Register Shift in a Formal Letter of Complaint
For a Writing task you must produce a 200–250-word formal letter in Modern Greek to a hotel manager. The scenario: your school group's booked sea-view rooms were given to other guests, the group was moved to rooms facing a car park, and the air conditioning failed for two of the four nights. You must request partial reimbursement and a written explanation. A draft opens: «Γεια σου διευθυντά, θέλω να σου πω ότι είχαμε ένα προβληματάκι με τα δωμάτια...». The assessment criteria reward appropriate register, clear structure (opening, account of facts, request, closing), and accurate control of verb forms and connectors. You have 25 minutes.
1. Identify the register problems in the opening and rewrite it in a way that keeps the complaint firm but polite.
Read the worked answer
The draft has three register failures:
- «Γεια σου» - a singular, informal greeting to a stranger in authority. A letter of complaint needs a formal address formula.
- «θέλω να σου πω» - first-person singular verb with a clitic «σου», conversational framing.
- «ένα προβληματάκι» - a diminutive that minimises a substantive contractual failure and undercuts the request for money.
A workable rewrite: «Αξιότιμε κύριε Διευθυντά, σας γράφω εκ μέρους της ομάδας του σχολείου μας σχετικά με σοβαρά προβλήματα που αντιμετωπίσαμε κατά τη διαμονή μας.»
Note the moves: formal vocative, plural/formal «σας», a neutral framing verb («σας γράφω»), and «σοβαρά προβλήματα» instead of a diminutive. The complaint stays firm because the noun is strong; politeness comes from the formula and the pronoun, not from softening the facts.
2. The word limit is 200–250 words but you also need four content elements. How would you allocate the letter so nothing essential is cut, and what would you check in the final two minutes?
Read the worked answer
Allocation (roughly 220 words):
- Opening + purpose - about 30 words. Identify writer, group, dates, and reason for writing.
- Facts - about 90 words. Two numbered grievances: rooms reassigned despite confirmed sea-view booking; air conditioning out for two of four nights. Keep to verifiable detail, no emotive padding.
- Request - about 50 words. A specific partial reimbursement and a written explanation, with a polite but unambiguous modal («θα επιθυμούσαμε», «παρακαλούμε όπως»).
- Closing - about 30 words. Expectation of reply, formal sign-off («Με εκτίμηση»).
Final two minutes - check in this order:
- Word count inside 200–250 (being under is as costly as being over).
- All four elements present; the request names both remedies.
- Consistent formal address - no stray «σου/σου» clitics.
- Verb endings and connector variety («ωστόσο», «επομένως», «παρόλα αυτά»).
Cutting adjectives before cutting facts is the key judgement: the criteria reward content and structure, and inflated adjectives cannot compensate for a missing request.