Below are lots of useful sentence openers that you could consider incorporating into your writing exam tasks:
FORMAL LETTERS
Letters objecting to someone's plans
I
am writing to express my concern /disappointment / alarm at hearing ...
I
was extremely alarmed/sorry/distressed to hear about your plans to ...
As
I think you know, …
May
I point out that …
I
feel I really must object to ...
I
am extremely concerned at the thought that ...
It
must be very clear that ...
If
these proposals go ahead, ... will happen.
Another
threat to ... , if these proposals go ahead, would come from ...
I
dread to imagine what damage this will cause.
May
I respectfully suggest that you ...
I
was wondering if you had considered this alternative?
Would
it not be possible to ... ?
Letters
of complaint
I
am writing to complain about ...
I
am writing to tell you how disappointed/annoyed I feel about ...
I
was amazed/distressed/horrified to find that ...
As
you must realise, ...
I
am sure you know that ...
I
am sure you can imagine ...
I
am sure you will appreciate that ...
It
goes without saying that ...
At
the very least, I look forward to receiving ...
Unless
you ... , I am afraid that I will have to take this matter further.
Letters
of recommendation
I
am writing to you on behalf of ...
I
have known X for ... years.
She
/ He has shown herself/himself to be extremely ...
X
would seem to fit the requirements of this job perfectly.
I
have no hesitation in recommending X as a ...
Letters
to the editor
I
am writing about the article on ... , which appeared (in last night's paper).
I
am writing with reference to the article you published (in last month's issue).
I
have just read your article on ... and I feel I must ...
You
raised some issues which I feel strongly about.
At
the start of your article, you appear to claim that ...
I
am afraid I totally disagree.
I
am completely in agreement.
I
am sure readers will agree with me when I say that ...
ARTICLES
Sequencing
At
first / To start with/In the beginning, ...
Then/Next/After
that, ...
The
next thing that happened was ...
The
next thing I knew was ...
Seconds/Minutes
later,
Late
on/Some time later,
It
wasn't until much later that ...
After
some time/After what seemed like years, ...
Finally/In
the end, ...
At
last, ...
Simultaneous
events
Meanwhile/In
the meantime,
While
all this was going on,
In
the middle of all this, ...
During
all this time, ...
Sudden
or unexpected events
Suddenly/All
of a sudden, ...
All
at once, ...
Out
of the blue, ...
Without
any warning, ...
Just
when I was least expecting it, ...
The
next thing I knew was ...
Rapid
events
As
quick as a flash, ...
In
the wink of an eye, ...
In
a matter of seconds/minutes, ...
In
no time at all, ...
Looking
back
In
retrospect, ...
When
I think back to what happened then, ...
REPORTS
Introductory
comments
I
recently visited (the new Leisure Centre) and have prepared the following
report for your consideration.
Further
to my visit to ... , I have prepared the following report.
The
following report relates to my recent visit to ...
General
comments
On
the whole, I found that ...
Although
... , I should point out that ...
It
is a fact that ...
Concluding
comments
All
things considered, I believe that ...
Taking
all these points into consideration, I would recommend ...
I
recommend that we look into the possibility of ...
Comparing
places or facilities
One
of the main differences between X and Y is that …
X
is completely/entirely/totally different from Y in that …
Unlike
X, Y is ...
While/Whereas/Although
X is ... , Y is ...
X
is a little/slightly/somewhat/a great deal (bigger/more elegant than Y.
X
is not quite/nearly as (comfortable/expensive/ convenient) as Y because ...
X
is virtually/exactly the same as Y when it comes to ...
REVIEWS
x
has much to recommend it.
X
is, at heart, a(n) love/spy/adventure story.
It
is based on a book by ...
It
is set in the countryside/the future.
The
film has a quality cast.
The
film was directed by ...
The
film score is enchanting/evocative/scary.
The
film captures the spirit of ...
The
hero/heroine/villain is ...
I
felt/thought it was …
I
was impressed by …
What
struck me most was ...
What
I liked most/didn't like was ...
The
plot was gripping.
The
characters were very convincing/very well drawn.
On
reflection, I think it was ...
It
struck me as being ...
What
I didn't understand was how ...
In
spite of these few criticisms, I think ...
I
would have no hesitation in recommending …
General
useful words and phrases
These
words and phrases can be used in the following text types, depending on what
are asked to write about:
•
letters
•
essays
•
articles
•
proposals
•
reports
•
reviews
Expressing
and supporting opinions
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
I
believe/do not believe that ... (because) ...
Personally
I feel that ... Let me explain why.
In
my opinion, ... Just consider ...
As
I see it, … The reason is ...
It
seems to me that… This is because ...
I
would argue that for the following reasons.
I
feel very strongly that ...
I
am convinced that ...
I
am of the opinion that ...
I
am very much in favour of/against ...
I
am completely opposed to ...
The
reasons why I believe that ... are as follows.
Opening
phrases
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
People
(sometimes) claim that … but I feel that ...
It
is often said/argued that ... However, it seems to me that ...
It
is a fact that ...
Over
the past few months/years, it seems that …
Recently,
we have all become concerned that …
Nowadays,
we are all realising that ...
In
the past, people used to …, but now ...
These
days, it seems that ….
Making
statements
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
It
is clear that ...
On
the whole, it appears/seems that ...
We
must take into account the fact that ....
It
goes without saying that ...
It
is important to remember that ...
Explaining/Expanding
ideas and giving examples
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
...
This means that ...
...
This is largely due to ...
…For
example/For instance, ...
…In
other words, ...
Take,
for example, the situation in ...
Listing
arguments
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
Firstly/In
the first place / To begin with, …
Secondly/A
second area to consider is …
Another
point to remember is ...
Finally,
...
In
conclusion, ..
Last
but not least, ...
Evaluating
ideas, Dismissing contrary arguments
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays and articles.
I
think it is true that ...
I
totally disagree/agree with the point that…
It
is questionable whether …
I
am sure/I doubt whether …
It
is true that ... On the other hand, ...
While
nobody can deny that ... , I would like to point out that …
I
agree that …However, ...
Although
it is true that , we must remember that ...
It
could be argued that … However, I would like to point out that ...
Despite
all the arguments, I still feel that ...
Notwithstanding
the claim that ... , I would argue that…
It
may be true that ... , but all too often ...
In
no way can I agree that ...
Surely
it is completely unacceptable that ...
Persuading
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters and proposals.
I
would urge you to consider…
I
am sure you will agree that…
Surely
you must agree that…
I
would urge you very strongly to ...
When
you hear the arguments, I am sure you will agree that ...
Evaluating
These
words and expressions are especially useful in reports, proposals and reviews.
I
was extremely impressed by…
I
was rather disappointed by…
While
X has much to commend it, I feel that some aspects could be improved.
The
problem could easily be solved if ...
I
would like to praise the ...
Another
area for complaint is …
My
overall impression was that …
I
am sure that visitors/readers/holidaymakers will thoroughly enjoy ...
While
some people will love ... , others may feel less happy.
A
major problem is that ...
I
was less happy with ...
Making
recommendations
These
words and expressions are especially useful in proposals and reports.
I
recommend that we ...
I
propose that we ...
We
should also ...
I
believe that we should ...
We
could ...
If
we were to… , we could ...
I
suggest we… We would then be able to ...
Summarising
These
words and expressions are especially useful in letters, essays,articles,
reports, proposals and reviews.
All
in all, I think that ...
To
sum up, I believe that ...
In
conclusion, the facts suggest that ...
Describing
These
words and expressions are especially useful in articles, reviews, and letters.
Character/Personality
He
tends to be ...
She
can be ...
He
is inclined to be ...
She
appears/seems to be ...
Hobbies
and interests
He
is crazy about ... -ing.
She
loves ... -ing.
His
greatest love is ...
What
she loves most in life is ...
He
spends all his time ... -ing.
