Communicative Skills – Writing

 

	This Project has been funded with support from the European Commission.  This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission can not be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

 

Learn to fill in a questionnaire

• Usually, questionnaires start like this:

“Please, take the time to fill in this questionnaire and send it to Mr/Mrs/Ms …”
And end like this:
“Thank you for your time”

• Inside the questionnaire you will definitely find:

Your name
Your address
Your e-mail address
Your phone

• And then you will have the other questions, which can be open or close format questions.

Learn to write short notes and messages

You must be very precise and concise when writing a message or a short note in order to avoid ambiguity. The message must be clear and easy to understand.

Short notes must not have a complicated structure, since complex sentences are very difficult to follow.

Short notes regarding a meeting:

I arrived at 6 o’clock. There was nobody in the office. I then realized that the meeting was at 7 o’clock. I read a newspaper and drank a cup of coffee.

A message which you leave to your child:

Hi, my dear. I had to go to an important meeting. Don’t wait for me. You find something to eat in the fridge. Do your homework and go to sleep at 10 o’clock. I’ll be back as soon as possible.

Learn to write short letters or e-mails containing phrases to express asking, thanking, greeting, addressing

Writing a short congratulations letter

Sample:
Date
(Name and address of the receiver)
25 Riverside Street
Denver
(post code)

Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms …
Allow me the pleasure of congratulating you on your new job/ on your 10th anniversary/ on your buying a new house etc.
I am certain it is a great achievement and I look forward to congratulating you in person.
Best regards,
(Your name)

Writing a complaint letter

• In the first paragraph you must identify what the problem is and you must specify any particular information you believe it useful.
• In the second paragraph you should say what you would like to be done about it.
• In the third paragraph, you should thank the reader for his/her time.
• Finally, mention your phone number and e-mail address in order to be contacted.

Sample:
Date
(Name and address of the receiver)
25 Riverside Street
Denver
(post code)

Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms …
I am writing on a matter which I am sure it will be of interest to you. The attitude of some of your employees is not something that honors you.
I am not asking to punish/fire them, but I would like to talk to them in order to revise their attitude towards customers.
Thank you for your time and I do believe in your fair judgement.
Sincerely,
(your name and e-mail address)

Grammatical elements: verb tenses – past tense

Form
Verb +ed or follow the irregular verb forms
Affirmative: I worked on the computer until midnight.
Negative: I didn’t see him when he arrived.
Interrogative: Did you take the papers?
The past tense simple usually expresses a completed action in the past and it often goes with adverbs of time.
The past tense of the irregular verbs must be learnt by heart.
List of common irregular verbs in English (there are many more but these are most commonly used):

V1 Base Form	V2 Past Simple	V3 Past Participle	Translation
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bite	bit	bitten
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burned/burnt	burned/burnt
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
dig	dug	dug
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed/dreamt	dreamed/dreamt
drive	drove	driven
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
show	showed	showed/shown
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
stand	stood	stood
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

For practice, go to the following links:
http://www.cartoonenglish.tv/index.php/lessons/begginnig/530-irregular-verbs-1.html
http://www.cartoonenglish.tv/index.php/lessons/begginnig/530-irregular-verbs-2.html
http://www.cartoonenglish.tv/index.php/lessons/begginnig/530-irregular-verbs-3.html
http://www.cartoonenglish.tv/index.php/lessons/begginnig/530-irregular-verbs-4.html

Learn to write about everyday facts

• Writing about parking areas

As in all big cities, parking in inner city (or downtown)  can be limited. In some parking areas, there are coin operated parking meters with maximum time limit.

• Writing about the public transport

The town has an efficient bus system which offers you comfort and support. You can rely on it. Besides, there are a lot of taxi companies which have a very quick response when calling them.

• Writing about banks in a city

Most banks are open from 8 o’clock until 4 o’clock, Monday to Friday. On Saturday, they are open until 1 o’clock. On Sundays, all the banks are closed.

Learn to indicate chronological order of events

In order to have a chronological order of the activities you performed or the ones you witnessed it is important to use words that make your statement clear:
In the morning/in the afternoon/in the evening/at night
In the very morning = early in the morning
From 8 o’clock until 11 o’clock ….(or any other periods of time)
Then…
After that…
Subsequently…
Previously…
In the end…
Finally…

Learn to connect simple sentences

There are many connectors that can ease your discourse (they are also called discourse markers). Among them, the most common examples are:

• When you want to explain something,  you can use:

I mean
Actually
In fact
As a matter of fact
In other words

• When you want to enumerate different ideas or indicate stages you can use:

First of all
To begin with/ to start with
Second
Then …/ next…
After that… / Later …
Lastly … / finally

• When you want to add something to your ideas you previously mentioned you can use:

Moreover
Furthermore
In addition
And
Also
As well as that
Besides
On top of that
Another thing is

• When you want to exemplify you can use:

For example
To illustrate
For instance
In particular

• When you want to sum up and conclude you can use:

On the whole
In general
Broadly speaking
In summary
To summarize
To conclude
In conclusion

• In order to present contrasting points/situations you can use:

But
On the contrary
On the other hand
However
Even so
Still
although

 

Exercises

• Describe, chronologically, five activities you do every day. Use: in the morning,  then, after that, from (hour) to (hour), finally
• Continue the following sentences:
  1. On the whole, we …
  2. For example, some of our colleagues …
  3. As a matter of fact, he …
• Write the past simple and the past participle forms of the following irregular verbs:

  Make
  Spend
  Let
  Grow
  Sit
  Write
  Read
  Give
  Break
  Choose

• Now, try to make a sentence with the above verbs in the simple past form.
• Write a short complaint letter regarding the lack of playgrounds in your town (addressed to the mayor of the city), according to the above given model.

 

If you are ready for the self-assessment quiz please go to section TEST of the web platform.