residents, students, parents, drivers, cyclists, pedestrians, council officers
🎯 Target
Use at least 4 words from this table in your writing. Highlight them when you have finished.
⏱ Verb Tenses
Which tense — and when?
Past Simple → the incident
A cyclist fell off his bike. A car came too close.
People called for help. The accident happened last Friday.
Present Simple → current facts
The road is busy. Drivers often go too fast.
Students feel unsafe. There is no safe crossing.
Modal Verbs → suggestions
The council should add a crossing.
Drivers must slow down near schools.
A speed limit could be reduced to 20 mph.
🔗 Linking Words
Connect your ideas clearly
➕ Add information
alsoin additionfurthermoremoreover
The road is narrow. In addition, there is no pavement for pedestrians.
⚡ Show contrast
buthoweveralthougheven though
A sign was installed. However, drivers continue to ignore it.
💡 Give a reason / result
becausesothereforeas a result
Cars drive too fast, so the road is very dangerous for cyclists.
⏱ Sequence
firstthenafter thatfinally
First, the council should install a crossing. Then, speed cameras could be added.
✍️ Opening & Closing Sentences
Start and end with confidence
📰 Newspaper Opening
A serious road safety problem has worried students and residents near ________ College.
📰 Newspaper Closing
Local people are asking the council to act before a more serious ________ happens.
📩 Letter Opening
I am writing to ________ a serious road safety problem near Green Street College.
📩 Letter Closing
I hope you will look into this matter and take ________ as soon as possible.
💡 The words in the blanks are: Green Street / accident / report / action
📋 Writing Plan
Six steps to a great piece of writing
1 — Title / Address
Article: a short, clear headline. Letter: Dear Sir or Madam,
2 — Opening
Say what the problem is. Use one of the opening sentences from the previous slide.
3 — Details
What happened last Friday? Who is worried? Use past simple and present simple.
4 — Opinion / Reason
Why is the road unsafe? Use because, however and in addition.
5 — Suggestion
What should the council do? Use modal verbs: should, must, could.
6 — Closing
End clearly and politely. Use one of the closing sentences from slide 7.
✅ Self-Check Checklist
Check your writing before you hand it in
☐ Capital letters at the start of sentences and for names / places
☐ Full stops, commas and question marks used correctly
☐ Complete sentences — every sentence has a subject and a verb
☐ At least 4 vocabulary words from the word box
☐ Past simple for the incident · present simple for current facts
☐ At least 3 linking words used correctly
☐ Right tone: informative (article) or polite/formal (letter)
☐ Clear opening sentence and clear closing sentence
📝
Ready to practise?
Now try the Linking Words Activity
Read a dramatic story about a dangerous night road. Fill in 15 gaps using the right linking word. Get instant feedback and a score.
Or go back to the menu to write your article or letter first.
🚗 The Road to Thornfield0 / 15
0 of 15 answered
📍 Part 1 — Setting Off
Late night. Empty road. A wrong decision.
It was nearly midnight when Daniel finally left the motorway and turned onto the narrow moorland road that led to Thornfield.
The weather forecast had warned of heavy rain and poor visibility.
▼,
he had decided to press on rather than stop at a roadside hotel.
The road twisted sharply through the hills,
▼
the motorway he had left behind had been wide, straight and well-lit.
His sat-nav had lost signal twenty minutes earlier.
▼,
he was navigating entirely from memory — and he was not at all sure he was on the right road.
⚡ Contrast
A warning sign — ignored.
A yellow warning sign appeared in the headlights: "Road narrows — reduce speed."
Daniel slowed down briefly.
▼,
within a minute he had accelerated again, telling himself he was almost there.
The road was treacherous —
▼
but also completely unlit for long stretches.
▼
he could barely see twenty metres ahead, he refused to turn back.
Pride, it seemed, was stronger than common sense.
💡 Result
The moment everything went wrong.
Then it happened. A sharp bend appeared with almost no warning.
Daniel braked hard, but the wet road gave him no grip.
▼,
the car skidded sideways across the road and into a shallow ditch on the left.
▼,
the car was stuck — the rear wheels spinning uselessly in the mud.
Daniel switched off the engine and sat in the sudden silence.
His phone showed one bar of signal.
▼,
the battery was at four percent.
🔀 Choice
Two options. One chance.
He had two options.
He could call the emergency services immediately —
▼,
he could leave the car and try to walk to the farmhouse he had spotted half a mile back.
▼
carried risk: the phone might die before the call connected,
▼
the walk in total darkness and rain could easily end in a second accident.
Daniel made a decision: he would call first.
▼,
if there was no answer, he would walk.
⏱ Time & Sequence
Help arrives. A lesson learned.
The call connected with two percent battery remaining.
▼,
a rescue vehicle arrived within forty minutes.
The officer who helped him was calm and professional.
She told Daniel, without much sympathy, that this road claimed at least three vehicles every winter.
▼,
a new set of warning signs had been requested three times, but the council had not yet approved the budget.
Daniel sat in the back of the warm rescue vehicle, wrapped in a foil blanket, and thought about the hotel he had decided not to book.
Some lessons, it turns out, are only learned the hard way.