[XYZ]

Originally Posted by Tdol

which lived and ruled there- I'd use 'who' unless there were many royal familes and only one of them lived there
Exclamation marks- I see no need for them here. I would generally advise against using them much. Someone said that an exclamation mark is like someone laughing at their own jokes. Let the reader decide what is surprising. If you can't provide a concrete reason for using them, then cut them. In the first sentence, you might use an exclamation mark if it was the first letter for many years. It doesn't really intensify the 'thanks'.

In terms of a grade; it does the job and has very few mistakes, so it would pass. The layout/format is fine and the structure OK.

However, what mark would you give this for vocab? There's nothing in there that grabs my attention. It's sound and reads well enough, but I think you could jazz it up a bit to get into the top band. I wouldn't give this a grade A, but I think you could get there.

I’ve taken your advice and tried to liven up my letter. I’ve used some adjectives and phrases to do that but I’m still not sure about the result. Take a look at this and tell me what it looks like. Is it enough for grade A if it is not what else do I need to do? Thank you very much.



Dear Kate,

Thanks for your letter! It was great to hear all your news. I’m really happy that you’re going to come to see me this year.

If you want to see the most significant historical places in my city, I’d recommend you to go the Kremlin and the Red Square in the center of Moscow. As people say this is the heart or Russia. There’re lots of museums, impressive churches and cathedrals and you’ll find out some amazing facts about the royal family, who lived and ruled there.

You asked me how many places you could visit in 10 days. Actually, all of them because they are close to each other. If I were you I’d spend 2 or 3 days in the Kremlin’s museums and several hours wandering around the Red Square, so don’t forget to bring your camera and take some lovely pictures of the sights.

I hope that you’ll find these places useful for your studies. If you want to know anything else, just drop me a line.

Best wishes,

Peter.