An example of writing an Unified State Examination letter in English. How to write a letter on the Unified State Exam in English Writing a personal letter on the Unified State Exam

Writing in English Unified State Examination is the last section of the exam in the subject. In fact, these are the most difficult tasks, the writing of which takes a lot of time. That is why you need to take a responsible approach to preparing for them, studying the requirements, structure, plan and features of each of the tasks. Let's look at what is needed to successfully pass assignment No. 39 (letter) and assignment No. 40 (essay), and also find out the evaluation criteria for each task.

What is included in the “Writing” section in the Unified State Exam 2019 in English?

What is included in the “Writing” section in the Unified State Examination -2019 in English? It has two tasks:

1. No. 39. It involves writing a letter to a pen pal. The assignment provides a template for what must be included in the text in the form of questions from the person to whom the letter is written. It also indicates the name of your pen pal. In addition, it is indicated that you need to compose at least three questions. The total volume of the letter is 100-140 words.
2. No. 40 (divided into No. 40.1 and No. 40.2, from which you need to choose your preferred topic). The task involves writing an essay on a given topic of about 200-250 words. The essay is written according to a clear plan, which is indicated in the assignment. It is advisable to adhere to it to avoid possible problems with assessment.

It is very important to understand how to correctly write both tasks from the “Writing” section of the Unified State Exam -2019, depending on their type. Remember that the rules are established by FIPI and have already been published on the official website. Below you will find detailed recommendations and visual examples.

Advice! Remember that from 2019 you cannot write on the back of the form. You must definitely ask for an additional sheet from the exam organizer. If you ignore this recommendation, your work may be cancelled.

Features of writing a letter in task No. 39

Every graduate needs to know the peculiarities of writing a letter in task No. 39 in order to successfully write the Unified State Examination -2019 in English. The “Writing” task is a task of a basic level of difficulty. It is very similar to the one from the OGE exam, but there are some differences, including:

• You need to ask your pen pal three questions (the topic is indicated in the assignment);
• For an 11th grade student, it is important to use fairly complex grammar and vocabulary in order to get the maximum score for the assignment.

You should allocate no more than twenty minutes to write the letter due to its small size. This will allow you not to waste precious time, which means you will be able to successfully pass all other tasks to earn the maximum score on the test paper.

By the way, for task No. 39 you can get up to 6 points. This is not difficult if you pay attention while reading the task and practice in advance in composing a personal letter on possible topics. It is also wise to familiarize yourself with the evaluation criteria (more on them below).

So how to write a letter? The algorithm is as follows:

1. Read the assignment carefully, look at the friend’s name indicated and write it at the very beginning of the letter. Oddly enough, one of the most common mistakes is the incorrect spelling of a name (for example, indicating a memorized one from ready-made options).
2. Study the questions given in the assignment and think about the answers to them. Remember that questions can also be insidious, for example, two are hidden in one (for example, “Do you like watching films, why?” or “Where and when do you usually go shopping?”). If you answer such questions in monosyllables, the result will be a loss of points.
3. Next, you need to pay attention to the topic on which you should write three questions. This is where students make the most mistakes. They often pay attention to the end of the letter and ask questions about it, which is wrong. Read the assignments carefully: they indicate on what topic you should ask questions.
4. Now compose the entire letter, taking care to properly divide it into paragraphs. Don’t forget to check the text for errors, paying attention to articles (they are often forgotten or put in the wrong ones), tenses (without a time marker it is impossible to understand what period what is written belongs to - present, past or future), spelling (sometimes in a hurry, students replace letters in words or even syllables).
5. Next you need to calculate the resulting volume. It should be between 100 and 140 words.
6. All that remains is to rewrite the letter on the form, indicating “Task No. 39” at the beginning. Remember that you need to organize your time so that you have time to compose a letter, rewrite it on a form, and begin the last task of the exam - the essay.

Remember! You definitely need to rewrite the letter in a clean copy. Drafts are not reviewed by experts.

The address can be indicated either in short or in long form. A short one simply involves indicating the city and country (see example photo below). The complete one is to include the country, the city, the street, and the house number. Below you need to indicate the date in a convenient form, for example, June 4th, 2015, 4 June 2015 or less formally 04/06/12.

Below is a sample of an ideal letter.

Possible types of personal letters, as well as the recommended language repertoire, are given in the table.

Remember that there is nothing difficult about writing a letter. If you are worried that you will not cope with the task, practice in advance by preparing a couple of blanks for each of the letter options, adhering to the established rules. This will be the key to writing an excellent text that will earn you a high score.

Additionally, you can pay attention to cliches that can be rationally used in the main part of the letter. They are summarized in a table.

Below you can see several options for templates that are conveniently used when composing a letter.

How to write an essay in English in the Unified State Exam 2019?

How to write an essay in English in the Unified State Exam -2019? It is necessary to study the plan (structure) of the written work, taking into account the format of the task. Starting from 2019, assignment No. 40 contains two topics for students to choose from. You need to familiarize yourself with both options and choose the one that is most preferable for yourself. Don’t spend a lot of time on this, otherwise you simply won’t have time to complete all the tasks.

The essay writing plan is quite simple to follow. It is given directly in the assignment, which is convenient for any student. Let's duplicate it here with explanations:

1. The first part is Make an introduction (state the problem), that is, the introduction. Rephrase the topic and give two opinions - they should be opposite.
2. The second part is Express your personal opinion and give 2-3 reasons for your opinion, that is, your personal opinion on this topic (one of those given above) and a couple of arguments in support. It is most convenient to express a personal opinion that is easy to argue.
3. The third part is Express an opposing opinion and give 1-2 reasons for this opposing opinion, that is, an opinion of an opposing nature and a couple of arguments in support. Give an opinion that is opposite to yours. There is nothing complicated about this, especially since you can always come up with at least one argument.
4. The fourth part is Explain why you don’t agree with the opposing opinion, that is, an explanation of why you do not agree with the opinion of your opponent. Try to describe everything in detail.
5. Fifth part – Make a conclusion restating your position, that is, conclusion. It must reflect your personal opinion. Do not try to simply rewrite the topic, otherwise the marks will be reduced.

Remember that the first and last paragraphs should be different, despite the fact that, in fact, you need to write the same thing in them. Experienced teachers recommend trying to rephrase the topic in different words. If the paragraphs are identical or similar, then points will be reduced for this.

To write an essay, it is convenient to use a mind map, expressing two opposing opinions and giving arguments. After this, you need to carefully read the selected arguments again, write the entire essay and proofread it for errors. After this, all that remains is to rewrite the essay into a clean copy. Watch the time carefully. If you do not have time to rewrite the essay into a clean copy, it will not be counted, since drafts are not checked.

Among the possible topics that may appear on English language tickets for the Unified State Exam 2019, the following can be highlighted:

1. Virtual Internet communication results in losing real-life social skills.
2. In any occupation discipline is more important than talent.
3. Public libraries are becoming less popular and they will soon disappear.
4. A person who is fluent in a foreign language can easily work as an interpreter.
5. A person who is fluent in a foreign language can easily teach it.
6. Every city and every town should have a zoo.
7. Fast food outlets should be closed.
8. It is the government’s responsibility to protect the environment.
9. It’s not right to be strict with little children.
10. Internet is the greatest time-waster.
11. Computers cannot replace people.
12. Exams motivate students to study harder.
13. Space exploration was the greatest achievement of the 20th century.
14. Sports help people to fight stress.
15. Clothes people are wearing can influence their behavior.
16. Sport units people.
17. Playing sports is better than watching others do it.
18. There are no men’s or women’s professions.
19. There are more disadvantages than advantages in living in a big city.
20. Distance learning is the best form of education.
21. The best holidays and festivals are those with specific traditions for celebrating.
22. Everybody would like to work from home.
23. The Internet is the biggest evil of our time.
24. The best time is that spent with family and friends.
25. A pupil cannot study effectively without a computer.
26. Taking a gap year after school is a necessary step for every teenager.
27. Diets are important to stay fit and healthy.
28. Healthy eating is an important part of everyday life.
29. Having only one language of communication on our planet is a wise decision.
30. Zoos should be prohibited.
31. Zoos help most animals to survive.
32. Studying a foreign language abroad is important for everyone.
33. Knowing one foreign language isn’t enough.
34. The Internet is the most useful invention in the world.
35. Human cloning experiments should be prohibited.
36. The Internet will be the main source of studying in the future.
37. Computer games are one of the best ways to spend free time.
38. Space exploration is very important for the future of our planet.

Separately, it is worth highlighting ready-made introductory phrases, or cliches. They simplify writing an essay, but do not carry any semantic load (with the exception of increasing the emotionality and expressiveness of the statement). If you remove such phrases, then this will not affect the meaning of the sentence. Examples of cliches are shown in the photo below.

Section evaluation criteria

Every graduate must know the evaluation criteria for the “Writing” section in order to complete the tasks correctly and get a high score. So, how many points can you get for task number 39? Maximum – 6 points, assessment features are indicated in the table below.

The scoring criteria for task No. 40 from the “Writing” section are given in the table below.

In total, you can get up to 14 points for task No. 40. In principle, it is enough to adhere to the general recommendations, not to deviate from the established structure, not to break the scope and write in a neutral style in order to get a high score. Moreover, before rewriting the essay into a clean copy, carefully check the written work for errors, since each of them (lexical, grammatical, spelling, punctuation) leads to a decrease in points.

Remember! If you receive a mark of “0” for the criterion “Solving a communicative problem” for any of the tasks in the “Writing” section, a zero will be given for this task, regardless of the quality of the writing.

Please note the word count criteria that are common to all Writing assignments. In particular, all words from first to last will be taken into account, including prepositions, auxiliary verbs, particles, articles, as well as date, address and signature. Numerals in the form of numbers (2019, 25, 189,638, etc.), numbers with symbols (99%, 34%, etc.), complex words (English-speaking, good-looking, etc. ), abbreviations (e-mail, USA, UK, etc.) are counted as one word. Numerals written in words are counted according to the standard scheme: the number of words equals the number.

Each of the tasks in the “Writing” section is checked by two experts, since these tasks require a detailed answer. If the opinions of experienced teachers regarding the given grade coincide, then the scores are included in the report. If not, then a third expert is brought in, whose opinion on this issue will be decisive.

Additionally, you can pay attention to the video, which is designed in the form of a visual presentation, which tells you how to correctly and effectively prepare for the Unified State Exam 2019 in English in order to get a high score.

The exam offers an excerpt from a letter from your possible pen pal. The letter contains some news and several questions asking for your opinion, advice, etc.

You are required to write a response letter starting with your brief return address in the upper right corner, the date below the address, a salutation, and ending with a parting phrase and name.

First of all, to write a letter, you need to know the rules of spelling and punctuation of the English language and try to follow them - the person to whom you addressed the letter will be pleased to read a well-written letter.

One of the English language tasks in both the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Examination is writing a personal letter in response to a letter from an “English-speaking pen pal.” It is included in Part C, just like writing an English essay. At the same time, if in the Unified State Exam the length of a letter is 100-140 words, then in the Unified State Exam there is a limit of 100-120 words, because in the Unified State Examination you are given the task to ask 3 questions, and in the Unified State Examination you are given the task of simply answering the letter, although, in any case, if you write the questions, this will be a plus.

Writing a letter in a foreign language is a simple task that needs to be completed as quickly as possible in order to leave time for other tasks. So, let's look at the uniform rules for writing a personal letter. To make it easier to understand everything, watch a specially selected video from the site:

In the upper right corner indicate the address in the following order (reverse order to Russian):

• apartment
• house number, street name
• city
• a country

It is allowed to indicate the address in a short form, for example:
Moscow
Russia

Below the address skipping a line, you must write the date of the letter:
June 4th, 2012
June 4, 2012
or less formally:
04/06/12

The letter begins with an informal address. If the name of your interlocutor is not indicated in the task, you should come up with one:
Dear Tim,
Dear Rebecca,
After the address you need to put a comma!

Divide the text of the letter into several logical paragraphs, each of which begins with a red line.

1. In the first paragraph, you should thank your friend for his letter:
Thanks (a lot) for your (last) letter.
Your last letter was a real surprise.
I was glad to get your letter.
It was great to hear from you! / It was great to hear that… / I was happy to hear…
You can also apologize for not writing earlier:
Sorry I haven’t been written for so long but …/ Sorry I haven’t been in touch for so long.
I’m sorry I haven’t answered earlier but I was really busy with my school.
and/or mention any fact from the letter received:
I’m glad you passed your History test!
Sounds like you had a great time in London!
Great news about your…!

2. The body of the letter (2–3 paragraphs). In it you must disclose all aspects specified in the task. Don't forget to ask the necessary questions.

The letter is expected to be written in an informal style, so you can use informal linking words such as well, by the way, anyway, so, colloquial expressions like Guess what? Or Wish me luck!, as well as exclamation marks.

3. In the last paragraph, explain why you are ending the letter:
Well, I’d better go now as I have to do my homework.
Anyway, I have to go now because my Mum asked me to help her with the washing up.
I've got to go now! It’s time for my favorite TV show.

and mention further contacts:
Write (back) soon!
Take care and keep in touch!
Drop me a letter when you can.
Hope to hear from you soon.
I can’t wait to hear from you!

At the end of the letter, on a separate line, the final cliché phrase is indicated, which depends on how close the author and the addressee are. It is always followed by a comma! The following are possible options from least formal (1) to more formal (8):

1. Love,
2. Lots of love,
3. All my love,
4. All the best,
5. Best wishes,
6. With best wishes,
7. Yours,
8. Warm regards,
   

On the next line, under the final phrase, the author's name is indicated (without a surname!). For example:
Andy or Kate

Thus, a letter to a friend looks like this:

Writer's address (indicated in the upper right corner)
Date of letter (under address)

Appeal,
At the beginning of the letter, the author usually a) thanks the addressee for previously received correspondence; b) apologizes for not writing earlier.
The body of the letter (2-3 paragraphs). It should disclose
all aspects specified in the assignment.
Be sure to ask all the necessary questions.
At the end of the letter, the author usually mentions the reason for ending the letter, as well as further contacts (cliché phrases are used).
The final phrase
Author's signature (name)

Template for writing a letter in English

13 Ostozhenka street

I was so happy to get your letter! I can’t wait to meet you in July! I’m sorry I haven’t answered earlier but I was really busy with my school.

You asked me to tell you about… Well, …

By the way, ...? ...? ...?

Unfortunately, I’d better go now as I’ve got loads of homework to do (as always). Take care and keep in touch!

In light of the requirements of the GIA for ninth-graders and the Unified State Exam for school graduates, learning and mastering writing skills has become very relevant. Teachers and high school students pay special attention to working on developing the skills of writing personal letters and essays in English, because these are the types of written works that are included in the KIMs of the State Academy of Sciences and the Unified State Examination. This page was created to help you successfully complete these types of tasks.

So, how can you format and write a letter in English correctly in order to score the most points when passing the State Exam and Unified State Exam?

1. You need to know the rules for formatting and structure of personal letters.

2. It is necessary to know the criteria and schemes for assessing writing prescribed in the materials for the Unified State Exam.

3. It is necessary to have a basic vocabulary. To write a letter you do not need to know English perfectly; moreover, you can write a letter even if you have a limited vocabulary.

1. Rules for formatting and structure of a personal letter

1. Your address and date are written in the upper right corner of the letter.

house number/apartment number, street name

city, zip code

For example:

145/4 Esenin Street

Cheboksary 428000

There is a shorthand version of the address and date that is also correct. The address can only include the name of the city and country, and the date can consist of only numbers:

2. Introduction-greeting.

This part usually consists of 3.4 sentences. First, you write an appeal to the person to whom you must address the letter based on the assignment. For example: Dear Mike. Please note that a comma is placed after the address and the next sentence (i.e., in fact, the first sentence of the letter) is written on the red line. What should you write in a greeting? In your greeting, you can thank you for the letter, write that you are very glad to receive news from your friend, explain why you haven’t written for a long time, etc. It should roughly look like this:

Thanks for your letter, it was nice to hear from you. Sorry I didn't answer for a long time. I was very busy with my schoolwork.

3. Main part.

This part usually consists of two paragraphs. The first one contains answers to your friend's questions. In the second paragraph, it is your turn to ask questions to your interlocutor, this is stated in the assignment. It is usually specified exactly how many questions should be asked.

4. Final part. Parting.

Here you can logically conclude your letter, wish you luck and say goodbye. Usually it is said that it is time for you to go somewhere. It looks something like this: Oh, I have to go now. Mum wants me to do some shopping for her.

On the next line, don't forget to say goodbye to your imaginary friend. The final sentence of the letter should look something like this:

Hope to hear from you soon,

Please note that there is no dot after the name!

Scheme of the structure of a personal letter:

Writing Assessment Criteria and Schemes

Let's start with the fact that before completing any task from the Unified State Exam, you need to carefully read the task for it.

The task looks something like this:

Task C1. You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen-friend Tom who writes:

Write a letter to Tom.

In your letter

answer his questions

ask 3 questions about his trip to Scotland

Write 100 - 140 words.

Remember the rules of letter writing.

a) we read the task itself (in bold), it stipulates important things: 1. the number of words that we must comply with is 100-140 words, as we see. 2. what we must do: read an excerpt from the letter and write a response in which we must answer the questions asked to us and ask 3 of our own.

c) taking into account the requirements for the structure and content of the letter, we write a response

Criteria for assessing the completion of task C1 (maximum 6 points)

Additional assessment scheme for task C1 “Personal letter”

How to write a letter if my vocabulary is small?

The answer is simple - use a ready-made template! It can and should be learned by heart. The template usually already contains 60-70 words, that is, all that remains is to add it based on the assignment and using only 40-50 words. Not such a difficult task, right?

Example template:

145/4 Esenin Street

Cheboksary 428200

Dear(Name),

Thanks for your letter, it was nice to hear from you. I"m sorry I couldn"t reply straightaway. I was busy with my schoolwork.

You asked me about(we write about a topic that the person who wrote the letter is interested in). Well, (we answer his questions).

By the way,(we ask our three questions in separate sentences)

Oh, I have to go now. I promised my Mum to clean the bathroom. Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

That's actually the whole secret. Please note that the resulting template contains 67 words, and we only have 40-60 left to add.

Sample of completed task C1:

You have received a letter from your English-speaking pen-friend Tom who writes:

In Great Britain most young people want to become independent from their parents as soon as possible. Could you tell me what you and your friends think about not relying on your parents? Are you ready to leave your family immediately after you finish school? Is it easy to rent a house or an apartment for students in Russia?

As for the latest news, I have just returned from a trip to Scotland...

Write a letter to Tom.

answer his questions

ask 3 questions about his trip to Scotland

Write 100 - 140 words.

Remember the rules of letter writing.

145/4 Esenin Street

Cheboksary 428000

I"m sorry I couldn"t reply straightaway. I was busy with my schoolwork.

I"m only 16 and I can"t help relying on my parents now, but most of my friends and I dream to be independent. As soon as I leave school, I"ll go to university. If I find a part-time job, I"m ready to leave my family and start living on my own. Of course, it's hard financially to rent a house or an apartment in Russia, especially if you are a student and don't have much money, but I'm prepared for this.

Well, I"m happy to hear you"ve finally fulfilled your dream - a trip to Scotland! How long were you there? What places did you visit? Did you try on a kilt?

Oh, I have to go now. Mum wants me to do some shopping for her.

Hope to hear from you soon,

Educational videos. Unified State Exam in English. Personal letter. Rules of the game.