When you want to talk to your friends what do you do?
I send a message on whatsapp. No! Um... Tik Tok? No! I...uh... I write a little note on
a piece of paper and I tie that note to a pigeon's foot. Then the pigeon flies and uh
I never see the pigeon again! Awww... Okay fine I use Tinder! I'm such a naughty girl!
No! You send them an email or a letter... When you take your B2 First writing exam
in part two you might decide to write an email or a letter. However students often make some very,
very silly mistakes. My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here are the five most common
mistakes that students make when they write their Email or letter for the B2 First Cambridge exam!
Number one: using the wrong tone.
Imagine you are emailing a friend: "to whom it may concern". No! We do not say
"to whom it may concern" because that is forma!l If we are writing to a friend we must be
in formal! "Hey Toby how are you doing!?" "Toby! Hey! How have you been?" Now imagine you're
writing an email to a teacher. Uh I would say: all right, mate? How are you doing?"
No! Um, okay uh I would say "Oh hi professor Toby! You're really sexy! Please give me an A..." No!
You're writing a letter to a teacher! A teacher is a very very important and professional person so
be formal! Dear Mr Toby. I hope this letter finds you well. Exactly! When you read the original
letter or email you are replying to the first thing you should be thinking is "is this formal or
informal?" because if it is formal you must reply formally, if it is informal then you should reply
informally. Look for things like contractions and phrasal verbs. Contractions and phrasal verbs are
informal, they are more cool and casual like me! Really cool guy... If they don't use contractions,
if they don't use phrasal verbs then it is forma!l So you must be formal and boring. Often informal
language is actually more difficult because you must use idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs
and I know, I know you're thinking! "Oh but Toby! I don't know any phrasal verbs!". Well, you are in
luck! Because SMASH English has a whole playlist including every phrasal verb that you need to know
for the B2 First Cambridge exam! Great click there and watch it and you will learn them all...
Number two: not formatting correctly.
Think of a conversation. When you talk to someone you don't immediately tell
them what you're thinking. Instead you start with SMALL TALK. Can you give me some money,
mate? I've finished my beer! You know I can't work without beer! Unless you are Bruce of
course... When writing a letter or email just like in real life you must follow a sort of
template. First we should introduce our email and how we do this depends on the tone.
If it is a formal email we should say something like "dear Toby" or "to whom it may concern".
If we are writing an informal email "hello Toby", "Hi Toby", "Hey Toby" would be fine.
Then we need to write an opening paragraph and what we include in this paragraph again
depends on if we are writing a formal email or an informal email. If we're writing to a
friend and it's informal we should include things like asking them how they are: "how are you?". We
should talk about how we are. We should ask them what they have been doing recently. Or we could
tell them what we have been doing recently. And of course we must tell them how excited we are
that they have taken the time to write to us because we love it when our friends write to us!
If we are writing a formal email then what we include in our first paragraph will depend on why
we are writing that email or letter. In the first paragraph we should thus say WHY we are writing
the letter or email. Why should this person listen to us? Are we applying for a job? If we are,
where did we find out about this job? Who are we? What's my name? and why am I applying for the job?
Just some suggestions... Then in the next paragraph or the next two paragraphs depending
on how you format it we should be responding to the questions in the original email
or the questions in the advert if we're responding to an advert. Simple enough. Then finally in the
last paragraph we should be nice again in the same way that we were in our first paragraph.
Maybe tell them how much we are looking forward to their response and how excited we are to see
them again, things like this. And then finally say goodbye! From Toby, Bye, Toby. Yours sincerely,
Toby. Yes in this email or letter it is Toby sending a message to Toby because that's how it
works.... The point is a letter and an email are letters and emails and so they should be formatted
like a letter and an email! This is not an essay so don't write an essay and people sometimes do...
I thought you'd finished all your drink? Oh yeah I had so uh I stole some from a shop...
Look Toby if SMASH English refuses to pay me yeah and I have to live a life of crime then so be it!
Oh my gosh! I actually really like criminals! Guys is that a bad thing? I don't know! It's
kind of embarrassing, right! I love criminals! Wow... Number three: not completing the task.
I have said this many times and I will say it again because it is so so so important.
The examiner should be able to understand everything that was in the original email,
letter or advertisement only by reading your email or letter. This means that the
examiner understands everything that was included in the original email,
letter or advertisement without reading it because your letter or email makes it super super obvious
to them! So how can you do this? By underlining with a pen! Underlining with a pen!? Underlining
with a pen! This is a new, revolutionary technique that involves your hand, a pen, your mind,
your head and your brain. All three of them... at the same time! Oh my brain?
No no! That is the one thing I'm against, all right!? I refuse! I'm not doing that...
not doing that at al!l No! Yeah! You tell him, Bruce! I'm not going to use my brain!
Who needs a brain when you've got a face like this! So for example you receive this question:
For a school project I'm preparing a presentation about public transport in cities. What's the
public transport system like where you live? Who uses it and what could be done to improve it?
What an exciting email! So we received this from a friend so we should probably ask them
how they are and explain how we are too. Then we need to tell them that we are willing to help.
Next we need to underline the information we must include. So that is three questions:
what is the public transport system like where you live, who uses it and what could
be done to improve it. Underline these so we don't forget to answer any of them. Finally
we should organize all of this appropriately. Remember we must format the email correctly so:
Introduction: be nice ask personal and friendly questions and explain that we are happy to help.
Then in paragraph 2 I will describe public transport in my city and who uses it. In paragraph
3 I will write a paragraph on what could be done to improve public transport in my city.
Then in paragraph 4 I will be nice again and say goodbye. And this is called
planning! And it is very important! If you want to know more about planning and writing an
informal email then watch this video because you'll learn a lot about writing an informal email
and you're watching this video now to improve your skills at writing letters and emails
so why wouldn't you watch that video!? Oh my god! You actually put that video on youtube!? Oh
guys please don't watch it it's so embarrassing! Oh yeah! That's the video where Johnny leaves you,
isn't it? Because of your beard! Oh it's a great one, mate! Great!
Number four: forgetting it's a conversation.
Like I have said before, emails and letters are not essays! Uh yeah! That's actually true! Letters
and emails are not essays! Oh yeah! Toby! You're a genius! Okay shut up. What I mean is unlike an
essay, a letter and email are conversational. It is a discourse, it is an interaction.
You want the person you are writing to to reply to you... obviously! Otherwise, what's the point?
The only people that don't reply to me are all my female subscribers...
That's really weird! that's really weird! If you are writing to a friend maybe say something like
"I haven't seen you in ages! Let me know if you are available for a catch-up anytime soon!| or
"Are you free next weekend? we should definitely hang out!".
If you are writing something more formal then you could say
something like "Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information".
If you are asking for information you could write "how much do the courses cost? Would it
be possible to pay in cash?" or "I was wondering whether I could take lessons in the mornings?".
Many students forget to include casual things like this and they lose marks because of it! Remember
you're messaging your friend! You want to see your friend, you want to know about your friend's life,
you want to make sure that your friend is okay! You're interested in your friends! So
make that obvious. Or, if you're applying for a job you want these people to respond to you and of
course you will have questions about the position so ask these questions! Why wouldn't you? It's an
email about a job and this job is probably going to be your life! You will spend 40 hours a week
in this job... wishing that you were dead... Okay so to summarize: letters and
emails are not essays with "Dear Toby" "love from your biggest fan" at the top and bottom,
no. Number five: not including relevant vocabulary and grammar related to the topic and function.
And lastly, and this goes for every single part of the B2 First writing exam,
we must make sure that we use vocabulary related to the topic and that we use grammar that serves
the function related to the task. What does that mean? Well let's take a look! For example in this
question one of our tasks is what could be done to improve the public transport in your town.
I think using the passive is appropriate here so we should use the passive to answer the question!
"Ticket prices could be lowered to make public transport more affordable". Moreover here we
are giving a suggestion so we are using the modal verb COULD for suggestions. And remember we also
need to include relevant vocabulary as we are talking about public transport. We should try
to use specific vocabulary related to the topic like: subways, trams, buses, metro, ticket fares,
season tickets, railways, stations, etc. Wow! That was so much fun! Did you have fun?! Because
I know that I had loads of fun! Well finally I'm finished... Jesus Christ... And with that we are
finished! Those were the five biggest mistakes that students make when they write letters or
emails for the B2 First writing exam! If you liked this video don't forget to SMASH that like button,
subscribe if you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH
English...