Useful Words CAE

8/12/2019 Useful Words CAE

1/11

PRACTISE ENGLISHTuesday, March 10, 2009

USEFUL LANGUAGE FOR FCECAECPE !RITING

Writing for FCE/CAE/CPE

Useful language

FORMAL LETTERS

Letters objecting to someones !lans

I am writing to express my concern /disappointment / alarm at hearing ...

I was extremely alarmed/sorry/distressed to hear about your plans to ...

As I think you know,

May I point out that

I feel I really must object to ...

I am extremely concerned at the thought that ...

It must be ery clear that ...

If these proposals go ahead, ... will happen.

Another threat to ... , if these proposals go ahead, would come from ...

I dread to imagine what damage this will cause.

May I respectfully suggest that you ...

I was wondering if you had considered this alternatie!

"ould it not be possible to ... !

Letters of com!laint

I am writing to complain about ...
http://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/http://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/


2/11


3/11

I am sure readers will agree with me when I say that ...

ART$CLES

Se%uencing

At first / -o start with/In the beginning, ...

-hen/ext/After that, ...

-he next thing that happened was ...

-he next thing I knew was ...

&econds/Minutes later,

ate on/&ome time later,

It wasn*t until much later that ...

After some time/After what seemed like years, ...

0inally/In the end, ...

At last, ...

Simultaneous e&ents

Meanwhile/In the meantime,

"hile all this was going on,

In the middle of all this, ...

1uring all this time, ...

Su""en or une'!ecte" e&ents

&uddenly/All of a sudden, ...

All at once, ...

2ut of the blue, ...

"ithout any warning, ...


4/11

3ust when I was least expecting it, ...

-he next thing I knew was ...

Ra!i" e&ents

As (uick as a flash, ...

In the wink of an eye, ...

In a matter of seconds/minutes, ...

In no time at all, ...

Loo(ing bac(

In retrospect, ...

"hen I think back to what happened then, ...

REPORTS

$ntro"uctor) comments

I recently isited )the new eisure 4entre+ and hae prepared the following report for your

consideration.

0urther to my isit to ... , I hae prepared the following report.

-he following report relates to my recent isit to ...

*eneral comments

2n the whole, I found that ...

Although ... , I should point out that ...

It is a fact that ...

Conclu"ing comments

All things considered, I beliee that ...

-aking all these points into consideration, I would recommend ...

I recommend that we look into the possibility of ...


5/11

Com!aring !laces or facilities

2ne of the main differences between % and is that

% is completely/entirely/totally different from in that

$nlike %, is ...

"hile/"hereas/Although % is ... , is ...

% is a little/slightly/somewhat/a great deal )bigger/more elegant than .

% is not (uite/nearly as )comfortable/expensie/ conenient+ as because ...

% is irtually/exactly the same as when it comes to ...

PROPOSALS

As re(uested, I am submitting the following proposal on ...

I recommend that we ...

I propose that we ...

"e should also ...

I beliee that ...

"e could ...

It is a fact that , which means that ...

If we were to , it would ...

I suggest we ."e would then be able to ...

I feel strongly that we should ...

I trust you will gie my proposal your full consideration.

RE+$EWS

x has much to recommend it.

% is, at heart, a)n+ loe/spy/adenture story.


6/11

It is based on a book by ...

It is set in the countryside/the future.

-he film has a (uality cast.

-he film was directed by ...

-he film score is enchanting/eocatie/scary.

-he film captures the spirit of ...

-he hero/heroine/illain is ...

I felt/thought it was

I was impressed by

"hat struck me most was ...

"hat I liked most/didn*t like was ...

-he plot was gripping.

-he characters were ery conincing/ery well drawn.

2n reflection, I think it was ...

It struck me as being ...

"hat I didn*t understand was how ...

In spite of these few criticisms, I think ...

I would hae no hesitation in recommending

Useful ,or"s an" !#rases

-hese words and phrases can be used in the following text types, depending on what are asked to

write about5

6 letters

6 essays


7/11

6 articles

6 proposals

6 reports

6 reiews

E'!ressing an" su!!orting o!inions

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.

I beliee/do not beliee that ... )because+ ...

7ersonally I feel that ... et me explain why.

In my opinion, ... 3ust consider ...

As I see it, -he reason is ...

It seems to me that -his is because ...

I would argue that for the following reasons.

I feel ery strongly that ...

I am coninced that ...

I am of the opinion that ...

I am ery much in faour of/against ...

I am completely opposed to ...

-he reasons why I beliee that ... are as follows.

O!ening !#rases


7eople )sometimes+ claim that but I feel that ...

It is often said/argued that ... 'oweer, it seems to me that ...

It is a fact that ...


8/11

2er the past few months/years, it seems that

8ecently, we hae all become concerned that

owadays, we are all realising that ...

In the past, people used to , but now ...

-hese days, it seems that .

Ma(ing statements


It is clear that ...

2n the whole, it appears/seems that ...

"e must take into account the fact that ....

It goes without saying that ...

It is important to remember that ...

E'!laining/E'!an"ing i"eas an" gi&ing e'am!les


... -his means that ...

... -his is largely due to ...

0or example/0or instance, ...

In other words, ...

-ake, for example, the situation in ...

Listing arguments


0irstly/In the first place / -o begin with,

&econdly/A second area to consider is


9/11

Another point to remember is ...

0inally, ...

In conclusion, ..

ast but not least, ...

E&aluating i"eas- .ismissing contrar) arguments


I think it is true that ...

I totally disagree/agree with the point that

It is (uestionable whether

I am sure/I doubt whether

It is true that ... 2n the other hand, ...

"hile nobody can deny that ... , I would like to point out that

I agree that 'oweer, ...

Although it is true that , we must remember that ...

It could be argued that 'oweer, I would like to point out that ...

1espite all the arguments, I still feel that ...

otwithstanding the claim that ... , I would argue that

It may be true that ... , but all too often ...

In no way can I agree that ...

&urely it is completely unacceptable that ...

Persua"ing

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in letters and proposals.

I would urge you to consider


10/11

I am sure you will agree that

&urely you must agree that

I would urge you ery strongly to ...

"hen you hear the arguments, I am sure you will agree that ...

E&aluating

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in reports, proposals and reiews.

I was extremely impressed by

I was rather disappointed by

"hile % has much to commend it, I feel that some aspects could be improed.

-he problem could easily be soled if ...

I would like to praise the ...

Another area for complaint is

My oerall impression was that

I am sure that isitors/readers/holidaymakers will thoroughly enjoy ...

"hile some people will loe ... , others may feel less happy.

A major problem is that ...

I was less happy with ...

Ma(ing recommen"ations

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in proposals and reports.

I recommend that we ...

I propose that we ...

"e should also ...

I beliee that we should ...


11/11

"e could ...

If we were to , we could ...

I suggest we "e would then be able to ...

Summarising

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays,articles, reports, proposalsand reiews.

All in all, I think that ...

-o sum up, I beliee that ...

In conclusion, the facts suggest that ...

.escribing

-hese words and expressions are especially useful in articles, reiews, and letters.

4haracter/7ersonality

'e tends to be ...

&he can be ...

'e is inclined to be ...

&he appears/seems to be ...

'obbies and interests

'e is cra#y about ... 9ing.

&he loes ... 9ing.

'is greatest loe is ...

"hat she loes most in life is ...

'e spends all his time ... 9ing.

Posted by Wojtek at2:52:00 PMLabels:FCE/CAE/CPE writing

1
http://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/2009/03/useful-language-for-fcecaecpe-writing.htmlhttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/2009/03/useful-language-for-fcecaecpe-writing.htmlhttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/2009/03/useful-language-for-fcecaecpe-writing.htmlhttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/search/label/FCE%2FCAE%2FCPE%20writinghttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/search/label/FCE%2FCAE%2FCPE%20writinghttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/2009/03/useful-language-for-fcecaecpe-writing.htmlhttp://practiseenglish.blogspot.ro/search/label/FCE%2FCAE%2FCPE%20writing

Documents

Useful Words CAE