As you can see in the example above, taken from Cambridge’s official website, we

have received an email from a person so-called Sandy, who is a friend of ours. In
addition, we have made some annotations, which are the points we need to address in
your email:
 Me too!
 Say which I prefer
 No, because…
 Ask Sandy…

1
In this sense, Cambridge is making this task easier, as we definitely won’t go blank
and they are pointing out the structure that our email should have, which we will
see in the following section.

EMAIL STRUCTURE
The first thing you need to know is the different parts of an email, and these are:
 Greetings: we greet the other person (i.e. say «hi» or «hello»).
 Opening paragraph: we react to the other person’s news and ask them how
they are feeling and whatever else you feel is appropriate.
 Main paragraph 1: in this paragraph we deal with the first important point,
which we can identify in the instructions.
 Main paragraph 2: if there is a different point to deal with, this paragraph will
do so.
 (We might have more main paragraphs, depending on the task.)
 Closing paragraph: in this paragraph we «start» to say goodbye by wishing
the other person well and asking them to reply to your email.
 Goodbye: we use a short expression to say goodbye.
 Signature: we sign the email with our name.
In general, all emails must follow the same structure, and also, I recommend you
following these two pieces of advice::

 Don’t write From: y To:, as it is completely unnecessary and Cambridge

won’t penalise you. Also, you’re saving words which you can use in the body
of your email.
 Don’t write a subject, for the same reason as before.
Now that we know the different parts of an email, we should see an example.

2
GREETINGS
We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of writing, which is usually for a friend or
family member:
 Hi John,
 Hello John,
 Dear John,

Notice how «hi» is less formal than «hello» or «dear». Also, don’t forget to write a
comma (,) right after greeting your friend or relative. After greeting the addressee (i.e.
the person who will read the email), you must start the opening paragraph in a new
line.
Opening paragraph
The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or relative’s email. In
order to do so, you can use a number of different expressions. Here we have some
examples:
 It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.

3
  It’s nice / great / good to read your email.
 I’m glad to hear your news.
 I’m excited about… (your news.)
 It’s great to hear that…
 I’m sorry to hear that…
 I’m really sorry to read your news.
 Thanks a lot for writing!
 It was good to receive your email.
 Thank you very much for your email.
And many more. Also, it’s a good idea to ask your friend or relative how they are
feeling, which you can do like this:
 Hope you are doing well.
 How’s it going?
 How are you (doing)?
 How are things (going)?
You can also add some information that you think is relevant or necessary, but don’t
expand this paragraph very much, because the important information must go in
the main paragraphs.

MAIN PARAGRAPHS

For the main paragraphs, there aren’t any fixed expressions which you must use, as it
depends mostly on what you have to write about. However, you should try to make
use of connectors and appropriate punctuation. So let’s take a look at common
useful connectors and the punctuation we use them with:
 … and… : to connect two similar things or ideas.
I love reading and listening to music.
My favourite meal is fish and chips.
 …, but… : to connect two contrasting ideas.
I love watching Tv, but I don’t have a favourite show.
I am reading a book, but I don’t remember the title.
 . However, … : to connect contrasting ideas.
Last month, I went to the cinema. However, I didn’t enjoy the movie.
I am a very big fan of this author. However, I haven’t read his last novel.
 Moreover, … : to add more information about something.
 … because… : to justify an opinion or idea.
My mum is the perfect cook because she knows a lot of recipes and has plenty of
experience. Moreover, she experiments with different ingredients all the time.
 . Because of that, … : to justify an opinion, fact or idea.
4
My mum likes to cook using new ingredients all the time. Because of that, she
creates original dishes every month.
 . As for…/ Regarding… : to switch to a new topic. For instance, you can use
this connector to start the second main paragraph.
As for/Regarding why I like this cookery show, I think it’s because it’s a great way to
see new recipes.
 Time linkers: then, after that, yesterday, this morning, last summer, etc.
Last night, I watched a very good action film.
With many connectors, we typically use a comma (,) after it when we start a sentence
(e.g.: However, Last night, Moreover, etc.).
Closing paragraph
As we mentioned earlier, a closing paragraph in this Writing part 3 is used to start
saying goodbye to the addressee and to ask for a response to your email. So we can
use the following expressions:

 Well, it’s time to say goodbye.

 Anyway, I have to go now.
 Well, it’s time to go.
 Anyway, gotta go.
 I really hope to hear from you soon.
 I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
 I hope you write back soon.
 Make sure you write back soon.
Also, if you still have to write more words, you can add a question for a subsequent
email. This question should be related to the topic of your piece of writing.
Saying goodbye
There are many ways in English to close an informal email. The most frequently used
ones are the following:

 Best wishes,
 Best,
 Sincerely,
 Take care,
 All my love,
 Love,
 Lots of love,
 See you soon,
 Regards,

5
6
Top 5 Tips for writing an Email for B1 Preliminary (PET)

1. Learn and memorise a set of expressions. Make sure you already know a set
of expressions to use in your greetings, opening and closing paragraphs, and to
say goodbye. This will save you a lot of time while doing a task, and you will
avoid making silly mistakes as you will already know the expressions by heart.
2. Write a well-structured and visually-appealing email. One of the things
Cambridge English examiners pay attention to is the organisation of your piece
writing, so make sure not to write a messy email. Also, remember
that punctuation matters, so be sure to separate your sentences with stops and
commas and don’t write excessively long sentences.
3. Brainstorm, write, read and edit. Before starting to write your email,
brainstorm a couple of things and write down some ideas. This can include
vocabulary related to the topic. For example, if you have to write about TV
shows, you can write down thinks like «contestants», «cookery show», «prize»,
etc. Then, write out your email. After that, read it and look for possible
mistakes or opportunities for improvement (e.g.: adding descriptive adjectives,
rephrasing sentences, etc.).
4. Read carefully and identify the task. Don’t start writing right away. Make
sure you read the task carefully and that you identify exactly what you are
being asked. Sometimes, we don’t pay attention to the instructions and we end
up writing about something different. This will mean losing points, in a very
silly way, I must say.
5. Experiment at home, be conservative in the exam. Homework is the best
chance to be creative and experiment different ways to express yourself. So
make sure you try your hardest to keep improving when you write at home. On
the other hand, when you’re doing an exam, don’t risk trying out new words or
expressions, as you may be making a terrible mistake. So be safe in your exam
and stick to what you already know works.