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Letter prompts are almost guaranteed on Paper 2. They typically ask you to write to a specific person — a headteacher, an MP, a newspaper editor, a local councillor, a business manager — about a specific issue. Email prompts appear occasionally too, usually with a similar professional audience. Both forms share a core skill: knowing exactly who you are writing to and adjusting your register accordingly.
This lesson develops AO5, particularly the strand that rewards selecting and adapting tone, style and register for different forms, purposes and audiences. We will use the FAP framework from Lesson 2 and apply it specifically to letters: form (letter/email, with layout conventions), audience (the named recipient), and purpose (most commonly argue, complain, request, appeal, or propose).
Unlike an article (where a missing headline can be overlooked), a letter that skips its layout conventions signals that the student has not identified the form. Examiners report this as the single most common error in letter responses, and it puts a Level 3 ceiling on AO5 marks that is hard to lift.
A Paper 2 letter needs, at minimum:
You do not need to spend five minutes drawing perfect address blocks — a quick two-line summary is enough. Examiners are looking for evidence that you know the form, not for architectural precision.
This single rule trips up more students than any other on Paper 2. Memorise it:
| Salutation | Sign-off |
|---|---|
| Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms [Surname] (you know their name) | Yours sincerely |
| Dear Sir/Madam (you don't know their name) | Yours faithfully |
| Dear [First name] (informal, e.g. writing to a friend's parent) | Best wishes or Kind regards |
| Hi [Name] (email, informal) | Best / Thanks / Regards |
Yours sincerely with Dear Sir is wrong. Yours faithfully with Dear Mr Harrison is wrong. Both are easily avoidable once you know the rule, and both cost AO5 marks.
Most Paper 2 letters are formal. But "formal" is not a single register — there are degrees.
| Register | When to use | Vocabulary | Sentence feel |
|---|---|---|---|
| High formal | Government officials, MPs, CEOs | Precise, slightly elevated | Longer, carefully balanced |
| Standard formal | Headteachers, councillors, business managers | Standard, clear | Mix of lengths, mostly mid |
| Semi-formal | Known professional adults, neighbours | Standard, occasional warmth | Natural, unforced |
| Informal | Friends, family, peers | Conversational | Short, direct |
Paper 2 prompts usually point to standard formal — polite, clear, respectful without being stiff. Over-formality is just as wrong as under-formality: a letter to a headteacher that reads like a government white paper signals that the student is performing formality rather than matching register.
The test: if you read your letter aloud and it sounds like no real person would say it, pull it back. Formal does not mean unreadable.
Most Paper 2 letter prompts fall into one of four purpose categories. Each has a characteristic opening move.
| Purpose | Opening move | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Complaint | Identify the issue; stay respectful | I am writing to express my concern about… |
| Request | Frame the request early; give reasons second | I am writing to request your consideration of… |
| Argue / persuade | Concede briefly; make the case | I appreciate that this is a difficult decision, but I believe… |
| Appeal | Acknowledge authority; ground in principle | I am writing to ask you to reconsider… |
Whatever the purpose, the first paragraph of any letter should make three things clear within 60–80 words: who you are, why you are writing, and what you want the reader to do about it. If a reader cannot tell those three things by the end of paragraph one, the letter is failing.
graph TD
A["HEADING BLOCK<br/>Address / date / salutation"] --> B["PARAGRAPH 1<br/>Who you are + purpose of letter"]
B --> C["PARAGRAPH 2<br/>Main argument with evidence"]
C --> D["PARAGRAPH 3<br/>Develop / counter-point"]
D --> E["PARAGRAPH 4<br/>What you want done"]
E --> F["SIGN-OFF<br/>Yours sincerely / faithfully"]
style A fill:#3498db,color:#fff
style F fill:#27ae60,color:#fff
Four-to-five developed paragraphs in the body is usually right for Paper 2 — enough to build an argument, not so many that the reader loses track. Unlike an article, a letter rewards slightly shorter, clearer paragraphs because the reader is typically busy (a councillor, a manager) and will skim.
Prompt: Write a letter to your local council arguing against a proposal to build a new supermarket on the town's green space.
Here is a full letter (approx 450 words), with annotation highlighting the form features.
14 Ashwood Close Fordham, FD4 2LP
16th April 2026
Councillor Martin Harrison Fordham Borough Council Fordham, FD1 9AA
Dear Councillor Harrison,
I am writing as a resident of Fordham, and a regular user of Ashwood Green, to express my strong concern about the proposal, currently under consultation, to grant planning permission for a new supermarket development on the green itself. I know that decisions of this kind are rarely straightforward, and I appreciate that the council is weighing the economic case carefully. Nevertheless, I would like to ask you to consider the arguments against this proposal before reaching a final decision.
My first concern is the loss of green space in a town that already has very little of it. Ashwood Green is the only open space within walking distance for families living in the streets north of the ring road, a population of around four thousand people. The nearest alternative, Grange Park, is over a mile away and separated from our side of town by the dual carriageway. For young children, elderly residents and anyone without a car, losing Ashwood Green does not mean walking a little further — it means, in practice, losing daily access to grass, trees and open sky.
The second issue is traffic. The proposed site is on a residential road which already struggles with morning and evening congestion. A supermarket of the size described in the consultation document would generate, by the developer's own figures, over 1,200 additional vehicle movements per day. I find it difficult to see how that volume of traffic could be absorbed without significant impact on neighbouring streets, many of which are used by children walking to St Mary's Primary School.
I am of course aware of the argument that the new supermarket would bring local employment and choice to Fordham residents. I take that argument seriously, and I would not write to you at all if I thought the economic case was empty. But the council's own retail impact assessment, published in January, suggests that the net gain in local employment would be modest — perhaps fifteen to twenty full-time equivalent positions — and that several of those jobs would be displaced from existing shops in the town centre. For a town where the high street is already under pressure, that is not an unambiguous benefit.
I would ask you, therefore, to vote against the current proposal when it comes before the planning committee, and to encourage the developer to consider alternative sites within the existing retail park on Brook Road.
Yours sincerely,
Jennifer Walsh
Annotation:
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