Writing 1 - formal writing

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 3

Welcome!

Today's session

- Discuss programme for this year

- Writing:

   - Sentence structure

   - Formal standard sentences

   - Letter structure

Goals:

- know what is expected of you this year

- use new knowledge of writing a formal letter in an email you write yourself

The rest of this year

P3: Writing: two lessons, third lesson is exam

P4: speaking/conversations: two lessons, then exams

Writing

lesson 1: formal writing

lesson 2: informal writing

Starting an email

Salutations

Dear Judy, (comma)

Dear Ms 

Dear Sir/Madam,

Always try to find a name, position, get creative: Dear hiring manager, Dear future colleage.

Hi, someone you know, informal but not too friendly

Anything else, strictly friends etc.: hiya, hey, 

Closing an email

Closings

Kind regards,  : standard, always a safe option

Regards,   : when you don't like the person

Thanks again,   :(repeated work email)

Informal: cheers,

Never!! "greetings"

Standard sentences

Some sentences in English have a (pretty) standard structure.

In the next slide, you will see a writing promp and a word.

- Make a sentence 

- Use the word given.

- We vote which one seems most "correct"

Vertellen waarom je schrijft [regarding]

Zeggen dat je een bestand hebt toegevoegd [attached]

zeggend dat als de lezer verder nog ergens hulp mee nodig heeft, die dat kan vragen/kan mailen [assistance]

aankondigen dat je bepaalde informatie gaat delen [happy]

zeggen dat je iets helaas niet kan doen [afraid]

zeggen dat je er naar uit ziet om iemand te ontmoeten [forward]

Standard sentences

1. I'm writing to you regarding/about/concerning

2. Please find attached

3. If I can be of any further assistance, please contact me

4. I'm happy to be able to share

5. I'm afraid I can't...

6. I'm looking forward to... (meeting you, starting work etc.)

Conjunctions (linking words)

To make your writing more natural, use these five words which connect ideas.

And: uitbreiding, "en"

     - We went to the beach and loved it cause it was so sunny!

But: tegenstelling "maar".

      - We went to the beach, but the water was too cold for swimming

Although tegenstelling "hoewel".

      - Although it was raining, we went to the beach anyway

Because: reden "omdat"

     - We went to the beach because it was a sunny day

So: gevold "dus"

     - It was a sunny day so we went to the beach.

Exercise

Do the following exercise to practice. Write the answers down, then we discuss. 

Click here

Writing your own

Click this link for the assignment. Write it as an email and send it to me: [e-mail]

If you have a dictionary, use that. Otherwise you can use translate, but only for words! Not for whole sentences!

Rounding off
What was new for you? What was something you already knew but was useful to repeat? Antything else...

Study material

Vocabulary list

Writing exercises, filling in

Writing exercises that get checked online