Skip to main content

Hot Off The Press

ECPE Writing - Sample Article (Banning Cars from the City)

This is the fourth sample article that conforms to the writing section requirements of the ECPE (Examination for the Certificate of Proficiency in English) of the University of Michigan.  My first post to deal with articles , explains what needs to be present in the piece of writing candidates compose. Examiners are looking for articles that elaborate on ideas and have solid arguments; are well organized; make use of a wide lexical and grammatical range; have an original ring to them (in other words,

B2 Sample Writing 1 (Letter - Teen Drunk Driving)

https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/2018/03/b2-sample-wrting-1-letter-teen-drunk.html

To get the most out of these sample essays and letters, please read "What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog?" before reading this blog entry.

The following letter is an example of how examination candidates could tackle the subject of drunk driving among teenagers. The sample has been modeled on the University of Michigan Examination for the Certificate of Competency in English (ECCE) Task 1 question of the Writing section available on page 62 of the Hellenic American Union's ECCE Practice Examinations book (Book 1).  

The aim of the task is for candidates to write a letter to the editor of the The City Times to offer some solutions to the problem of young people driving under the influence of alcohol as a result of being more and more involved in accidents of this nature. Candidates have been instructed to begin their letter with the words "Dear Editor".


If you haven't already done so, read this post as well: B2 Writing: The Basics


Dear Editor,


                             Having read your article in The City Times, as a 14-year-old student I would like to suggest ways how to deal with the serious problem of drunk driving among teenagers. It is my firm belief that parents and schools can help in this matter a great deal.
                             To begin with, one of the reasons why adolescents drink and then drive is due to their lack of responsibility. Parents are the ones that can handle this issue by not allowing their children to drive in the first place. This does not mean that teens need to be grounded on a permanent basis, but parents should encourage them to take a taxi or bus when they decide to go out with their friends on Friday or Saturday nights. Paying for cab fare would guarantee that teenagers make it home safely and enjoy themselves as well.
                             In addition to this, educating adolescents about the consequences of their actions is always the best means to prevent car accidents. Students can be shown documentaries aimed at presenting the problem in a factual and brutally honest way which should make them think about this issue in a mature manner. Teachers can then lead discussions and have students express their thoughts and elicit possible solutions from them. Organizing them so that they appoint a different designated driver each weekend would be life-saving.
                             All things considered, there are a number of things parents and schools should do to eliminate the problem of drunk driving among adolescents. Were parents to offer their children a ride or give them bus or cab fare while schools highlight the importance of designated drivers, then the death toll on streets from such car accidents would most likely plummet.

          Yours faithfully,
                             Tom Hightower




For more sample letters or essays, click on the image below.


https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/search/label/writing

Useful B2-level exam posts can be found here:

https://argutelegacy.blogspot.com/search/label/B2

Popular posts from this blog

Writing Letters of Complaint - Useful Phrases

Whether it's to complain about something you bought or a service you found was unsatisfactory, as part of your job or because you are preparing to take an exam in English at B2 or C2 level, it is a fact that you should know the basics about writing or even orally expressing your dissatisfaction.  The following post should help you organize your letter or email (even an oral statement, if necessary) as well as give you some useful phrases you can use.

Virginia Woolf - The Legacy (Overview)

When a wife dies and leaves her husband her diary, all is possible. In Gil bert Clandon's case, the legacy his wife leaves him is much more than he could ever have imagined.  Virgi nia Woolf signs an exceptional short story which questions the foundations of marriage, people's need for communication by any means possible a nd their inclusion in a mutually beneficial partnership . When one reneges on that contract, the other will seek new outlets to grow , as p ersonal d evelopment in any marriage is inevitable. If that development is undertaken without any consideration for one's spouse, then problems will unavoidably ensue.

Tobias Wolff - Powder (Overview)

"Powder" is a short story intended to quickly state the obvious - a father's bond to his son is always a difficult thing to forge when parents aren't on good terms with each other. The level of difficulty in achieving this increases as fathers aren't used to explicitly explaining to their sons that they are trying to forge a stronger bond at a particular moment in time to begin with. Accordingly, the complications the father in this particular story is required to overcome are not only the time constraints the mother has placed on the trip as a whole or the mistrust towards her husband she has allowed her son to bear witness to which the father feels he must compensate for, but also the disparity in character traits that father and son exhibit. Having read the story for the first time, students predominantly respond to the query "What was the story about?" either with "I didn't get it. Some father and son skiing" or "S

Nadine Gordimer - An Intruder (Overview)

The short story An Intruder was incorporated in Nadine Gordimer's short story collection Livingston's Companions, published in 1970. As such, it must be read and viewed through the prism of her somewhat earlier works which dealt with South African society's inequality and the problems arising from the diseased status quo of the times. An Intruder focuses on relationships between characters and how perceptions of a situation differ in the eyes of each individual based on a combination of nature and nurture, or at the very least that is what Gordimer would have the reader gauge. What made James Seago what he is? Why is Mrs Clegg, Marie's mother, such a typical depthless wishful socialite with an exaggerated respect for higher social status? Couldn't Marie judge the merit of the man who treats her like a child or is she turning a blind eye to his behavior because it suits her? Whatever the answers to these questions, the one certainty we have is that the noti

C2 Sample Essay 8 (Parenting)

Writing at C2 level (Proficient User) on English language examinations is the same no matter the awarding body when it comes to writing essays. If you are a candidate giving an exam in English (IELTS, CPE, ECPE, CELP, LRN, ESB, TOEFL), make sure you read my earlier post What do I do with the sample writing found on this blog? to get the most out of the sample essays provided on Argute Legacy .     The topic of this essay is to discuss what the responsibilities of parenting are. If you are not taking an exam but need to discuss this topic, then read on and note down what you deem useful. If you intend to use this essay as part of an assignment, remember to paraphrase so as not to plagiarize. The topic is similar to what candidates expect in any other C2-level examination in that examiners want to see a well-organized, coherent and cohesive discussion of the issue with arguments and examples written in approximately half an hour. Whether or not you agree with the