VSTEP WRITING

PART 1 (LETTER)
Greeting/ Salutation:
Dear Tom, Hi Tom,
Paragraph 1 (opening):
 Starting your letter :
Thanks for your letter. (Cảm ơn bạn đã viết thư)
Lovely to hear from you. (Rất vui khi nhận được tin tức từ bạn)
How are you? (Bạn khỏe không?)
How are things? (Mọi việc thế nào)
Hope you're well. (Mình hi vọng bạn khỏe.)
 Relate to information mentioned in the letter (nhận xét về một thông tin trong bức thư
mà người bạn viết cho bạn)
I'm sorry to hear/learn ... Mình rất tiệc khi nghe được/ biết rằng...
I'm so pleased to hear ... Mình rất vui khi biết rằng
It's great to hear ... Thật vui khi biết rằng
What wonderful news about ...
Paragraph 2(body): main contents (answering all questions mentioned in the letter). You
may use some phrase to link the ideas:
Anyway, the reason I'm writing ...
I thought I'd write to tell/ask you
Anyway, I was wondering ...
Paragraph 3 (closing):
Well, that's all for now.
Write back soon.
Looking forward to hearing from you again.
All the best/ Best wishes/ See you soon/ Take care/ Yours/ Love/ Lots of love

Sample: “I know you often go to the cinema. Tell me about the last film you saw and whether
you enjoyed it.”

Hi Tom,
How is it going? I was very busy this week. But you know that I love films.
I saw the film with the name “Bend it like Beckham”. It’s a very interesting film about
football. The main story is about an Indian girl who wants to play football. Her parents don’t
let her play. But she’s a very good football player. She’s better than a boy who doesn’t know
how to play football. Finally she goes to America for professional league. Santa Barbara, I’m
not sure of the team name. Anyway, it’s a happy ending for her and her family.
I recommended the film to Mike and he loved it very much. So I do recommend to you the film
“Bend it like Beckham”.
If I were you, I’d go to the cinema right now. Have a good weekend. See you soon.
Bye,
Ann

1
PART 2 (ESSAY)
- discussion (advantages/ disadvantages)
- opinion
- problem – solution

I. Introduction
- general statement (giới thiệu chung về chủ đề)
- thesis statement (trả lời câu hỏi đề bài)
II. Main body
Đưa ra các lập luận giải quyết yêu cầu đề bài. Mỗi lập luận viết thành một đoạn sử dụng lí do
và ví dụ cụ thể minh hoạ. Nên viết từ 2 đến 3 đoạn.
III. Conclusion
- summary of main points (tóm tắt ý chính)
- comment (đưa ra nhận xét hoặc ý kiến cá nhân)

Sample: “Nowadays online shopping becomes more popular than in-store shopping. Is it a
positive or a negative development? Give your reasons and examples.”

Now that we can buy just about anything with a few mouse clicks from the comfort of our
home, very few people actually feel the need to venture into brick and mortar stores. There is
no denying the fact that online shopping has become more popular than in-store shopping.
This trend has both positive and negative aspects.

The huge popularity of online shopping can be attributed to the fact that it makes shopping
easier. It saves both time and money. Buyers no longer have to drive all the way to shops to
buy things. Also, online stores tend to offer attractive prices probably because they have
lower overhead costs. This allows them to sell items for deeply discounted prices. This can
lead to major cost benefits for shoppers. In addition, online shopping makes it easy to buy
things from any part of the world. Even if an item is not available in your country, you can
buy it from online stores. Online shopping also allows you to compare prices before hitting
the purchase button.

On the flip side, the ease of online shopping has made many people compulsive shoppers.
Most of us spend lots of time on the internet every day. And while we are on the internet, we
get bombarded with numerous advertisements. For a compulsive shopper, this is a good
reason to splurge. The fact that online shopping encourages us to buy things that we do not
need or use cannot be denied. This can lead to debts. Also, there are security concerns. When
you buy things online, you run a small risk of getting your financial information exploited by
hackers. Of course, good anti-virus and anti-malware programs can offer a great deal of
protection. But almost every week, we hear about data breaches at major online retailers.

To conclude, online shopping has several advantages and disadvantages. However, the
advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Of course, the shopper has to exercise some common
sense and keep their device free of malware if they want to enjoy the benefits of online
shopping.