Key Idea: Writing skills take you from the task to a finished Paper 1 text: plan, choose the text type, set the tone, link your ideas and check for common errors.
Planning your answer
- Decode — Take two minutes. Find the text type, the reader and the tone.
- Brainstorm — Three points.
- Order — Put them into the text type's structure.
- Note — Key words and connectors, in short lines, never full sentences.
| Family | Text types |
|---|---|
| Personal | blog, diary, email |
| Professional | formal letter, report, proposal |
| Mass media | article, review, interview, speech, leaflet |
| Reader | Tone | Markers |
|---|---|---|
| A friend | informal | du, Hallo!, Liebe Grüße |
| A company or teacher | formal | Sie, Sehr geehrte/r, Mit freundlichen Grüßen |
| A blog audience | informal but public | ihr, euch, euer |
Holding the tone
- Greeting, verb, possessive and sign-off move as a set: change one, change them all.
- Never write a general essay when the task asks for a text type.
| Job | Connectors |
|---|---|
| Addition | außerdem, auch |
| Contrast | jedoch, obwohl |
| Cause | weil, da |
| Consequence | deshalb, deswegen |
| Sequence | zuerst, dann, schließlich |
| Examples | zum Beispiel, das heißt |
Building a paragraph
- Topic → develop → example → transition.
- Vary your connectors; don't link everything with «und».
- Verb second after deshalb, verb last after weil.
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Words | 250–400 |
| Tone | du or Sie, never mixed |
| Conventions | the parts of your text type |
| Verbs | tenses and agreement |
| Ideas | developed, not just listed |
Plan before you write and check after you write: two minutes at the start, five at the end.
Which criterion does a clear plan help most? B, the message.
You switch from du to Sie halfway. Which criterion suffers? C. The tone has to stay the same.
Verb slips cost marks on which criterion? A, language.
Your answer is short and the ideas are only listed. Which criterion? B.
Is a leaflet personal, professional or mass media? Mass media.