Formatting
One of the most common mistakes made by inexperienced writers involves using too personal language writing an essay.
Me, myself, I
Everybody likes to talk about themselves, but when (for example) you’re writing about environmental issues, you should be talking about the environment and not about yourself.
YOU
The way word you is used in informal speech ‘You should have seen it!’ ‘if you know what I mean’ is not appropriate in formal writing. At best it sounds chatty and informal; at worst, disrespectful or even offensive. The word you points a finger at the reader. But the readers are not friends of yours, and you have no right to make assumptions about them.
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A report is a formal paper, it has to be concise, well-organized, which makes it recommended to use bullet points and headings so that the reader can quickly find the information they are looking for in your text.
The language of a report is expected to be formal and objective. For this reason, you should avoid including yourself or your views in most of your sentences. However, you must give your opinion in the conclusion or recommendations paragraph.
TIP: Pay attention to style and register
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What is recommended
- Inversion
(not only/no sooner/seldom) - Inverted conditional (Were we to..)
- Participle clause (Being…/Having gone..)
- Double comparative (The more we… the more)
- Passive structures (The committee has been informed about …)
- Cleft sentence (What is most crucial is..)
- Linkers (Notwithstanding / despite / due to / consequently)
What is not recommended
Descriptive writing and colourful language (stunning, gorgeous, amazing)- Idioms (are informal)
- Phrasal Verbs (are informal)
- Contractions (We’ve, It’s been said)
- Giving personal opinions (I think, | guess)
C2 Proficient (CPE) Essay: Writing Checklist
After writing your text, you can check it yourself using the writing checklist below.
How to do that? Simply check your text/email by answering the questions one by one:
Content
- Have I covered all the key information required by the task?
- Have I written only information which is relevant to the task?
- Have I developed the basic points in the task with my own ideas?
- Have I included references or examples where necessary to support any ideas or information?
| Paper | Time/Duration |
|---|---|
| Reading and Use of English | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Writing | 1 hour 30 minutes |
| Listening | about 40 minutes |
| Speaking | 15 minutes per pair of candidates |
| Total: 4 hours and 5 minutes |
