Mail, etc.) almost
anywhere in the world.