Formal letter

Cmo escribir una carta formal

1. FORMATO
1. Utiliza el formato (layout) para cartas formales y observa las normas de
colocacin de direcciones (addresses), saludos (salutations), fecha (date),
frmulas de despedida (complimentary close):

The Address of the person you

are writing to
The inside address should be written
on the left, starting below your

Your Address
The return address
should be written in the
top right-hand corner
of the letter.

Salutation or greeting:
1) Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of
the person you are writing to,
use this. It is always advisable
to try to find out a name.
2) Dear Mr Jenkins,
If you know the name, use the
title (Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr,
etc.) and the surname only. If
you are writing to a woman and
do not know if she uses Mrs or
Miss, you can use Ms, which is
for married and single women.
Your name

Date:
Different people put the
date on different sides of
the page. You can write
this on the right or the
left on the line after the
address you are writing
Ending a letter:
1) Yours faithfully
If you do not know the name
of the person, end the letter
this way.
2) Yours sincerely
If you know the name of the
person, end the letter this
way.
3) Your signature
Sign your name, then print it
underneath the signature. If
you think the person you are
writing to might not know
whether you are male of
female, put you title in
brackets after your name.

CONTENT OF A FORMAL LETTER:

First paragraph
The first paragraph should be short and state the purpose of the letter- to
make an enquiry, complain, request something, etc.
The paragraph or paragraphs in the middle of the letter should contain the
relevant information behind the writing of the letter. Most letters in English
are not very long, so keep the information to the essentials and concentrate
on organising it in a clear and logical manner rather than expanding too
much.

Last Paragraph
The last paragraph of a formal letter should state what action you expect
the recipient to take- to refund, send you information, etc.

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN LETTER WRITING

asap = as soon as possible
cc = carbon copy (when you send a copy of a letter to more than one
person, you use this abbreviation to let them know)
enc. = enclosure (when you include other papers with your letter)
pp = per procurationem (A Latin phrase meaning that you are signing
the letter on somebody else's behalf; if they are not there to sign it
themselves, etc)
ps = postscript (when you want to add something after you've finished
and signed it)
pto (informal) = please turn over (to make sure that the other person
knows the letter continues on the other side of the page)
RSVP = please reply

OUTLINE: A COVERING LETTER

A covering letter is the one that accompanies your CV when you are
applying for a job. Here is a fairly conventional plan for the layout of the
paragraphs.
Opening Paragraph
Briefly identify yourself and the position you are applying for. Add how
you found out about the vacancy.
Paragraph 2
Give the reasons why you are interested in working for the company and
why you wish to be considered for that particular post. State your
relevant qualifications and experience, as well as your personal qualities
that make you a suitable candidate.
Paragraph 3
Inform them that you have enclosed your current CV and add any further
information that you think could help your case.
Closing Paragraph
Give your availability for interview, thank them for their consideration,
restate your interest and close the letter.

OUTLINE: A LETTER OF ENQUIRY

A letter of enquiry is when you are approaching a company speculatively,
that is you are making an approach without their having advertised or
announced a vacancy.
Opening Paragraph
Introduce yourself briefly and give your reason for writing. Let them know of
the kind of position you are seeking, why you are interested and how you
heard about them.
Paragraph 2
Show why their company in particular interests you, mention your
qualifications and experience along with any further details that might make
them interested in seeing you.
Paragraph 3
Refer to your enclosed CV and draw their attention to any particularly
important points you would like them to focus on in it.
Closing Paragraph
Thank them, explain your availability for interview and restate your
enthusiasm for their company and desire to be considered for posts that
might as yet be unavailable.

2. DIRECCIONES
2. Omite direcciones si el enunciado del ejercicio as lo indica. Sin embargo,
si no aparece esa instruccin expresa, s deberan incluirse con el fin de
que el examinador compruebe que conoces las normas de presentacin.

3. EXPRESIONES
3. Evita los phrasal verbs y las contracciones, ms propios del lenguaje
informal. Por ejemplo, si en la carta se solicita informacin, no escribas:
"I'm writing to ask for...", sino "I am writing to enquire about..."

4. PRRAFOS
4. Organiza el contenido de la carta de la siguiente manera:
a) Primer prrafo (First paragraph): El primer prrafo es breve y en l
se expresa el motivo de la carta.
b) Prrafo o prrafos centrales (Middle paragraphs): En stos se
desarrolla el contenido principal de la carta.

c) Prrafo final (Last paragraph): En el prrafo final se expresa qu

accin esperas del destinatario. Por ejemplo, si se trata de una queja, sera
en este prrafo donde solicitaras una compensacin.

Informal letter
1. Aunque en las cartas informales uno se puede permitir ms licencias
que en las formales (expresiones informales del lenguaje hablado,
contracciones, abreviaturas, etc...), hay algunas normas que tener en
cuenta:
a) Elige la frmula de saludo apropiada. No es lo mismo escribir a un
amigo ntimo, que a tu pareja o que a ese amigo de una amiga que vive
en Londres, al cual apenas conoces pero que vas a visitar por encargo de
tu amiga. Es decir, habra que valorar el grado de confianza que tienes
con el destinatario y as decidirte por alguna de estas frmulas: Hello
Paul, Hi Jane, Dear Stephen, To my beloved, My dearest...
b) Cuida la estructura:
- En el primer prrafo se expresa brevemente la razn por la cual
escribes (aceptar una invitacin, contestar a su carta, disculparte...).
- En el cuerpo de la carta se desarrollan los temas en dos o tres prrafos,
evita presentar las ideas en un largo prrafo.
- En el prrafo final se concluye dando las gracias o pidiendo una pronta
respuesta, etc, dependiendo de la naturaleza de la carta.
c) Elige la frmula de despedida adecuada siempre acorde con la de
saludo. Por ejemplo, no uses Love o Yours si el destinatario no es de tu
crculo ms ntimo. Hay frmulas ms neutrales como: Best, All the best,
Regards, Best regards, Best wishes, o si la carta es semi-informal,
Sincerely o incluso Faithfully.
d) No abuses del slang o de expresiones coloquiales, tampoco de las
contracciones. Podra afectar a la inteligibilidad y la coherencia del texto.
Tambin habra que valorar aqu el grado de confianza con tu interlocutor
a la hora de utilizar ciertas expresiones.

1. EXPRESSIONS TO EXPRESS GRATITUDE

1. Thanks.
2. Cheers.
3. Thank you very much.

4. I really appreciate it.

5. You've made my day.
6. How thoughtful.
7. You shouldn't have.
8. That's so kind of you.
9. I am most grateful.
10.We would like to express our gratitude.
How To Use These Phrases In Your English
1. Phrases 1 and 2 are fairly informal. People often say them without
really thinking about it. We use them when somebody does
something small to help you.
2. Phrases 3 and 4 are more formal. We use these when somebody has
done something quite large or important to help you.
3. We use phrase 6 when somebody gives you a present. We are saying
thank you to the other person for thinking about you and deciding to
give a present.
4. Phrase 7 is also for receiving a present. You are saying that the other
person is too generous. It does NOT mean that the person speaking is
angry or annoyed.
5. Phrases 9 and 10 are more formal. Phrase 10 is especially formal and
is only used in business letters and formal speeches.

2. EXPRESSIONS TO EXPRESS APOLOGY

1. Sorry.
2. I'm (so / very / terribly) sorry.
3. Ever so sorry.
4. How stupid / careless / thoughtless of me.
5. Pardon (me)
6. That's my fault.
7. Sorry. It was all my fault.

8. Please excuse my (ignorance)

9. Please don't be mad at me.
10.Please accept our (sincerest) apologies.
How To Use These Phrases In Your English
1. Phrase 1 is a general short apology. We use this when we bump into
people on the street. At other times, it sounds too weak.
2. In phrase 2, we use 'so', 'very' and 'terribly' to make the meaning
stronger. 'Terribly' is the strongest. If we use one of the words in
brackets, it is stressed.
3. Phrase 3 is quite formal but it's a stronger apology than just 'sorry'.
4. We use phrase 4 to criticise ourselves and the mistake that we have
just made.
5. We use phrases 6 and 7 to take all the responsibility for what
happened. Phrase 7 is a little stronger.
6. We use phrase 8 to apologise for our lack of knowledge or ability. We
can replace the word in brackets with other nouns, e.g. carelessness,
forgetfulness.
7. Phrase 9 is asking the other person not to get angry. The tone is quite
informal.
8. Phrase 10 is often used in formal letters. The word 'sincerest' makes
the apology very strong and very formal.

3. EXPRESSIONS FOR PARAGRAPHS

Starting your letter (Paragraph 1)
Thanks for your letter.
Lovely to hear from you.
How are you?
How are things?
Hope you're well.
Commenting on something (Paragraph 1)
I'm sorry to hear/learn ...
I'm so pleased to hear ...
It's great to hear ...
What wonderful news about ...
Moving the topic on (Paragraph 2)
Anyway, the reason I'm writing ...
I thought I'd write to tell/ask you
Anyway, I was wondering ...
Ending your letter (Paragraph 3)
Well, that's all for now
Write back soon
Looking forward to hearing from you again
All the best
Best wishes
See you soon
Take care
Yours
Love
Lots of love

Idioms for letters

IDIOMS IN SENTENCES
I have been busy at work again working long days.
We have a plan which will be put into action.
One piece of good news to come out of this week is ...
We try and fill the gap.
We drove the car until the tank ran dry.
But there was more to come.
Things are there on the horizon.
That brings me on to something else.
It is a saying that we have here.
It only leaves me now to wish you ...
We have given this a lot of thought.
The outline of one's life story.
We talked about the "good old days."
Enjoy it whilst you can because life is short.
It is a saying that we have here.
The good thing about computer is that errors can easily be removed.
Writing and sending letters will keep the postman in his job.
If everyone contacted each other on computers then the postmen would
disappear.
My next communication will be on the e-mail.
We have been having many problems.
It is a well quoted phrase in this country.
More of this in my next letter.
We never expected to be grandparents but once it happened we were very
pleased.
The baby was exactly four kilogrammes at birth.
You have the ideal situation with your close links to both Vienna, the city of
culture and the quiet country residence.
COMPUTER PROBLEMS
My children are always using their computers and are more expert than I
am and so they can help me overcome a problem.
The reason that I am writing a letter to you is that I have a virus or

whatever on my computer system.

When on-line it suddenly appears and tells you that you have sixty seconds
to go before the system shuts down.
The seconds start ticking away on the screen from sixty downwards to nil.
When it reaches this point the screen "freezes" and the computer is not
able to continue.
So you have to turn off the computer and start all over again.
Because the screen "freezes", whatever you were working on at that time
is then lost forever.
I have telephoned the company where I purchased our computer and they
gave me advise on what to do.
I tried to carry out the procedures that they said were necessary but, with
my poor knowledge of how computer systems operate, I quickly failed to
progress very far...
I will have to take my computer to the shop where I have purchased it and
request that they sort out my problem.
Presumably if I tried to e-mail you I could be sending the virus on to you
also.
We are getting lots of messages regarding products that we do not like and
do not want to know about.
Somehow people get hold of our e-mail address and send rubbish to it.
My computer kept letteing me down so we were in need of something
newer.
My brother has the "know how" on fixing broken computers.
We purchased a laptop computer - much more compact and ideal for letter
writing.
These are the wonders of laptop technology.
Letter writing, keeping accounts etc. this is probably all we will now need a
computer for.
A digital camera is an ideal "companion" for the lap top computer on which
I can "download" my photographic efforts.
Each evening we were viewing the photos that we took during the day
instantly deleting the ones that we did not want.
We have not learned how to do this on the e-mail yet.
This is the first letter brought to you by the wonders of laptop technology.
We are amazed at how compact it is but also surprised how heavy it is.
It stops operating whilst it is being used.
Our replacement is a laptop computer that is more compact.
The laptop is able to carry out all of the functions that we reqire to do.
I bought a camera mostly with the money that was donated to me from my

company.
There will be many more photographs to follow in the future.
A digital camera is an ideal "companion" for the laptop computer.

FREE TIME
My spare time has been very short.
That will give me a lot more leisure time than I have now.
I have a few hours on my bicycle at the weekend.
We were having an overnight stop on our way.
... to spend a long evening over a splendid dinner
... to sort and pack things into the car
... to take two days off of the week
We are doing some walking.
We are also getting out on our feet and doing more walking.
There are not so many people about and the people we do meet on these
walking occasions are obviously also retired from their work, so we have
something in commeon to talk about to start with.
Usually about fifteen people turn up each time.
The walks are led by a guide and last a half a day and take place once a
week.
So we have met another circle of people who we did not know to start with.
Trying to learn skiing at a higher age ...
... would probably finish up with broken bones at the first attempt.
We have two spare bedrooms.
We have another holiday coming up next month.
We return to France again to the same people that we stayed with earlier in
the year.
Since the birth of Jack we have been seeing Philip, Judy and Jack about
every two or three weeks.
Jack is doing very well and we can monitor his progress.
We were very pleased but not "over the moon" when the announcment was
first made.
A lot of time recently has been taken up helping to get the house sorted.
They have bought an older property that does reqire a lot of work, mainly
decorating, to get it into "shape" again.
But the good news is that "we are slowly getting there".

We seem to have a busy schedule over the next few days.

It is good that we are both connected on the e-mail again.
So we have to sort and pack our things into the car.
We have been having very good weather but today the rain has returned only a short time we hope - but it does help the garden.
We hope to send you photographes of the christening event soon, probably
through the post because we have not learnt to do this on the e-mail yet.
We enjoy a very relaxing time when we are there and catch up on reading
our books if we are not walking.
I do not mind helping them because I quite enjoy it and it helps me to keep
my mind occopied also.
Unusually the stairs do not have a light installed and so it is hazardous at
night....
Before this we helped to clear the growth that filled the garden that they
have.
Already is it starting to look good.
Our car is going well- we do not drive it too fast and "take our time" when
we are out in it.
It is all good fun.
The good news is (!) that it is all free.
This would not cause us any problems at all.
We have two spare bedrooms.
So we are able to see his progress.
A lot of time has been taken up to get the house sorted.
For our petrol fuel consumption we are getting around thirty eight miles per
gallon fuel consumption, this tranlates to something like fourteen
kilometres per litre of petrol. (if my arithmetic is correct)
As you will know, I am keen on photography.
The payment that we received was much better than we thought it would
be.
Many people here are ordering their cars on the internet.
We may soon be changing our car for a new one.
We traded in our Audi A3 for an Audi TT.
There are now only two of us to consider and the necessity for four seats in
the car does not exist any more.
Before we made sure that there was enough room in the boot for our two
cases.
We have only done some local driving.
We are told.

Perhaps I should start to close this letter.

Their house is located in the town of Colchester.
Usually the garden is very long - about fourty metres I would guess. (like a
bowling alley)
Philip and his girlfriend Judy are getting on very well together.
Her parents originally lived in London but they moved north some years
ago.
They have decided that there is no time to waste.

HEALTH/HOME
... to be pestered by ...
Older people should keep a close eye on their health if they want to have a
long life.
It has been medically proven that one or two glasses of red wine a day is
good for you also.
We have some windows that are in need of replacement.
We are considering installing those windows made with plastic frames.
We have spoken to many manufactures.
They do need some works to be done to it.
They seem to be the "best buy".
Two weeks ago my mother suffered two strokes.
She was left with no feeling in her left arm and unable to walk.
The residential home does not have the facility to carry out the clinical
procedures necessary.
So we have the task of locating and transferring her to a nursing home.
I will visit two such establishments and try to make an assessment on
which will be the best for her.
The antbiotics have "done their job" in putting one back to normal.
to have the "flu" jab, as we call it
JOB
to resolve some queries on a particular large project
My employer took me out for a good lunch.
I assume that all is progresseing well.
This is very good news.
This would not cause us any problems at all.

We look forward to hearing from you again on this situation.

I was tidying up our study last week.
It appears to be.
I spent more time going over things than actually producing new work.
to be familiar with something
to sort out one's problem
My expertise is constantly in demand.

LONDON
The London eye is a new version of the Prater Wheel.
Initially the Eye was only meant to stay there for a limited period of time.
Westminster bridge is crossing the Thames.
It has become so popular with both tourists and Londoners that it may be
there for ever.
Once upon a time these people would have been taken to the Tower of
London to be beheaded.
What we call terrace houses are smaller houses all joined together in a
straight line.
We walked across London to try to get to Buckingham Palace but were
stopped by millions of people that arrived there before us ...
Instead we stayed in Trafalgar Square which is at the start of the Mall which
is the road that leads up to Buckingham Palace.
We were able to watch the Royal family on the balcony of the Palace on an
enormous twenty metre by twenty metre television screen.
There is I believe a very strong support for the Royal family in this countryalthough this may be mostly from the older generation.
NEWS
It has been in the news on more than one occasion.
The new shape Golf has been on sale for longer on the continent.
TIME
The winter Olympics are only two months away with a start being made on
12th of February.
The games will run for three or four months.
That could have been as long as the fifties.

Races were held up here until the late seventies.

We look forward to the end of the school term.
We are already half way through the year.
The anniversary will be here soon.
I have tried to keep up with the year's events.
It takes up a lot of time.
We enjoy the slow pace of life.
We all need to relax and unwind even more these days.
I hope to work less hours each week for less pay.
The cost is now very reaonable compared with what it was a year or so
ago.
To retire at an earlier age than is normal.
I am now well into reading the book from cover to cover!
It will take a while for everyone to settle down.
We have the next event coming up soon.
I do not write the letters all in one go(!) but gradually.
Time is getting short.
Time will tell.
We have only limited time.
This is very time consuming.
I must speed up.
... one day a week.
... over the period of a few weeks.
... at this rate of writing progress.
... to celebrate an anniversary.
... by which time ...
... on previous occasions
There is time for more discussion on this topic in a future letter.
I have more time on my hands.
The delivery period is approximately four months.
This process can take up to four weeks.
We will speak about this and arrange dates in the future.
WEATHER
GENERAL
... a long period without any appreciable rainfall.

Have experienced floods because so much rain came in a very short time.
Good weather is the main ingredient of an enjoyable holiday.
Weather here is very unpredictable.
We do benefit from the "tail end" of the Gulf stream.
A warm current without which it would be much cooler.
... a large land mass to give more settled weather.
We felt that we were in a "different world".
This is the earliest that we have had snow for many years.
It was all gone by the next day.
We had the worst weather on record.
... to experience record high temperatures
The weather is still very unseasonable.
Mankind is often fighting a losing battle when he is up against the natural
elements.
ENVIRONMENT
There are many theories linking this to global warming.
The theories of global warming are being questioned.
SEASONS/HOLIDAYS
Summer season is now under way.
The autumn season almost appears to have been by-passed.
As if over night, we seem to be plunged into the start of winter with low
temperatures.
Christmas is almost upon us yet again.
Christmas has crept up on us ... there are only a few weeks left to prepare
for it.
Weather is very "Christmassy" this year with some snowfalls and sharp
morning frosts upon us already.
So we have now reached the Christmas break when I can put work to one
side for a while whilst I use up the few days of holiday time that I have left.

Business Email
Business emails effectively help to coordinate efforts when working on
projects and to inform or question employees. In order to make business
correspondence through email more efficient, a number of rules should be
observed. Abiding by these rules will not only help distinguish your emails
from others in the recipients mailbox, but it will also leave a positive
impression on your business partners.

Steps for Writing a Business Email

1. Compose a subject line that will reflect the content of the email. For
example, if you are asking a subordinate to provide you with a
monthly report a week in advance, you can title your email: Monthly
report deadline change.
2. Write the main body text. Usually, a business email is no longer than
two or three paragraphs. Dont include any personal information.
3. Attach all documents you need to send with the email, assign CCs if
needed, and insert hyperlinks to important information not included in
your email.
4. Insert the electronic address of your recipient. This is done to avoid
situations when the email is sent to a wrong correspondent, or when
you accidentally send a draft or an unfinished letter.
5. Proofread your email. Check to see if the hyperlinks work. Also, scan
the attachments with antivirus software and check whether all
attached files open.

Topic Selection
A business topic for an email usually refers to an urgent matter, an
upcoming meeting, the introduction of new employees, new tasks, a
document that needs to be sent, and so on. Each email should refer to only
one topic. The topic is often reflected in the subject line. Therefore, it should

represent the topic specifically, otherwise the recipient can miss important
information due to ignoring an email with a strange title.

Do and Dont
Do

Do start your business email with a greeting. This gesture shows good manners, and b

Do always compose brief but informative subject lines. They should be written like sum

Do keep your business email brief. Try to make it straight to the point immediately afte

Do consider the possibility that your email can be forwarded to others if the initial reci

Do choose the ending phrase that you will always use to finish your business emails. B
Do proofread and edit your emails before pressing the Send button.

Do enter the recipients address after youve finished typing the text. This way, you ca

Common Mistakes When Writing a Business Email

- Self-promoting oneself heavily. If your business partners receive an email
with details of how significant your position is and how great the company is
that you work for, they will most likely stop reading the entire letter.
- Forgetting to fill in the subject line or making it too vague.
- Sending an email with text that is not divided into parts. If the text of your
email is lengthy, it is a sound idea to break it into subsections, each with its
own heading, and create bulleted lists so the recipient can navigate through
the email more efficiently.

- Forgetting to attach files or copying the content of the to-send document

and pasting it into the body of the email.

Key Points to Consider

1. A business email is a less formal type of writing compared to a paper
letter. You dont have to observe all the rules that a written letter
should comply with. Business emails are also more concise
information contained in them should be straight to the point.
2. One business email letter should be written on just one topic.
Accuracy in such details will make the correspondence easier to
maintain, since all the letters in the chain will refer to the same topic.
3. The address of the mailbox used to send the email to your business
partners matters. The email address should be easy to spell and easy
to remember. Also, it must be noteworthy. The best option for an
email address is to use your first name, initials and your last name.
4. When an electronic copy of a document must be sent via email,
copying the documents contents and pasting it into the body of your
email is not a sound idea. Reading long expanses of text right from
the mailbox is tiring. Instead, attach the document you want to send
as a separate file.

Article
1.

Con bastante frecuencia, en el examen de la EOI se pide que se

escriba un artculo para un peridico o revista expresando una
opinin o analizando las ventajas e inconvenientes o argumentos a
favor o en contra de un determinado tema.

2.

El primer consejo es que te pongas en la piel de un/a periodista y

te imagines que tu artculo se va a publicar.

3.

Asegrate de que has entendido completamente el enunciado.

4.

Planifica cuidadosamente tu escrito. La estructura adecuada sigue

siendo introduccin, desarrollo y conclusin, pero hay varios aspectos
ms a tener en cuenta:

5.

Con el fin de captar la atencin del lector/a, se puede

empezar con una pregunta, una cita, una ancdota

6.

Pon un ttulo a tu artculo. Mi consejo es que se ponga una vez

finalizado, que es cuando se tiene mejor perspectiva para resumir lo
escrito en una frase llamativa y coherente con el contenido.

7.

Presta atencin al registro, el cual te lo dir el tipo de medio y de

pblico a quien va dirigido.

8.

Involucra al lector/a, dirgete a l o ella directamente.

9.

Lee muchos artculos e intenta imitar el estilo.

Report
1. Un informe es un texto formal que relata de forma objetiva los
diferentes aspectos de un proyecto o estudio que se est realizando
sobre un tema especfico. Un informe tambin puede plantear un
problema y proponer soluciones a tal problema.

2. El registro es siempre formal y el modo impersonal, lo que

significa que se deben evitar frmulas personales de tipo * I observe
that..., Our recommendation is...y sustituirlas por It appears that... It
is observed that... It is recommended that... X should be taken into
consideration...
3. La estructura consta de un ttulo o un encabezamiento ( To:
From: Subject: Date: ), una introduccin en la que se expresa el
objetivo del informe, diferentes apartados con o sin ttulo en los

que se presenta la informacin de forma lgica y clara, y una

conclusin adecuada, en la que se hace balance o se exponen las
diferentes soluciones o se hacen recomendaciones, dependiendo de
la naturaleza del informe.
4. Esta presentacin o layout es slo para los informes. Antes de
utilizarla en el examen, asegrate de que lo que te piden es un
report. Ha habido ms de un caso en que se peda un "article" o un
"essay" y encontrarnos con una presentacin ms propia de un
"report" que de un artculo. Tal confusin podra suponer no aprobar
el "writing" aun cuando el texto est muy bien expresado.
Useful language
Introduction:
is based on

The aim of this report is to..

It

This report is intended to..

It

draws on
This report looks at / describes..

It

uses..
Reporting an
observation:
was found that..

It seems/appears that..

It

The majority / minority of

It

was felt that ..

Quoting:
words of

According to

As X said

Speculating:

It may / could / might (well) be that ..

Generalising:

In general

Commenting:
Oddly

On the whole

Interestingly
Curiously
Strangely
Surprisingly
Predictably
As might be (have been) expected

In the

In the main

It is

interesting that
Making a recommendation:

It is recommended that ..
(Perhaps) it would be advisable for X

to (do)
(Perhaps) X might /should consider
Summing up:

To sum up / To summarise On balance

In short

Review
1. En una review se expresa una opinin acerca de un libro, pelcula,
obra de teatro, concierto, hotel, restaurante, website, etc.
2. El tono es relajado y el lenguaje relativamente informal. Por tanto, se
pueden utilizar contracciones: I've, it doesn't...
3. Admite variantes en cuanto a la estructura, pero mi recomendacin es
que utilices la del resto de escritos, es decir, introduccin, cuerpo y
conclusin, ya que te ayudar a presentar la informacin de forma
lgica y ordenada.

En la introduccin se podra presentar el objeto de la crtica.

El cuerpo se puede organizar de la siguiente forma: En un primer

prrafo, una breve descripcin de la website, o resumen del libro,
pelcula,obra, etc. En dos o tres prrafos ms, tu opinin: Qu es lo
que te gusta o no te gusta y por qu.

En la conclusin podras incluir tu recomendacin personal.

4. Como siempre antes de planificar tu crtica, lee atentamente las

instrucciones
del
ejercicio.
5. Como en los artculos, utiliza recursos lingsticos para captar la
atencin del lector o lectora. Pincha aqu, aqu y aqu para leer ms
consejos
y
ver
sugerencias
de
expresiones.
6. El diario digital The Guardian posee una amplia seccin dedicada a
crticas de restaurantes, restaurantes hechas por los lectores, hoteles
hechas por los lectores, libros, arte, pelculas, msica, teatro, fotografa,
pera y conciertos de msica clsica, libros infantiles, radio y televisin e
incluso juegos de consola, PC, PlayStation... Lelas para inspirarte y haz
tuyas expresiones o frases que te gusten o te llamen la atencin.
7. En AllReaders.com tambin encontrars crticas de libros y pelculas.
8. Aqu encontrars vocabulario til y ms informacin acerca de cmo
describir pelculas y hacer una buena "film review".

ESSAY
Layout:
4 paragraphs:
1) Include statement declared in the task.
2) Give 2/3 reasons for the statement.
3) Give 2/3 reasons against the statement.
4) Conclude by summing up and giving your opinion.

Style:
Formal, so:
No contractions, phrasal verbs, idioms;
Avoid using the first person singular as far as possible;
Use passive voice as much as possible;
Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence;
Justify your ideas with examples;
Do not include any new ideas in the conclusion.
Useful expressions to introduce arguments/points:
Generally speaking/ There is no doubt that/There are many advantages to +
ing/It is a well-known fact that/It is thought/believed/claimed that/One
point of view is/For one thing,/Another argument is/Far from + ing/ There
are those/people who believe that/ On the one hand/On the other hand,/In
contrast with/Contrary to the above ideas,/On the contrary,/ /Others feel/argue
that.
Discourse markers: All types:- concession, cause, result, time, reason,
contrast, emphasis, summing up, etc.
Firstly,/secondly,/In addition,(to this,)/Furthermore,/Moreover,/What is more,/
However,/ Therefore, /In spite of + ing/ Despite + ing/Nonetheless,/
Although/Since/As/Because/Owing to/Due to/No matter how/what/All the
while/In the meantime,/nevertheless,/Regardless of/As a matter of fact,/As a
consequence,/All in all,/ On the whole,/Another point worth mentioning
is/Taking everything into account,/My belief is that../The way I see it is .

According to Cambridge, an essay is typically written for an academic

reader; often, the writing task is similar to a follow-up to a class activity,
such as attending a seminar or watching a documentary. The main purpose
of the task is to underline relevant salient issues on the stated topic, and to
support an argument with subsidiary points and reasons. An essay should be
well organised, with an introduction, clear development and an appropriate
conclusion. It should hold the target readers attention and communicate
complex ideas using an appropriate range of vocabulary and structures.

Dont be afraid to agree or disagree. Just explain WHY you feel the way you
do, and always support your opinions.