TIPS ON WRITING

STRUCTURE AND LENGTH

1. Read well the title and instructions on the task. Respect the limit! (250 words)

2. Use the empty pages for making notes, structure scheme, counting words…

3. Attention to the type of text (formal letter, formal essay, formal article). Avoid contractions
or genitive (instead use “of”). Separate paragraphs well.

-Letter greeting: Dear Mr… -Article/essay: title

GRAMMAR AND VOCABULARY

4. Use singular/plurals correctly (Being a good doctor IS positive – The main problems in
Poland ARE…)

Other (singular) / another (plural)

5. Careful with a/the or no articles

*The: we do not use it if speaking in general (Tigers are dangerous)

*The: for geographical or specific things (The Sun, The people in Kraków)

*A: for jobs or mentioning singular items (I am a teacher, I have a car)

6. Use the right type of word

Honest (adjective) – honesty (noun) – Honestly (adverb). Usually the endings help.

7. Use adjectives/adverbs when possible. *Avoid: nice, good, important, beautiful…

Drastically, happily, incredible... (Think of synonyms in Polish that can be used in

English)

8. Connect your sentences and paragraphs well, but use them ONLY WITH A REASON. Do not
abuse.

Ordering connectors: first of all, moreover, to conclude…

Opinion connectors: frankly, in my humble opinion, from the (…) point of view…

Cause/effect or reason connectors: thanks to, because of…

*If unsure about which connector to use, better write separate sentences.

9. Use different tenses, depending on the topic/type of text

Mixing present, past and future (all of them can be simple, continuous, perfect…)
10. Include different structures:

-Passive voice (My town was built a long time ago).

-Conditionals

-Relative pronouns (who, which, where, when, whose…)

-Too/enough (My friend was not too talkative)

-Intensifiers (really, extremely, completely)

-Reported speech (They told us that we had to go there)

-It sentences (It was my brother who bought a car).

-Inversions (Never had I felt such sadness in my life).

*When possible, better use the long adjective instead of the short (fortunate/lucky).