Unit 6. Types of writing

When you write a composition, you need to understand the type of writing required.

Your piece of writing can be in the form of a letter, an article for a magazine, a newspaper or a report.

Letters are written to a person (e.g. your pen friend, a newspaper editor, etc.) or a group of people (e.g. the students' society, the local football club, etc.) for a specific reason (e.g. to give advice, to make a complaint etc.). They include:

Informal letters to people you know well, written in a personal chatty style.

Formal letters to managers, officials etc., written in a polite formal style.

Semi-formal letters to people you do not know well or people you know want to sound polite and respectful e.g. a teacher of yours, your pen friend's etc., written in a polite and respectful style.

Articles are found in magazines and newspapers. The following can be found in the form of an article:

Descriptions of people, places, buildings, objects, festivals, ceremonies etc.

Narratives about real or imaginary events, which happened in the past. They can be written in the first person (first-person narratives) when the writer is the main character of the story or in the third person (third-person narratives) when the writer is describing events which happened to another person or group of people.

News reports about current or recent events (e.g. fires, accidents,) written in impersonal style. News reports present facts objectively and unemotionally.

Reviews discussing a film, TV programme, book, restaurant, etc. and recommending it or not to the reader.

Discursive essays about arguments concerning particular subjects. They include:

" For and against" essays which present the pros and cons on a specific topic

Opinion Essays, which present the writer's personal opinion on a specific topic

Providing Solutions to Problems which discuss a problem and its causes, making suggestions and mentioning the expected results and consequences