Flo-Joe for Cambridge English Exams

Cambridge English: First

Check out students' answers to Flo-Joe's FCE Writing tasks with a teacher's feedback

Writing Class: Informal Letter


Task Type: Informal Letter

Question
You have received the following letter from your English-speaking friend:

...We're doing a project this month at school on eating habits and customs around the world. Will you be able to help me by telling me what the traditional meals are in your country, what people typically eat and at what time of day?

Thanks very much!

Love Alison

Write a letter to your friend giving her the information she needs (around 140-190 words).

Makeover: Magda

Read Magda's answer to this question below. Try correcting the piece of writing yourself first: use the marking codes to think about what might be wrong (or what's good) about the piece of work. Then when you're ready, click the green buttons in the text for our feedback.

Dear Alison

I was very happy to hear from you. I will be glad to help you with your project, and I hope that I can give you some details you could use. Gd

Mostly WW the - Polish people have breakfast before 7 am - some slices of bread and butter, cheese, tomato, or cucumber and ham. They drink coffee with milk or tea.

We usually don't WO eat until we return home after work - i.e. about 4 pm. Then we eat /\ main meal of the day which usually consists of: P soup for the first course and /\ piece of meat, potatoes and salad for the second.

O Sometimes we have some sweets for dessert.

Between 7 and 8 pm most Polish families have their supper P which resembles breakfast but it is more heavy WW (which isn't very healthy).

Good luck with your project! Gd

Love,

Magda

Feedback

Content
You have provided a full and very thoughtful response to the task and given a good picture of the eating habits of Polish people (menu, times, etc). The reader would be fully informed.

Communicative Achievement
You have written the email in an informal register with a friendly tone at the beginning and end - just right for an informal email/letter. The reader would be fully engaged throughout.

Organisation
In the main, the email is clearly organised with a logical use of paragraphs, although I think the sentence 'Sometimes we have some sweets for dessert' would have been better included in the previous paragraph as it continues the subject of food. You have used cohesive devices well, particulalry the use of relative pronouns to refer back to previously mentioned points.

Language
You have used English clearly to express your opinions. Some well-constructed sentences, appropriate use of the present simple tense for describing (eating) habits and good choices of vocabulary. Note the following:

  • You might want to revise word order when using adverbs of time like 'sometimes', 'usually', often' etc.
  • Check your work for missing articles 'a/the'.

Well done!

Get Feedback on your writing


Marking Code

/\ Word(s) missing

- Omit word

C Capitalization

Gd Good

O Organisation

P Punctuation

PE Poorly expressed

R Register/Formality

SS Sentence Structure

S Spelling

T Tip

WF Wrong form

WO Word order

WT Wrong tense

WW Wrong word