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As you know, there are three types of letters and you have to be able to identify each letter type.

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When writing task number one.

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So in this lecture, I'm going to explain to you exactly how to do that and give you an opportunity

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to do an exercise that requires you to read a letter or read a a task and then identify which letter

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type you have to do.

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So first of all, let's review the different question types.

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We have the formal letter type, and this is written to an unknown person.

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Formal letters.

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Formal letters are sent to a group or an organization, not an individual person at a group or organization.

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So, for example, it might be a school, a business corporation, a the local government, local council.

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So on the right you can see an example of what it would read like.

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You recently read an advertisement about the equipment you bought a few days ago.

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However, the information in the advertisement was wrong.

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Write a letter to the manufacturer and say.

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What was the advertisement you read?

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What information was wrong?

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What should the manufacturer do about this problem?

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This is a formal letter.

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Because we're writing to the manufacturer.

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We're not writing to a specific administrator or a specific manager.

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We're writing to a global organization, a global manufacturer.

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We have no idea who we're going to write to or who we're going to address in a formal letter.

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There's no slang or colloquial language.

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You want to use a very direct, serious tone.

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And here we're going to use our higher vocabulary and grammar.

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Try not to use a lot of B verbs or other weak verbs.

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Make sure you're not using a lot of basic level vocabulary because really with a formal letter, it's

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like an educated person talking to another educated person that they don't know.

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So you're really trying to show your level of credibility so that somebody will take you seriously.

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Next, we have the semi-formal letter.

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And here you're writing to a known person, but you don't know them very well.

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It could be a business or professional relationship.

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Landlord, colleague, teacher, boss, manager, administrator.

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You're using a polite, respectful tone.

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You have a neutral style is somewhat similar to ordinary speech is not as formal as the formal letter

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is definitely not an informal letter.

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There's no slang.

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There's no there are no colloquialisms.

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You want to avoid any of that type of tone.

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Here you can see an example.

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You live in a room in college which you share with another student.

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However, there are many problems with this arrangement and you find it very difficult to work.

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Write a letter to the accommodation officer at the college so you know who you're going to write to.

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You're writing to the accommodation officer.

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Now, of course, in your letter you're going to call him or her Mr. Williams or Mrs. Williams.

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But you're writing to a specific person.

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You're not just writing to the accommodation office, you're writing to the accommodation officer.

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If you were writing to the accommodation office, it would be formal letter.

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But we're writing to a specific officer.

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Then we have the informal letter here.

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We're writing to a close person relative, family member.

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Neighbor colleague.

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Here's an example.

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Write a letter to a friend.

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You can always tell these because they'll say a friend.

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It'll say a family member.

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You'll say a neighbor.

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Now, depending on.

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Depending on the letter, I suppose a neighbour could fall under semi-formal depending on if you're

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writing the neighbour to invite him to a party, then it would probably it would probably be more informal.

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If you're writing a neighbour to complain about him not cutting down a tree or him not picking up his

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trash, then that will probably be more of a semi-formal letter.

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So you have to really be able to look at the letter itself and the conditions of the letter to know

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which tone you're going to use.

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So let's talk about recognizing proper tone.

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If it is a complaint letter.

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These are normally very formal in nature.

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They could be semi-formal.

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Invitations will be personal or semi-formal.

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It could be actually invitation.

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It could be all of them.

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It's most likely going to be personal, formal or semi-formal.

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Applications and resignations are formal or semi-formal.

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If you're writing a resignation letter to the company is formal.

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If you're writing a resignation to a specific manager, then it will be semi-formal.

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And a lot of that deals with when you're talking about differences between formal and semi-formal,

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you're dealing with sometimes you speak to somebody a little bit differently when you know they're a

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person as opposed to really an organization.

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A request can be any type.

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Making arrangements can be formal, informal, semi-formal, informative letters fall under any type.

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Explanations are normally informal, but it could appear in the other formats, and then an apology

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could fall under any format.

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But really they tend to be informal or semi formal, but really more informal.

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Okay.

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So now we're going to work on a question ID exercise.

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So this is what I want you to do.

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Take out a piece of paper.

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Or you could use your phone.

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Make a list of 1 to 10 on your paper.

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When the question appears on your screen, I want you to write down on paper if the question should

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be formal, semi-formal or informal, formal, semi-formal or informal.

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Now, if you want to, you can write A, B, C or you can spell out the words.

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But the question or that the writing task is going to appear on the screen, and then you're going to

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have roughly about 10 seconds, 10 to 15 seconds to decide.

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I'm going to read the question, and then you have to decide and write down on paper what kind of letter

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what kind of letter do you have to write?

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All right.

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Let's take a look at example number one.

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I'm going to read the requirement of the letter and then you want to quickly respond.

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Should it be formal, informal or semi-formal?

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So write a letter to the city council complaining about a road near you.

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In your letter, introduce yourself and say where you live.

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Explain the problem.

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Say what you want.

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What kind of letter do you have to write?

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This is a formal question.

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We know this because we're going to right to a governmental body.

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We don't know who to address.

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Example two.

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You have participated in a party at your friend's home last week.

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You may have forgotten your watch there.

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Write a letter to your friend and say thank him or her for the party.

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Ask to look for the watch.

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Suggest what he should do about it.

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What kind of letter do you have to write?

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This, of course, is informal.

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Whenever we see we're writing to a friend 99% of the time it will be informal.

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I don't like to say 100% because I can't think of a situation where it wouldn't be.

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But.

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The majority of the time is going to be informal.

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We're writing to a friend.

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We know them very well.

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We're going to use a lot of colloquial language.

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A lot of informal language is almost like a spoken conversation.

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Example three.

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Your manager has asked you to do a presentation at the upcoming training session.

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Write a letter to your manager and say, What is the topic of the presentation?

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What is the benefit of conducting a session on that topic?

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What are your requirements for conducting this presentation?

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What kind of letter do you have to write?

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Here.

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We have a semi-formal question.

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We know this because we have an individual that we will be addressing.

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We're requesting their assistance.

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Is not personal.

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We may not know this person very well, their manager.

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So we're going to use a semi-formal tone which is used for communicating with people that we do not

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know very well or who are outside of our regular working relationships is very similar to a business

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letter.

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Everybody.

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Example four There is a musical instrument class available in the classified ad section of the newspaper.

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Write a letter to the Music Academy in your letter.

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Say that you're interested in attending the class.

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Ask about the days and times the class is available.

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Explain that you have some previous experience.

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What kind of letter?

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This is a formal question because you're writing to an academic institution.

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Example five You want to improve your knowledge of foreign language.

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Write a letter to a foreign language teacher and say, Where did you hear about the teacher?

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Why do you want to learn the foreign language?

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Ask them questions about the course.

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What kind of letter do you have to write?

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This is a semi formal question.

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We know this because we're addressing a teacher.

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We know who the teacher is.

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Mr. Williams, Mr. Canada, Mr. Bogota.

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Whatever the person's name is, we're going to use a semi formal style.

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Example six.

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You did a bus tour with other people.

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However, you were not satisfied with the bus service.

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Write a letter to the bus company about your journey and say what the problem was with your tour.

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While you were not satisfied.

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Suggest how the bus company can improve.

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What kind of letter are you going to write for Mole?

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We're writing to a transportation company.

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Okay.

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Example number seven.

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One of your friends had a birthday celebration, but you missed it.

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And you forgot to tell your friend that you couldn't attend.

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You should say apologize for missing the birthday celebration.

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Explain why you missed it and didn't tell your friend.

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Say what you would like to do to say you're sorry.

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What kind of question?

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Informal, everybody.

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Number eight, you and your family.

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Now, this one could be tricky, you might think, from the very beginning.

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Oh, oh, oh.

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This is going to be an informal question, but pay attention.

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You and your family are moving to another country and have decided to contact a property agent for assistance.

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We're going to contact a property agent.

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So what kind of letter is this going to be semi-formal?

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Because this is somebody that we know, but we don't know them well.

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We're going to use a semi-formal tone.

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Number nine, write a letter to your friend about your plans to go out with him or her and another friend

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for a small picnic.

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Include the following in your letter where you plan to go.

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What arrangements have you made?

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What help you need from your friends?

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This, of course, is what kind of letter in formal writing to a friend.

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And then number ten, write a letter to your manager about a computer system problem that you have encountered

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and say, describe the problem.

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How is it affecting your work?

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What needs to be done about it?

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We're writing a letter to our manager.

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So this is what semi-formal question.

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All right.

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So I hope right now you have a better understanding of letter type identification because you have to

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make sure you use the proper tone.

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You want to be able to identify what kind of question you have to write.

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All right.

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So coming up next, we're going to be outlining letters and then we're going to go through the letter

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writing process.

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Thank you so much for joining me.

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I'm really happy to be with you on this journey of learning how to write the general letter.

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I'll talk to you soon.