Diplomacyand tact • Module 761.4 Starting the letter
The.followingare thefirstparagraphs of f ourCAE students' attempts atthis
wntinq task. Which oneISbes t? Whatis wrongwith eachof the others?Iaman honest per son,and I know that I must not
tell lies. Nevertheless,fdo want youtolookafter
the onimal.Sohereis an objectivelytrue account
ofthe twoweeks Attila stoyed withmelast
summer. I'msure that y ou'llseeyou have nothing
toworryobout, andsoyou won'tchang e your
mind abouttaking the animal.
Thanks foryourletter.I don'tknow whatyou'veheard abo ut
m myexperience with Attila last summer,whichce rtainlywasn' t
'awful'_ I can'timaginewho you'vebeentalkingto!
Admittedly, thosetwo weeks were eventful ,butall in all I
think it wouldbe fair to say thatAttilaand Ispenta
memorabl eandat times enjoyable fortnight together. Solet
me tell you exactly whathappen ed- I' msure you will realize
that Attila could notposs iblybe heldto blame either formy
father'sheart attackor forthe damageto the police car.l!I Thanks very much for your letteraskin.
lookafter Attila.Ithink you'llIid h ' g for sdvico about how t o
getusedtohim even thou ht~' e eno problemat all once you
Justsothaty;U don't h g ISmaytaketwo or three days.
everything youneedtok aveanysurprises,I'dbettertell you
nowaboutall his hab't.
exercise and, above all h' Is : eatmg, sleeping,
, ISsenseofhumour.
Tha?kyou .verymuchfor you r let ter, wh ich I
recelve~t h ismorning.In reply to your questi on
con~ermngthe fortnightduring whichI lookeda fte r
Attilalas~sum me r, Ihastento reassure youthat
theexperien cewasby no meansa s'awful' as it
wouldappearto. havebeenpaintedby some ; plea se
allow me t o cla rifythe situat ionbydescribing in
fulltheeventsof t h osetwo weeks.
1.5 Writing
Write your reply toAgatha(about 250words).
Taskbank: Tas ks 17 and 32Task types • 111