Formal Writing 4 - Language & Writing Style

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Writing a formal letter

Check pre-existing knowledge

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your address

recipient's adress

The date

Introduce yourself + reason of writing

Explanation of the situation

Conclusion

Closing sentence

Your name

signature

1

   2

  3

  4

   5

   6

   7

  8

   9

   10

What is the correct opening greeting if you DO NOT know who will read your letter?

How do you end a formal letter?

1. Greetings,
2. Yours sincerely,
3. Sincerely,
4. Yours faithfully,

How do we start paragraph 1?

1. Hello!
2. I'm ...
3. My name is ...
4. Good day

How do you say 'ik zit op Zone college'

1. I sit on Zone college
2. I am on Zone college
3. I am at Zone college
4. I go to Zone college

Which one is correct?

1. I am a fourteen-year-old boy/girl
2. I am a boy/girl and I am fourteen
3. I am a fourteen years old boy/girl
4. I am 14 and a boy/girl

Which one is correct

1. The reason I write you is...
2. The reason I am writing you is...
3. The reason i am writing you is
4. The reason i write you is...

You use capitals when writing:

1. months
2. names
3. names of cities
4. days

Mind the following

In a formal letter all words MUST be written in full

So do not use:  isn’t, it’s of won’t, but:

is not, it is en will not. Gonna and wanna  are a definite NO GO!

For names of magazines or newspapers, use quotation marks. The ‘Telegraaf’.

DOs

1. Make it neat.
2. Use signal words and the appropriate tenses, wherever necessary
3. Use paragraphs ( and use blank lines to clearly separate them)
4. Use formal language
5. At the end, check your work!
   

Don'ts

1.  DON'T forget about the lay-out
2.  DON'T use abbreviations / contractions (like I'll, didn't)
3.  DON'T use the first translation you find in a dictionary without checking. 
4. DON'T forget content elements 
5. DON'T use swear words or street language 
6. DON'T use dumb language (gonna, kinda, u, ur, w8, like ... you know, etc.) 

Frequent mistakes

Capital Letters:

When you talk about "ik", "i" is wrong, it is always “I” 

Days of the week, months : Monday, Tuesday, August, October

Frequent mistakes

Word Order

Wrong:  

In my opinion is it great to live in New York.

Right: 

In my opinion it is great to live in New York

Write down 3 mistakes from the previous letter

GOOD LUCK next week! 

BRING YOUR DICTIONARY