Writing: continuous and transactional texts
Writing is assessed through continuous texts (descriptions, reports, opinions, short stories) and transactional texts (emails, messages, letters, invitations, complaints). Marks reward task achievement, organisation, range of language and accuracy; all content points must be covered.
Core rules
- Plan the text type: an informal email opens with Liebe/Lieber + name and closes with Liebe Grüße or Bis bald; a formal letter uses Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren or Sehr geehrte Frau ... and closes with Mit freundlichen Grüßen.
- Keep register consistent: du/ihr with friends, Sie with officials.
- Cover every bullet point and tick each one off mentally.
- Use connectors: zuerst, danach, außerdem, deshalb, trotzdem, weil.
- Vary sentence length; include a subordinate clause and a question where suitable.
- Respect the word limit and the required format.
Worked example
Task: decline Anna’s party invitation and suggest Sunday instead. „Liebe Anna, vielen Dank für deine Einladung. Leider kann ich am Samstag nicht kommen, weil ich meiner Oma helfen muss. Wie wäre es mit Sonntag? Liebe Grüße, Naledi.“ Reasoning: greeting, thanks, clear refusal with a reason, an alternative and a closing. Each sentence does a job; the weil-clause correctly sends the verb to the end.
Traps that cost marks
- Forgetting the greeting or closing formula.
- Mixing Sie and du in one text.
- Producing a list of sentences instead of a connected text.
- Translating English idioms word for word.
- Ignoring a content point or the word limit.