See this sample Informal Email/Letter from the Cambridge English First (FCE) Writing paper with feedback from a teacher

Writing Class: Informal Email/Letter

Task Type: Informal Email/Letter

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

.............Thanks for inviting me to stay with you when I visit your country next month. I'm not sure how to get to your apartment from the airport. Could you write back giving me some basic instructions? What would be the best method of transport for me? I'd prefer one that isn't too expensive! Just one other thing - what will the weather be like when I get there? (Just so I'll know what clothes to pack!) .........

Write your email/letter of reply to your friend (around 140-190 words).

Makeover: Danielle

Read Danielle'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.

Hy S Lisa

You have no idea how happy I am, thinking there are only several days until your arrival.Gd

In connexion with your questions, I'll try to tell you how can you reach to- my apartment from the airport. There are three possibilities. You can take a taxi, but I have to warn you about taxi drivers. They are very sly boots and they could ask you to pay more than it really costs Gd . Another alternative is to take the bus but our busses S aren't so comfortable. The third alternative, T and I recommend you this one, WO is my car. I'd like to wait for you at the airport and I hope you'd like that, too. And above all these, - , it doesn't WW cost you anything!

Now, the second issue of WW your email: the weather. Talking about July, I can tell you that you couldn't find /\ better month for visiting this country! We'll have sunny days, so we are going to swim a lot and we are going to have sunbathes WF I've check WF the weather forecast for July and we may also have some cloudy and rainy days. So, without fail, you must take WW your swimsuit and some loose clothes. A raincoat is also recommended.

I'm looking forward to your arrival.

See you soon.

Danielle

Feedback

This is a very good answer, Danielle! You have covered all of the points in the task and your advice is really useful. You have managed most of the time to achieve a friendly, "chatty" style, which is just right for this particular task.
None of the errors you have made are that serious, and you have a good level and range of language.

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

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Cambridge English: First