Written by: By Min, a student at Languages International
Photo by: the trial
Type of article
– informal to neutral
* It depends on what magazine it is for (ex : young people magazine : more informal, business/travel magazine : more neutral)
* Do not use formal expressions (ex : Besides, moreover, likewise.. /I would like to give an opposite idea..)
Basic advice
– It should be interesting and catch the reader’s attention.
– Do not just copy sentence from the task.
– Use informal language to involve the reader (ex : Once Carnival starts, the whole town goes crazy!)
– Don’t forget to express your opinion (ex : I love the giant street dolls.)
Structure
1. Heading : think of an interesting title.
2. Introductory paragraph linked to the title : to make the reader interested in the topic, try to use a question.
3. One or two more paragraphs : develop your main points.
4. A final paragraph : summarise the main points and give your concluding opinion or express your feelings.
Useful language:
Involving the reader
1. Are you thinking of (getting married in the near future)?
2. I’m sure you’ll agree (it was a great idea.)
Developing your points
1 . Let’s start with (why it is so important to take plenty of exercise).
2. Another advantage (of using a computer is that..)
3. On top of that,…
Giving your own opinion
1. I think that/In my opinion (traditional celebrations are very important).
2. It seems to me that (people are much more aware of the importance of a good diet nowadays.)
“It seems to me that”
Is this expression really informal in English?
Thanks,
weick.
Hi Weick, interesting question. The short answer is no.
“It seems to me that…” is actually quite formal. It is a polite way of introducing an opinion, and suggests that the relationship between the writer and reader/s is not particularly close. The fact that the writer has used the relative pronoun “that” also suggests heightened formality. In less formal writing, we can drop “that” from this kind of sentence.
If this person wanted to be genuinely informal, they could use a phrase like “I think”, or really informal: “I reckon”. Or they could just give their opinion without introducing it at all, eg: “You should ask her out”.
Hope this helps,
Tom.