When you want to talk to
your friends what do you do? I send a message on whatsapp. No! Um... Tik
Tok? No! I...uh... I write a little note on a piece of paper and I tie that note to a
pigeon's foot. Then the pigeon flies and uh I never see the pigeon again! Awww... Okay
fine I use Tinder! I'm such a naughty girl! No! You send them an email or a letter...
When you take your B2 First writing exam in part two you might decide to write an email or
a letter. However students often make some very, very silly mistakes. My name is Toby, this is
SMASH English and here are the five most common mistakes that students make when they write their
Email or letter for the B2 First Cambridge exam! Number one: using the wrong tone. Imagine you are emailing a friend: "to
whom it may concern". No! We do not say "to whom it may concern" because that is
forma!l If we are writing to a friend we must be in formal! "Hey Toby how are you doing!?" "Toby!
Hey! How have you been?" Now imagine you're writing an email to a teacher. Uh I would
say: all right, mate? How are you doing?" No! Um, okay uh I would say "Oh hi professor Toby!
You're really sexy! Please give me an A..." No! You're writing a letter to a teacher! A teacher is
a very very important and professional person so be formal! Dear Mr Toby. I hope this letter finds
you well. Exactly! When you read the original letter or email you are replying to the first
thing you should be thinking is "is this formal or informal?" because if it is formal you must reply
formally, if it is informal then you should reply informally. Look for things like contractions and
phrasal verbs. Contractions and phrasal verbs are informal, they are more cool and casual like me!
Really cool guy... If they don't use contractions, if they don't use phrasal verbs then it is forma!l
So you must be formal and boring. Often informal language is actually more difficult because you
must use idiomatic expressions and phrasal verbs and I know, I know you're thinking! "Oh but Toby!
I don't know any phrasal verbs!". Well, you are in luck! Because SMASH English has a whole playlist
including every phrasal verb that you need to know for the B2 First Cambridge exam! Great click
there and watch it and you will learn them all... Number two: not formatting correctly. Think of a conversation. When you talk
to someone you don't immediately tell them what you're thinking. Instead you start
with SMALL TALK. Can you give me some money, mate? I've finished my beer! You know I can't
work without beer! Unless you are Bruce of course... When writing a letter or email just
like in real life you must follow a sort of template. First we should introduce our
email and how we do this depends on the tone. If it is a formal email we should say something
like "dear Toby" or "to whom it may concern". If we are writing an informal email "hello
Toby", "Hi Toby", "Hey Toby" would be fine. Then we need to write an opening paragraph
and what we include in this paragraph again depends on if we are writing a formal email
or an informal email. If we're writing to a friend and it's informal we should include things
like asking them how they are: "how are you?". We should talk about how we are. We should ask them
what they have been doing recently. Or we could tell them what we have been doing recently. And
of course we must tell them how excited we are that they have taken the time to write to us
because we love it when our friends write to us! If we are writing a formal email then what we
include in our first paragraph will depend on why we are writing that email or letter. In the first
paragraph we should thus say WHY we are writing the letter or email. Why should this person listen
to us? Are we applying for a job? If we are, where did we find out about this job? Who are we?
What's my name? and why am I applying for the job? Just some suggestions... Then in the next
paragraph or the next two paragraphs depending on how you format it we should be responding
to the questions in the original email or the questions in the advert if we're responding
to an advert. Simple enough. Then finally in the last paragraph we should be nice again in the
same way that we were in our first paragraph. Maybe tell them how much we are looking forward
to their response and how excited we are to see them again, things like this. And then finally say
goodbye! From Toby, Bye, Toby. Yours sincerely, Toby. Yes in this email or letter it is Toby
sending a message to Toby because that's how it works.... The point is a letter and an email are
letters and emails and so they should be formatted like a letter and an email! This is not an essay
so don't write an essay and people sometimes do... I thought you'd finished all your drink? Oh
yeah I had so uh I stole some from a shop... Look Toby if SMASH English refuses to pay me yeah
and I have to live a life of crime then so be it! Oh my gosh! I actually really like criminals!
Guys is that a bad thing? I don't know! It's kind of embarrassing, right! I love criminals!
Wow... Number three: not completing the task. I have said this many times and I will say
it again because it is so so so important. The examiner should be able to understand
everything that was in the original email, letter or advertisement only by reading
your email or letter. This means that the examiner understands everything that
was included in the original email, letter or advertisement without reading it because
your letter or email makes it super super obvious to them! So how can you do this? By underlining
with a pen! Underlining with a pen!? Underlining with a pen! This is a new, revolutionary technique
that involves your hand, a pen, your mind, your head and your brain. All three of
them... at the same time! Oh my brain? No no! That is the one thing I'm against,
all right!? I refuse! I'm not doing that... not doing that at al!l No! Yeah! You tell
him, Bruce! I'm not going to use my brain! Who needs a brain when you've got a face like
this! So for example you receive this question: For a school project I'm preparing a presentation
about public transport in cities. What's the public transport system like where you live? Who
uses it and what could be done to improve it? What an exciting email! So we received this
from a friend so we should probably ask them how they are and explain how we are too. Then we
need to tell them that we are willing to help. Next we need to underline the information
we must include. So that is three questions: what is the public transport system like
where you live, who uses it and what could be done to improve it. Underline these so we
don't forget to answer any of them. Finally we should organize all of this appropriately.
Remember we must format the email correctly so: Introduction: be nice ask personal and friendly
questions and explain that we are happy to help. Then in paragraph 2 I will describe public
transport in my city and who uses it. In paragraph 3 I will write a paragraph on what could be
done to improve public transport in my city. Then in paragraph 4 I will be nice again
and say goodbye. And this is called planning! And it is very important! If you
want to know more about planning and writing an informal email then watch this video because
you'll learn a lot about writing an informal email and you're watching this video now to improve
your skills at writing letters and emails so why wouldn't you watch that video!? Oh my
god! You actually put that video on youtube!? Oh guys please don't watch it it's so embarrassing!
Oh yeah! That's the video where Johnny leaves you, isn't it? Because of your beard!
Oh it's a great one, mate! Great! Number four: forgetting it's a conversation. Like I have said before, emails and letters are
not essays! Uh yeah! That's actually true! Letters and emails are not essays! Oh yeah! Toby! You're
a genius! Okay shut up. What I mean is unlike an essay, a letter and email are conversational.
It is a discourse, it is an interaction. You want the person you are writing to to reply
to you... obviously! Otherwise, what's the point? The only people that don't reply to
me are all my female subscribers... That's really weird! that's really weird! If you
are writing to a friend maybe say something like "I haven't seen you in ages! Let me know if you
are available for a catch-up anytime soon!| or "Are you free next weekend? we
should definitely hang out!". If you are writing something
more formal then you could say something like "Please do not hesitate to
contact me if you need further information". If you are asking for information you could
write "how much do the courses cost? Would it be possible to pay in cash?" or "I was wondering
whether I could take lessons in the mornings?". Many students forget to include casual things like
this and they lose marks because of it! Remember you're messaging your friend! You want to see your
friend, you want to know about your friend's life, you want to make sure that your friend is
okay! You're interested in your friends! So make that obvious. Or, if you're applying for a
job you want these people to respond to you and of course you will have questions about the position
so ask these questions! Why wouldn't you? It's an email about a job and this job is probably going
to be your life! You will spend 40 hours a week in this job... wishing that you were
dead... Okay so to summarize: letters and emails are not essays with "Dear Toby" "love
from your biggest fan" at the top and bottom, no. Number five: not including relevant vocabulary
and grammar related to the topic and function. And lastly, and this goes for every
single part of the B2 First writing exam, we must make sure that we use vocabulary related
to the topic and that we use grammar that serves the function related to the task. What does that
mean? Well let's take a look! For example in this question one of our tasks is what could be done
to improve the public transport in your town. I think using the passive is appropriate here so
we should use the passive to answer the question! "Ticket prices could be lowered to make public
transport more affordable". Moreover here we are giving a suggestion so we are using the modal
verb COULD for suggestions. And remember we also need to include relevant vocabulary as we are
talking about public transport. We should try to use specific vocabulary related to the topic
like: subways, trams, buses, metro, ticket fares, season tickets, railways, stations, etc. Wow!
That was so much fun! Did you have fun?! Because I know that I had loads of fun! Well finally I'm
finished... Jesus Christ... And with that we are finished! Those were the five biggest mistakes
that students make when they write letters or emails for the B2 First writing exam! If you liked
this video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe if you haven't already, leave a comment
down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English...
