Suggested phrases to the writing part

SUGGESTED ANSWERSEmails and letters -Salutation: Dear Sir/ Madam/ Dear Sir or Madam Dear Mr/ Ms + family name Dear + given name Hi + given name -Opening line: Thank you for… It was so nice to hear from you. I am writing to you to/ about/ because… How are you? -Starting paragraphs: First of all, I have/ had some questions about/ In answer to your questions about… There were also a few things I wondered about…/ Now I’d like to answer what you asked me about…/ You also asked me about... -Indirect questions: Could you (possibly) tell me…? I also wanted some information about… I (really) need to know… -Closing line:(I’m) looking forward to hearing from you (soon)/ seeing you soon. Thanks in advance. Thanks again. If you need any further information/ If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me./ If there’s anything else you want to know, drop me a line anytime. -Closing salutation:Yours Best regards All the best Love See you (textspeak abbreviations like CU are not acceptable in FCE, for some reason)

Reports -Opening the introduction: The purpose of this report is to… I have written this report to… This report has been written in order to… -Explaining what you did in order to write the report: In order to prepare this report… To do so, I… The data in this report was obtained by… In order to help make this decision,… … asked/ discussed/ gave out a questionnaire/ surveyed… -Giving the most important information: The main/ most important/ biggest/ most significant… -Contrasting: However,… In contrast,… Although…,… -Reporting what people said: A few/ Some/ Many/ Most/ The majority of/ Almost all the people said/ reported/ complained/ recommended/ believed/ thought… … are concerned/ worried/ surprised… -Giving more information: In addition…/ …also… The second most important/ biggest/ most significant… Another/ An additional/ A further… -Summarizing: Although reactions were mixed, on the whole… On balance,… It can be seen from the data/ reactions/ information above that… Looking at all the things people said, on the whole… Taking everyone’s comments into consideration,… Despite the… above, in general it is clear that… Overall,... -Concluding: For this reason,… Due to this,… Therefore,… -Recommendations:I (strongly) recommend/ my recommendation is to/ it is recommended that…

Stories -Near the beginning: At first… First of all… One day/ morning/ evening/ night… I decided… At that time… When/ While I was… During lunch/ work/ a lecture… -Near the middle: At the end of the first day/ hour… In the first couple of minutes/ days/ hours… Unfortunately,… To my amazement,… By the middle of the… I seemed to be running out of time… However, my plans changed completely when… Suddenly…/ Completely out of the blue,… Then/ Next/ (Just/ Straight) after that/ (A moment/ A little while) later… -Near the end: Eventually… In the end… At the end (of)… Looking back now I’m (so) glad that I…/ I (so) happy I didn’t…/ I (really) regret… After it was all over… It wasn’t (at all/ quite) what I had expected but…On the last day,… Just in time,… Luckily,…/ To our relief,… It was then that (I realised)…