English · Email Writing
Email to Your Friend About the Importance of Reading Newspapers
A persuasive model email on newspaper reading, with the header and body.
Open by mentioning what prompted you — a conversation, a piece of news — then give the benefits: knowing what is happening, better English, a wider vocabulary, and the habit of forming an opinion. Close by suggesting one paper your friend could start with, which turns advice into something actionable.
The question: Write an email to your friend about the importance of reading newspapers.
The format
Quote what your friend said
Persuasion needs something to answer. Open by naming the remark or the habit that prompted you, then state your disagreement plainly. An email that argues with nobody in particular is a composition.
- One sentence of quotation or paraphrase.
- One sentence of disagreement, without insult.
Two reasons, each with a mechanism
Say why a newspaper does something a feed does not — how it is edited, what it forces you to read. A reason with a mechanism persuades; a reason without one is an assertion.
- Reason one: what the medium does differently.
- Reason two: the language gain, which matters to this reader.
- 🚨 Two reasons developed, not five listed.
End with a two-week test
Close by proposing something small and checkable, and invite your friend to tell you you were wrong. It reads as confidence rather than as lecturing.
Model answer
Model answer (about 140 words)
Subject: Why you should go back to the newspaper
Dear Afsana,
You said last week that you get all your news from your phone now and that buying a paper feels pointless. I have been thinking about it since, and I disagree.
A feed shows you what will keep you scrolling, which means more of what you already think. A newspaper is edited by somebody deciding what matters today, and half of what you read in it is something you would never have chosen — which is precisely the value. There is also the English. Twenty minutes a day with a daily has done more for my vocabulary than any word list I ever memorised, and I notice it most when I am writing under time pressure. Try it for two weeks and tell me I was wrong.
Yours ever,
Naeem
What earns and loses marks
- Answer something your friend actually said. An email that begins by quoting the other person has a reason to exist; one that opens on the importance of newspapers in general is a composition.
- Write about 120 to 150 words in the body. An email answer of 250 words has usually become a letter with a subject line on top.
- 🚨 Do not add your postal address anywhere. That is the single clearest sign that a letter answer has been reused for an email question.
- Keep the subject line and the first sentence consistent — if the subject says one thing and the message opens on another, the answer looks assembled rather than written.
- Sign with your name only; no designation, no address, no phone number in an informal email.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two, each supported. In 140 words a third reason means each one gets a single unsupported sentence, and unsupported reasons are exactly what examiners see in every script. Two developed points read as an argument.
Yes, and in a persuasive email it is usually the strongest opening. Naming the disagreement gives the message a purpose. Keep the disagreement about the idea rather than the person and close by inviting a reply, and the tone stays friendly.
One, at most, and only if it helps. Suggesting a particular paper makes the advice actionable, which is a small but real gain. A list of newspapers, though, uses space that a reason needs and looks like padding.
Keep going
Model answers, formats and grammar rules for every SSC and HSC writing question.