Formal and Informal Letters

• Private text used for communication between two or more people is considered a letter.
• The sender or remitter is the person who writes and sends the letter.
• The addressee is the person who receives the letter.

Informal Letters

• Informal letters are sent by the issuer to someone close, like a friend or family member.
• Informal languages are used when speaking of personal matters, in an environment of trust.

Formal Letters

• Formal letters address official, business, or request matters.
• Formal letters are directed to institutions, schools, companies, or people holding public office.

Formal Language

• Formal language is used to communicate with those with whom one maintains a distant or respectful relationship
• Formal language is characterized by being clear, organized, concise, and direct.
• Adeuqte and varied vocabulary is used and filler words are avoided.
• Formal letters can be used to express opinions, request services or procedures, present formal complaints, expose a problem, request a permit, solicit information, send formal invitations to events, or send thank you letters.

Parts of a Formal Letter

• Place and date
• Recipient, title, and position held
• Subject
• Greeting
• Body of the letter
• Sender's farewell
• Signature

Politeness Phrases

• Politeness phrases express formality, respect, and kindness toward the recipient.
• Examples include: "Good afternoon", "Excuse me", "Dear", "Appreciable", "To whom it may concern", "I am pleased to address you...", "Without further ado, I bid you farewell...", "Receive a cordial greeting", "I await your response", among others.

Connectives

• Connectives are words whose function is to join words, sentences, or paragraphs, so that these are correctly related to each other.

Classification of Connectives

• Consecutive: Although - introduces an idea that seems to hinder the action expressed previously (e.g., "Elena will buy a TV, although she doesn't have much money.")
• Adversatives:
  • But - introduces an idea that opposes the previous one (e.g., "I wanted to go to the party, but I couldn't.")
  • However - introduces an idea contrary to the previous one, but without preventing it (e.g., "I warned him that the trip was dangerous; however, he finds danger more interesting.")
  • Instead - introduces a counterpoint (e.g., "Mexico and Canada agree to sign the treaty; instead, the United States of America opposes.")
• Causals:
  • Therefore, as a result - these connectives introduce ideas or actions that are a consequence of what was said previously (e.g., "Felipe will offer a dinner at his house; therefore, he will have to cook.")
• Explicatives: That is, in other words, this is, rather - explain information already given in another way (e.g., "Renata is my mom's sister; that is, she is my aunt.")
• Punctuation marks indicate the pauses and intonation with which the sentences of a text should be read; that is, they organize the speech. Electronic mail is a messaging system over the Internet that allows you to send and receive messages without the sender and the addressee being connected at the same time.

Oral Presentation

• An oral presentation is a spoken presentation before an audience.
• The purpose of an oral presentation is to clearly and systematically explain ideas, concepts, arguments, and examples about a specific topic.
• An oral presentation is developed in spoken form, using formal language.
• It must be clear, organized, concise, and direct, avoid filler words, and the information must be clear, objective, and reliable.
• Oral presentation is based on explanations to detail an aspect to make it more understandable, presented after an idea that requires further explanation.
• Descriptions are statements that express general characteristics, so that the listener can recreate a mental image of what they hear.

Explicative Connectives

• Explicative Connectives include words or phrases whose function is to introduce explanations or examples, such as "that is," "rather," "in other words," "this is," "for example," etc.

Presentation Script

• A presentation guide is the text that helps you organize the information you have gathered and will serve as a guide when you make your presentation.

Structure of an Oral Presentation

• Introduction: This the first part of the presentation consists of introducing the speaker and the topic to be discussed and its importance.
• Development: This is the most extensive and relevant part, since the topic is presented in an orderly manner (with its subtopics).
• Explanations, descriptions, definitions, and examples are used.
• Conclusion: This is the final part of the presentation, in which the central points of the topic are resumed, and the speaker gives some personal reflection or a general comment.
• Schedule: A work schedule in which the activities to be carried out are distributed so that each one is assigned a certain time.
• Graphic Aids: Visual resources that complement and clarify the information, in a schematic way.
• Rubric: An instrument used to assess a person's performance in an activity, created in the form of a table, in which the levels of performance and learning are expressed in determined criteria.
• Monograph: An informative text that develops a topic of interest related to an area of knowledge, such as science, history, or literature.

Structure of a Monograph

• The parts of a monograph includes:
• Title
• Index
• Introduction
• Development
• Conclusion
• Graphic Support
• Bibliography
• Draft: This is the name given to the draft or the first version of the text to which you can still make modifications.
• Pronouns: Words that are used to replace the noun in a sentence and keep you from having to mention it directly.
• Synonyms: Words that are written differently but have the same or similar meaning.
• Textual Coherence: This means that the text is logically organized and can be interpreted.
• Textual Markers: Words or phrases that serve to link ideas or paragraphs in a text.
• Markers do not form part of the meaning of the sentence, but they give coherence to the topic.
• They help to structure the text.
• They show the relationships between the different parts of the topic.
• They are generally placed at the beginning of sentences or paragraphs and guide the reader.