Producing French Texts
What this domain tests
You write in French for a purpose and audience: a formal letter or email, an article, a blog post, a short narrative, or an argumentative response. Assessment weighs task fulfilment, coherence, range of vocabulary and structures, and accuracy. A text that answers the prompt but is disorganised or riddled with agreement errors loses marks on both content and language.
Concepts to master
- Text structure: an introduction stating purpose, body paragraphs each with one idea plus support, and a conclusion. Formal letters need Madame, Monsieur, to open and Je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées to close. Informal messages use Salut, Bisous, À bientôt.
- Register and formulaic phrases: je vous serais reconnaissant de bien vouloir… (formal) versus tu peux me rendre un service ? (informal). Never mix them.
- Grammar accuracy: adjective agreement, avoir versus être in the passé composé with pronominal and movement verbs, past participle agreement after preceding direct object, and consistent tense sequencing.
- Cohesive devices: d'une part… d'autre part, en outre, néanmoins, afin que + subjunctive, pour que + subjunctive.
Traps
- Word count drift - going far over or under the required length. Plan roughly five to eight words per line and count.
- English syntax: je suis intéressé dans (correct: intéressé par), dépend de, il y a beaucoup de gens qui rather than beaucoup de gens pensent.
- Accents and spelling that change meaning: a/à, ou/où, sur/sûr, tache/tâche.
- Ignoring the audience instruction - writing to a friend in formal register, or vice versa.
Worked example
Prompt: write a formal email (about 120 words) to a language school asking about summer courses. Opening: Madame, Monsieur, je me permets de vous écrire afin de vous demander des renseignements sur vos cours d'été. Body: one paragraph on dates and levels, one on accommodation and price (je souhaiterais savoir si…). Close: Dans l'attente de votre réponse, je vous prie d'agréer, Madame, Monsieur, l'expression de mes salutations distinguées. Notice the conditional je souhaiterais and afin de + infinitive - polite and compact.
Rule of thumb
Spend the first three minutes planning paragraph topics and the last five checking verbs, agreements, and accents - not adding new content.