Email Structure That Scores
A Task 1 email has five jobs and about 180 words to do them in. The shape is fixed enough to rely on and loose enough that it never reads as a template.
The shape, and why it is worth fixing
An email that scores well on Task 1 almost always has the same five parts: a subject line, a purpose sentence, a context paragraph, one paragraph per bullet, and a close that names what happens next. That is not a template in the bad sense. It is the shape any competent email takes, which is exactly why it does not look memorised.
Having the shape settled in advance frees your twenty minutes of writing for content rather than architecture. Content and Coherence, at 30 per cent, rewards a reader being able to follow you without going back, and a predictable shape is the cheapest way to deliver that.
It also protects Task Fulfilment. If each bullet owns a paragraph, an unanswered bullet becomes visually obvious, and the most expensive error in the section becomes one you can see.
The subject line
A subject line takes eight seconds and is the first evidence that you know what an email is. Make it state the issue, not the emotion.
Urgent Repair Needed: Leaking Kitchen Ceiling, Unit 4B orients the reader instantly. Complaint does not. A one-word subject followed by three exclamation marks does neither, and the punctuation costs you separately.
The pattern that works is issue plus identifier. Damage During Move on 14 March, Booking MR-40821. Request for Extension: History 210 Final Essay. Noise from Unit 6B on Weekday Evenings. An identifier in the subject also quietly helps you, because it commits you to the invented facts you are about to use.
For an informal email the subject line relaxes but does not disappear. Coming to Halifax in May? is a fine informal subject. Hey is not.
The purpose sentence
Your first sentence after the greeting says why you are writing, in one line, with the key fact attached. This is the sentence that decides whether the rest of the email reads as organised.
Strong: I am writing to report a plumbing problem in my apartment, Unit 4B at 120 Maple Street, that needs your urgent attention. The purpose and the identifying detail arrive together.
Weak: I hope this email finds you well. My name is Daniel and I am a tenant. I am writing to you today about something that has been happening recently in my apartment which I would like to discuss with you. Three sentences, thirty-eight words, and the reader still does not know what the problem is.
The cost of the weak version is not just style. Those thirty-eight words are a fifth of your budget spent on nothing, and they will be missing from the bullet you later under-write.
In an informal email the purpose sentence is still there, just warmer: Hope you're doing well. I'm writing because I've finally moved into the new place and I want you to come and visit. One line of contact, then the point.
Context, then one paragraph per bullet
After the purpose sentence, give the reader the situation in two or three sentences, then take the bullets in order, one paragraph each.
The context paragraph is where your invented specifics live: the date, the reference number, the amount, the circumstances. It is also where the fidelity rule bites hardest, so use the prompt's own nouns. If the prompt says a glass cabinet and a box of kitchen items, write about a glass cabinet and a box of kitchen items.
Each bullet paragraph should do one job and contain at least one concrete detail. Compare two versions of a bullet asking how the problem affects you. This situation is very inconvenient and stressful for me and my family. That is a feeling, and it develops nothing. For safety reasons I have stopped using the stove, and I empty buckets on the counter several times a day. That is the same idea made observable, and it earns marks under Content and Coherence as well as Vocabulary.
Paragraphs should be three or four sentences. A single block of 180 words damages Readability, which names paragraphing directly, and it makes bullet coverage impossible for you to check.
Put an identifier in the subject line, such as a date or a reference number. It orients the reader in six words and it forces you to commit to the invented facts before the first paragraph can contradict them.
A close that does work
Most candidates end with a sentence that could be attached to any email ever written. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. It is not wrong, but it earns nothing.
A close that works names the action and the timeframe. Could you please arrange for a plumber to inspect both units within the next two days? I am available at any time that suits the repair schedule. Now the close is carrying the third bullet rather than sitting next to it.
For a complaint, name the remedy: an inspection, a replacement, a refund, a written response by a date. For a request, name the decision you want and when you need it. For an informal email, name the next step: Send me your dates and I'll book the time off.
Then sign off in the register you chose and stop. An email that ends twice, with both a specific request and a generic thank-you paragraph, has spent twenty words to weaken its own ending.
A full email with the shape visible
Scenario: your recent move damaged a glass cabinet and a box of kitchen items is missing. Write to the customer service manager. Bullets: give the date, booking number and amount paid; describe the damage and how you found it; say what you want done and by when.
Subject: Damage and Missing Items, Move on 14 March, Booking MR-40821
Dear Ms Okafor,
I am writing about damage that occurred during my move on 14 March, carried out under booking number MR-40821, for which I paid $1,340.
When I unpacked the following morning, I found that the glass door of my display cabinet had cracked across its full width, and that a box of kitchen items was not among the items delivered. Your crew leader advised me to contact your office directly, and I have since called twice without reaching anyone.
The missing box contained everyday cookware, so I have been buying replacements while I wait, and the cabinet cannot be used until the glass is replaced.
I would appreciate it if you could arrange an inspection of the cabinet this week and confirm in writing what compensation you are able to offer for the missing box. Could you please reply by Friday 21 March.
Sincerely,
Daniel Reyes
That is 173 words. Subject line, purpose, context, three bullets in three paragraphs, a close naming both the action and the deadline, and a consistent formal register throughout. Nothing in it is clever, and that is the point.
Make your closing sentence carry the third bullet rather than thanking the reader twice. "Could you please reply by Friday 21 March" earns marks; "I look forward to hearing from you" earns none and costs the same words.
Practise it
Five judgements on email shape, most of them a choice between two versions of the same line.