Vocabulary Warm-up – Part 14

.You should spend about 40 minutes on this task

: Write about the following topic

A lot of people find it difficult to write letters and often avoid doing so altogether. Letter writing is a dying art ?Do you agree with this statement

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience

.Write at least 250 words

Read the following essay. Complete the answer by filling the gaps with an expression or word from the box below

however/ firstly/ furthermore/ such as / because of/ particularly/ as a result/ in addition/ consequently because/ nevertheless

It is true that many people struggle to produce letters and often avoid writing letters completely. N1.………………. I don’t agree that this skill is gradually disappearing. N2.………………. let us consider the reasons why people find it so difficult to write. To begin with, writing letters is less frequent nowadays thanks to modern technology. These days we are much more likely to email someone than write a letter. N3.………………. our business communications have become more informal than in the past. N4.………………. a less formal style of writing is more acceptable. Other forms of modern communication N5.………………. text messaging have reduced our writing skills even further. N6.………………. I still feel that letter writing is an important skill to learn N7.………………. there are many parts of the world where it is very important to be formal. This is N8.………………. true if you are involved in international business. N9.………………. globalisation, the business world is becoming more and more international and it is not always possible to pick up the telephone to talk to people. N10.………………. I believe that letter writing will never die out completely. And, even though these letters may be written on computers rather than by hand, we still need to learn and practise this skill

To sum up, even though many people think writing letters is quite difficult, there are things they can do to improve their writing skills if they find it too difficult. Personally, I believe that if you want to make a good impression in any situation, then you need good writing skills

: ANSWERS

It is true that many people struggle to produce letters and often avoid writing letters completely. However / Nevertheless I don’t agree that this skill is gradually disappearing. Firstly let us consider the reasons why people find it so difficult to write. To begin with, writing letters is less frequent nowadays thanks to modern technology. These days we are much more likely to email someone than write a letter. Furthermore / In addition our business communications have become more informal than in the past. As a result / Consequently a less formal style of writing is more acceptable. Other forms of modern communication such as text messaging have reduced our writing skills even further. Nevertheless / However I still feel that letter writing is an important skill to learn because there are many parts of the world where it is very important to be formal. This is particularly true if you are involved in international business. Because of globalisation, the business world is becoming more and more international and it is not always possible to pick up the telephone to talk to people. Consequently I believe that letter writing will never die out completely. And, even though these letters may be written on computers rather than by hand, we still need to learn and practise this skill.

To sun up, even though many people think writing letters is quite difficult, there are things they can do to improve their writing skills if they find it too difficult. Personally, I believe that if you want to make a good impression in any situation, then you need good writing skills