How to Write an Email for B1 Preliminary (PET)

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…
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.
Example Email for PET Writing Part 1

Let’s take a look at the following example of a Preliminary (PET)

task answer for Writing Part 1, where we can see an answer to the
sample task we saw above:

In the example above, you can see the different parts of an

email well defined. It’s important that your writing is visually
appealing, apart from having good grammar and vocabulary. This
means that the paragraphs should be well defined, with a space in
between, and that you should know when to break lines. This is
specially important after greetings, after opening and closing
paragraphs, and after saying goodbye. This will make your text
visually appealing, as it will look like a real email.
Expressions to use in your email

In this section, we are going to focus on different expressions you

can use in the different parts of the email. While the main
paragraphs will vary completely depending on the topic of your writing,
most of the other parts in the email can be practised and memorised
almost completely. Let’s take a look:
Greetings
In order to start your email in Writing Part 1 for Cambridge English:
Preliminary (PET), you can use different expressions, which are
really typical and easy to remember. 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.
 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.
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,
Notice how there is a comma (,) after each of the phrases. Also,
after writing any of these sentences, make sure you write your name
on a different line. And write your name without a full stop!
Another example of an email at B1 level

Now that we know what expressions we should be using in our writing,

we are going to take a look at another task and a sample answer. In
this case, this is an example of an old task, but the email follows the
same rules. Pay close attention to how it’s structured and how its
paragraphs are well defined and separated:
Notice how the expressions in bold are used. Whenever you write an
email, you should think about this type of expressions and make sure
you use them appropriately.
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.