Write an e-mail to the Principal of a neighbouring school requesting him / her to send a team of three members to participate in the Quiz Competition.

MODEL ANSWER

To: principal@zenithpublicschool.edu.in Subject: Invitation to send a team for our Inter-School Quiz Competition

Respected Sir,

I am writing on behalf of St. Xavier’s School, Kanpur, to invite your school to send a team of three students to take part in the Inter-School Quiz Competition we are hosting.

The competition will be held in our Auditorium on Thursday, 24 October 2019, from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Eight schools will participate, each fielding a team of three. There will be a written preliminary round followed by a final between the four qualifying teams, and the questions will cover general knowledge, current affairs, science and sport. Students of Classes IX to XII are eligible, and the team should be accompanied by a teacher.

There is no participation fee, and refreshments will be provided. We should be grateful if the names of the three participants could reach us by Friday, 18 October 2019.

We look forward to welcoming your students. I look forward to your reply.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely, Sudhakar Menon Head Boy St. Xavier’s School, Kanpur

WHAT THIS QUESTION SPECIFICALLY REQUIRES

Note the precise request: a TEAM OF THREE MEMBERS. The number is in the question, so it must be in the e-mail. Asking for "some students" would miss a stated requirement.

The DETAILS MUST MATCH the notice in part (a) — same date, time, venue, number of schools, team size. Examiners read the two together and notice when they disagree.

Note also the chain of address: you write to the PRINCIPAL asking him to send students. The invitation is addressed to him, not to the students.

Content checklist: event, date, time, venue, team size, who is eligible, the format of the competition, the practical arrangements, and the deadline for names. FORMAT AND MARKS DIVISION: see the Notice and E-mail references in the Writing Formats & Marking (Reference) chapter.

USE THIS AS A MODEL, NOT AS AN ANSWER TO MEMORISE. The question asks for an ORIGINAL composition, and every year examiners identify scripts reproduced from guide books; a memorised answer can be penalised for plagiarism and will in any case read as borrowed. Study this piece for its STRUCTURE — how it opens, how the paragraphs are ordered, where the required tasks are answered, how it ends — and then write your own, about your own school, your own family, your own town. Your own specific detail is worth more marks than anyone else’s polished sentence.