Writing Skills: Notice, Letter, Paragraph and Essay
Writing Skills carries the notice, letter, paragraph and essay tasks, marked on format, content, expression and accuracy. The word limit is itself part of the format.
Notice
Boxed, about 50 words, with the institution's name, the heading NOTICE, the date, a subject line, an impersonal body, and the writer's name and designation at the bottom left.
Letters
A formal letter has the sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject, salutation, a three-paragraph body (purpose, detail, action) and Yours faithfully with the full name. A letter to the editor argues a public issue, not a private grievance.
Paragraph and essay
One controlling idea per paragraph: topic sentence, supporting detail, closing link. An essay of 250 to 300 words runs to three or five paragraphs and moves from statement through argument and illustration to conclusion. Avoid 'I think' in discursive essays.
Worked example
Task: a notice about a wristwatch lost on school premises. The box frames it, the heading is centred, the date is written in full (15 August 20XX), and the body states what was lost, where and when, and what the finder should do. The writer signs with class and section, and the total stays under 50 words. Reasoning: a notice is impersonal, so 'I lost my watch' becomes 'Lost: a black wristwatch'.
Traps
An unboxed or unsigned notice, a letter without a subject line, Yours sincerely paired with Dear Sir, an essay that is really a list of points, contractions and slang in formal writing, and repetition used to fill the word limit.