Letter to Your Friend About the Importance of Reading Newspapers

This is a persuasive letter, so the body argues rather than describes: say why you are writing, give two or three concrete benefits of reading a newspaper, and end by urging your friend to start. Advice letters read badly when they lecture, so keep the tone friendly and address the reader directly.

The question: Write a letter to your friend about the importance of reading newspapers.

The format

Anchor the advice in something your friend said

Persuasion needs a starting point. Open by referring to a conversation, a remark or a habit you noticed — that is what makes the letter an answer rather than a lecture addressed to nobody.

• One sentence naming what prompted you to write.
• Then your disagreement, stated plainly and without insult.

Give two reasons, each supported

Two developed reasons beat five listed ones. Support each with a mechanism or an example: why does a newspaper do something a feed does not?

• A reason plus a because-clause is the minimum unit.
• Language gain is a strong second reason for this reader.
• 🚨 Avoid the newspaper is a storehouse of knowledge; it is in most scripts.

Close with something testable

End with a small suggestion your friend could act on — try it for a fortnight, read two pages a day — and invite them to tell you you were wrong. Advice that can be tested reads as friendly rather than superior.

Model answer

Model answer (about 175 words)

Kazir Dewri, Chattogram

5 September 2026

Dear Sumon,

I hope you are keeping well. When we spoke on the phone last week you said you had stopped reading the newspaper because you get everything from your phone, and I have been thinking about that since.

I think you are losing more than you realise. A news feed shows you what you already agree with, because that is what keeps you scrolling; a newspaper puts the whole day in front of you in one place, including the parts you would never have chosen. There is also the language. Half an hour a day with an English daily has done more for my vocabulary than any list I ever memorised, and I notice it most in the writing paper, where the words simply arrive now. And a newspaper ends — you finish it and put it down, which is more than I can say for my phone.

Try it for a fortnight. Buy one paper a day and read even two pages properly. Tell me afterwards whether I was wrong. Regards to your family.

Yours ever,

Nafis

What earns and loses marks

• Give reasons rather than assertions. “A news feed shows you what you already agree with” argues; “newspapers are very important for students” only asserts, and examiners have read it a thousand times.
• Length is not the point — a letter of about 150 words that does the four parts properly beats a rambling 300-word one.
• Keep the tense consistent: a letter about something that happened stays in the past, a letter about a plan stays in the future.
• Ask at least one question of your friend, so the letter reads as one half of a conversation rather than a speech.
• Leave a clear blank line between paragraphs — layout marks are given for what the examiner can see at a glance.

Mistakes to avoid

• ✗ You should read newspaper daily. It is very important. It is good for students. ✓ A newspaper puts the whole day in front of you in one place, including the parts you would never have chosen. — three assertions replaced by one reason