Hi Mates,
Today, an interesting B2 writing where I had to develop a BLOG ENTRY. Remember that this sort of writing is an article which has a specific structure. These were the requests of this example.
Task. B2 level.
Write about 200-220 words.
A famous travelling website is looking for interesting places to visit around the world. You decide to write a blog entry about your last holidays. In your review you explain:
-What made you choose that place.
-Which makes it different.
-What kind of activities we can enjoy there.
And this could well be an example…
Surrounded by history
Sometimes, when we need to rest after a long year working, we decide to take some days and enjoy the silence and quiet places, but that is not always the case, in other cases we need to be surrounded by our past.
In our three or four last holidays we went to visit beautiful beaches, breathtaking landscapes and huge mountains, but on this occasion, we decided to do something new, something different. We went to Edinburgh in Scotland to see the Festival of Samhaim in November, but you can enjoy a broad range of cultural activities there.
It was late when we got there and we decided to go to the hotel directly in The Royal Mile. That is the main street there, it goes from Castle Rock to Holyroodhouse Palace, the main buildings there, but that short journey through the city was enough to see all the beautiful places that we would enjoy the next days.
In our first day, we woke up very early in the morning and started visiting the city. When you are there, you get the feeling that you are in another century, visiting its buildings, streets, shops, passages, stairways. You have a lot of things to visit there such as museums, exhibitions, street markets, palaces, the Castle where you need a whole day to tour it, cemeteries, yes! The cemeteries are different there, not only because they look different than Spanish ones, it’s because the Scots feel those places in a different way.
As you can see, you can enjoy a different holiday, without stress, without pressures and discovering a lot of things about our past, a past that has always been there.
Enjoy it!!
Structure of a blog entry.
A blog entry is really an article but with a conversational style depending on the register, where we can share opinions or personal experiences. We have to start with an engaging title and we can include images.
And this is the structure of an article.
An article is a piece of writing for publication in a magazine, newspaper, etc. It may be formal or informal in style and has as a main purpose to provide information, present an opinion, describe a place, etc.
But there are some specialised articles such as the news reports, for brief publications in newspapers, written in a formal and impersonal style. And reviews, which can be formal or semi-formal, focused on assessing or discussing a book, a film, etc. They are normally written in present tenses.
But all of them consist of:
- It begins with an engaging headline, maybe a question. The title should give a clear idea of what the article is about, using the present simple tense. But I usually decide it at the end, because it is easier, after writing all the article you will have a much clearer view.
- After that, a short introductory paragraph, maybe two or three lines, a brief summary of what the article will show.
- A main body with different ideas addressed to a specific type of reader (maybe formal in style or informal using the second person “you”). It is really important to cover all the points given in the exam, separated into paragraphs. Besides, the article has to be consistent with the organization and adapt the language to the required level. Depending on the type of article, news report or review, you may use connectors such as: to begin with, it is widely known that, the main reason for, it is popularly believed that, as a general rule, initially, this film is set in, this play is directed by, this book is the sequel to… and so on.
- And finally, a conclusion, opinion, recommendation or comment. Depending on the type of article, you may use: to conclude, on the whole, if these suggestions were followed, to sum up, all in all, taking everything into account, you should definitely read, it is well worth seeing… Even you may finish with a rhetorical question to generate expectation.
