Writing Skills: Report, Letter, Notice, Paragraph and Essay
Writing questions test format, register and relevance as much as language. ALTE typically offers notice, report, letter, paragraph and essay, and examiners reward the correct shape and a clear purpose.
Formats
- Notice: boxed, 'NOTICE' at the top, date, heading, body of three or four sentences, name and designation at the bottom left. No salutation.
- Report: headline, byline, dateline, past tense, third person, factual sequence, no personal opinion.
- Formal letter: sender's address, date, receiver's address, subject, salutation, body, closing, signature.
- Informal letter: warm register, contractions acceptable, personal detail.
- Paragraph: one controlling idea, topic sentence, supporting detail, closing sentence.
- Essay: introduction with a stand, two or three developed body paragraphs, conclusion that returns to the question.
Worked example
Notice for a lost library book: heading 'LOST BOOK', date, body naming the title, place and date of loss, a request to return it to a named person, then 'R. Sen, Class XII'. No 'Dear students', no signature flourish. Reasoning: a notice is public and impersonal, and a salutation signals a letter instead.
Traps that cost marks
- Mixing register, such as contractions in a report.
- Missing the date or designation in a notice.
- Writing a report in first person and present tense.
- Writing an essay that narrates a story instead of arguing.
- Exceeding the word limit and losing concision marks.