1 00:00:00,330 --> 00:00:04,410 In this lecture, we will discuss the actual writing process. 2 00:00:04,980 --> 00:00:09,090 We'll get into the structure of the general letter. 3 00:00:09,450 --> 00:00:16,230 I want to make sure that you know exactly what you're supposed to do in each part of the general letter. 4 00:00:16,260 --> 00:00:17,580 So let's get started. 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,260 First of all, let's talk about style. 6 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:27,360 You know, we have the formal, semi formal and informal letter. 7 00:00:27,690 --> 00:00:31,380 So I want to first touch on style. 8 00:00:34,420 --> 00:00:38,110 We have a formal semi-formal writing style. 9 00:00:38,470 --> 00:00:43,390 Again, semi-formal and formal are very, very similar. 10 00:00:43,810 --> 00:00:52,600 The only real difference is that with a formal letter, you're addressing an organization, a school, 11 00:00:52,600 --> 00:01:03,100 a company, a manufacturer with a semi-formal letter, you're addressing a person at that company, 12 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:05,590 manufacturer or school. 13 00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:08,020 That's the real difference. 14 00:01:08,650 --> 00:01:15,400 When you're addressing a company or business, you're going to be a lot more. 15 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:17,930 Very, very direct. 16 00:01:17,940 --> 00:01:25,680 You're going to not have any type of flowery language or slang language. 17 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:36,270 No colloquial language with the semi-formal letter is the same way is just that in terms of. 18 00:01:37,030 --> 00:01:42,070 What we're saying within the sentence is a little bit different because we're talking to a person as 19 00:01:42,070 --> 00:01:44,020 opposed to talking to a corporation. 20 00:01:47,090 --> 00:01:53,510 So the first point is in terms of style is more of a complex nature. 21 00:01:53,780 --> 00:02:00,350 You're going to write longer sentences that involve the compound complex and compound complex sentence 22 00:02:00,350 --> 00:02:01,250 structures. 23 00:02:01,880 --> 00:02:05,990 Each point needs to be introduced and very well elaborated. 24 00:02:07,370 --> 00:02:08,720 Your objective. 25 00:02:09,020 --> 00:02:12,410 You're going to show you're not going to show really any emotion. 26 00:02:13,340 --> 00:02:15,710 No emotive punctuation. 27 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:18,680 You must address all the points. 28 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:26,330 Giving support, using very specific detail, great subject matter vocabulary. 29 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,370 No contractions, no slang, no colloquial language. 30 00:02:32,180 --> 00:02:34,340 Now you'll have collocations. 31 00:02:35,180 --> 00:02:39,740 But collocations are different than colloquial type of language. 32 00:02:42,130 --> 00:02:49,540 Collocations deal with word combinations and then with the formal semi-formal style, you're doing a 33 00:02:49,540 --> 00:02:53,500 lot more third person writing with an informal letter. 34 00:02:53,500 --> 00:03:03,040 It's always eye, but for a formal or semi formal letter, you know, you will most likely avoid that 35 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:10,060 I language although it is permitted it's not a it's not really an issue, to be honest with you, because 36 00:03:10,060 --> 00:03:13,030 it depends on the the question that you're asked. 37 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:18,790 It can be a formal question that requires you to use I or we. 38 00:03:19,340 --> 00:03:21,950 It really depends on the question, to be honest with you. 39 00:03:25,790 --> 00:03:28,640 Then we have an informal style. 40 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:34,580 And this is when you're writing to a friend or family member or even a neighbor. 41 00:03:34,580 --> 00:03:36,200 It also could be a colleague. 42 00:03:36,530 --> 00:03:38,600 Again, depending on the letter type. 43 00:03:42,050 --> 00:03:47,840 Now here we're going to use that colloquial language is very similar to spoken conversation. 44 00:03:48,350 --> 00:03:50,750 You can show empathy and emotion. 45 00:03:51,230 --> 00:03:57,800 Your sentence structures will tend to be more on the simple side with the informal letter. 46 00:03:58,340 --> 00:04:01,430 But it doesn't mean that you're not going to show ability. 47 00:04:01,910 --> 00:04:09,080 You still want to do a compound or complex sentence, but have you'll have a lot more simple sentences 48 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,090 with the informal writing style. 49 00:04:11,690 --> 00:04:16,220 And of course, the first, second and third person are possible. 50 00:04:16,250 --> 00:04:21,470 It all depends on the type of information that they want in the question. 51 00:04:25,820 --> 00:04:28,880 Now let's get into the four parts. 52 00:04:29,390 --> 00:04:30,830 The four parts. 53 00:04:31,130 --> 00:04:38,480 Now, technically, we can say there are five parts because you do you do a conclusion, but there are 54 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:45,560 only four parts that you really need to know how to write correctly because the conclusion is really 55 00:04:45,560 --> 00:04:48,190 just a summary sentence. 56 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:56,960 A summary statement is very, very straightforward, is not overly complex or complicated, but the 57 00:04:56,960 --> 00:05:03,860 first four parts are what we really need to focus on in terms of structure and requirement. 58 00:05:06,810 --> 00:05:10,560 So these are overall the five parts. 59 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:18,210 And then after I introduce this, we'll go ahead and move into the four essential parts that you are 60 00:05:18,210 --> 00:05:20,520 required to really know how to write. 61 00:05:21,870 --> 00:05:28,230 The introduction covers the purpose, and that's why the introduction is in is so important. 62 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,510 The introduction covers the purpose. 63 00:05:30,510 --> 00:05:35,550 You must be able to state the correct purpose in your introduction. 64 00:05:35,700 --> 00:05:38,970 If you don't, you hurt your task achievement score. 65 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:47,350 Then you have your discussion point one, your discussion point one, discussion point to and discussion 66 00:05:47,350 --> 00:05:48,190 point three. 67 00:05:49,700 --> 00:05:57,470 And normally there'll be a dash or something, some type of indicator that lets you know this is discussion 68 00:05:57,470 --> 00:05:58,430 point one. 69 00:05:58,550 --> 00:06:03,020 And then another indicator for discussion points two and three. 70 00:06:03,260 --> 00:06:07,730 Now I'll say a little bit about the conclusion. 71 00:06:07,730 --> 00:06:13,940 Right now, the conclusion, as I told you, is just a summary statement of one sentence. 72 00:06:14,270 --> 00:06:18,560 Do not introduce new information in your conclusion. 73 00:06:18,860 --> 00:06:21,560 That's the main advice I can give you. 74 00:06:22,010 --> 00:06:25,880 Don't introduce new information in the conclusion. 75 00:06:29,820 --> 00:06:35,130 So let's look at the general letter introduction in terms of what you have to do. 76 00:06:36,030 --> 00:06:41,730 Your main job here is to make sure that you capture the stated purpose in the letter. 77 00:06:42,060 --> 00:06:47,890 You cannot make just a general statement stay within the confines of the purpose. 78 00:06:47,910 --> 00:06:53,970 Do not blend in any of the discussion points into your introduction. 79 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,850 The introduction must stand alone. 80 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:02,440 Now discussion point one. 81 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,940 You can see here, discussion point one on the letter here is in yellow. 82 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:16,890 It gets its own paragraph, write its own paragraph, don't blend it into the introduction. 83 00:07:16,890 --> 00:07:19,500 That hurts your coherence and organization. 84 00:07:19,500 --> 00:07:20,610 Don't do that. 85 00:07:21,330 --> 00:07:23,610 You must do exactly. 86 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:29,520 You must talk about and discuss exactly what they mentioned in discussion point number one. 87 00:07:29,970 --> 00:07:36,120 So, for example, in this question, it says, your manager has asked you to do a presentation at the 88 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:37,650 upcoming training session. 89 00:07:37,830 --> 00:07:43,350 Write a letter to your manager and say, what is the topic of the presentation? 90 00:07:43,650 --> 00:07:51,150 So in this first paragraph, in this first discussion point paragraph, you're only allowed to talk 91 00:07:51,150 --> 00:07:53,190 about the topic of the presentation. 92 00:07:55,350 --> 00:08:03,900 If you talk about the benefits or why you're doing the presentation, you're going to lose points. 93 00:08:04,140 --> 00:08:07,470 You're only allowed to talk about the topic. 94 00:08:07,470 --> 00:08:08,370 That's it. 95 00:08:09,570 --> 00:08:13,110 You should have three sentences talking about the topic. 96 00:08:17,290 --> 00:08:19,540 Now discussion point number two. 97 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,370 Again, the same as discussion point number one. 98 00:08:24,580 --> 00:08:31,450 Read it very, very carefully because they're going to give you a very specific request. 99 00:08:32,290 --> 00:08:36,910 You're limited to the confinements, the restrictions of this request. 100 00:08:38,710 --> 00:08:44,630 You cannot bring outside information that is unrelated to this discussion point. 101 00:08:44,650 --> 00:08:46,150 Stay focused. 102 00:08:46,420 --> 00:08:50,200 So here is the second discussion point. 103 00:08:50,530 --> 00:08:54,370 Explain why the center is important for the local community. 104 00:08:55,420 --> 00:08:58,510 That's the only thing you can talk about. 105 00:08:59,080 --> 00:09:05,860 You cannot talk about the effects on the community if you talk about the effects on the community. 106 00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:10,480 When you're supposed to talk about why it's important to the community. 107 00:09:10,510 --> 00:09:13,090 You're going to lose a lot of points. 108 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,120 Stay within the structure. 109 00:09:15,130 --> 00:09:16,600 Stay within the confines. 110 00:09:16,870 --> 00:09:19,990 Stay within the confines of the discussion point. 111 00:09:24,260 --> 00:09:27,140 And then finally, discussion point number three. 112 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:30,590 This is the final discussion point. 113 00:09:30,980 --> 00:09:32,030 After this. 114 00:09:32,030 --> 00:09:38,180 You would put a one sentence conclusion, the third discussion point. 115 00:09:38,950 --> 00:09:48,850 Requires you to only discuss the third idea or suggestion that they want you to make. 116 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:55,090 So here it says what help you need from your friend with the picnic. 117 00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:57,250 That's all we can discuss. 118 00:09:57,970 --> 00:10:03,580 Now, don't make the mistake of a lot of students, and they get to the third discussion point and they 119 00:10:03,580 --> 00:10:05,950 just say, Well, I'll just write one sentence. 120 00:10:07,210 --> 00:10:10,870 It gets the same attention as discussion point number one. 121 00:10:11,530 --> 00:10:14,980 Each discussion point gets equal treatment. 122 00:10:18,430 --> 00:10:18,700 All right. 123 00:10:18,700 --> 00:10:22,060 So thank you so much for now. 124 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:32,260 Listening and finding out how to structure the task, number one, and also what information you need 125 00:10:32,260 --> 00:10:34,090 to include for each part. 126 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:41,260 Next up, we're going to write some introductions and then we're going to move into writing the discussion 127 00:10:41,260 --> 00:10:43,180 points or body paragraphs. 128 00:10:43,630 --> 00:10:46,000 Thank you so much for joining me. 129 00:10:46,330 --> 00:10:48,280 It's a pleasure talking to you. 130 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,820 If you have any questions, please be sure to ask.