Writing Skills (Letters, Reports, Paragraphs, Notices)
What the writing section tests
Writing Skills (Letters, Reports, Paragraphs, Notices) tests format, purpose, and controlled language. You are given a situation and a word limit. Marks are lost for missing format elements, wrong register, and irrelevant content.
Formats
- Formal letter: sender's address, date, receiver's designation and address, subject, salutation, body in two or three paragraphs, closing. Informal letter: address, date, salutation, body, closing; no subject line.
- Notice: name of the institution at the top, the word NOTICE, date, heading, body answering what, where, when, who, and why, then signature and designation. Box it.
- Report: headline, byline, opening paragraph with what, when, and where, body with details, closing. Past tense and third person.
- Paragraph: topic sentence, supporting details, concluding sentence; one central idea.
Worked example
Situation: You are the head boy or head girl. Write a notice about an inter-house debate. Reasoning: A notice is not a letter, so no salutation and no 'Dear students'. Put the school name, NOTICE, date, the heading 'Inter-House Debate', then date, time, venue, topic, and eligibility, then your name and designation. Keep it under 50 words and box it.
Traps
Writing a notice with a salutation; forgetting the subject in a formal letter; using future tense throughout a report; adding personal opinion to a report; putting three unrelated ideas in one paragraph; exceeding the word limit.
Key points
- Format carries marks: learn each layout.
- A notice answers the 5 Ws in a box.
- A report is past tense, third person.
- A paragraph needs one idea and a clear topic sentence.
- Match register to audience.