A semi-formal request to your manager
The third register, completing the set: semi-formal, to someone you know by name but not closely. Written online against the clock, self-assessed against the four criteria, and shown beside the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it.
How to use this. Write the letter in the box below in about twenty minutes, at least 150 words, as in the real test. Cover all three bullet points and hold a consistent register throughout. When you've finished, open Self-assessment to mark your own work against the four criteria and read the Band 7.5+ model letter I wrote for it. You can download a copy to keep. For a person to mark your writing against the criteria, the first lesson includes a full assessment. New to the letter? Start with the GT Writing: the letter guide. The other two registers: paper 01, formal and paper 02, informal.
Write the letter.
Recommended 20 minutes · at least 150 words
You have been offered a place on a part-time course that takes place during working hours one afternoon a week. Write a letter to your manager. In your letter:
- give details of the course
- explain how the course will benefit your work
- suggest how your missed hours could be covered
Write at least 150 words. You do not need to write any addresses. Begin your letter Dear ...,
Mark your own work.
Be honest with yourself against the four criteria, the same four an examiner uses on the letter. Then read the model letter and see exactly what a Band 7.5+ answer does.
Task Achievement
Coherence & Cohesion
Lexical Resource
Grammatical Range & Accuracy
The model letter I wrote for this task
Dear Mr Chen,
I am writing to ask whether I might adjust my working hours this autumn, as I have been offered a place on a part-time course that I believe would benefit the team as well as me.
The course is a Certificate in Project Management at Westbrook College, running every Wednesday afternoon from 2pm to 5pm for twelve weeks, beginning on 24 September. It covers planning, budgeting and risk, and is taught through case studies rather than lectures.
As you know, I have taken on more of the department’s scheduling this year, and much of that work I have learned as I go. Formal training would let me handle the larger projects we discussed at my last review with far more confidence, and I would be glad to share the course materials with the rest of the team.
To cover the missed hours, I could start an hour earlier on Mondays and Tuesdays, or make up the time during our quieter Friday afternoons, whichever suits the rota better.
Thank you for considering this. I would be happy to discuss it whenever convenient.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
Why it scores. The register sits exactly between the two poles: respectful but human, with requests softened the way English actually softens them (whether I might, I would be glad to, whichever suits the rota better). All three bullets are developed with specifics: the course is named, timed and dated, the benefit is tied to real duties rather than asserted, and two workable cover options are offered. Dear Mr Chen takes Yours sincerely, because the recipient is named; Yours faithfully here would be a register error.
Where a letter like this usually loses marks. Missing the middle register from either side: Dear Sir or Madam to a manager you see every day, or a chummy Hi Dave, cheers in a workplace request. Also common: announcing rather than asking (I will be attending a course), giving no course details, and offering nothing to cover the hours, which leaves the third bullet untouched. Fix the register and the request tone first.
This is a model letter I wrote for this task, not a marked student submission. For a person to mark a letter of yours against the four criteria, the first lesson is a full assessment.
Take your work with you.
Download your letter alongside the model, so you can revise it later or bring it to a lesson.
First time writing a letter? Work through the GT Writing: the letter guide, then write this one against the clock.
Send a task. Get it back marked.
A model shows you the target. It can’t tell you why your own letter sits below it.
Write the letter above and send it to me. I’ll mark it in detail against the four assessment criteria and return it to you annotated, line by line, so you can see exactly where the band is sitting and what is holding it down. Written work is handled this way around the lessons, sent over and returned marked between sessions, which keeps the fifty minutes themselves free for speaking. The first lesson is a full assessment. Regular lessons are £20 for fifty minutes, one to one, in proper British English.