Primary 5 · English · Situational Writing
Situational Writing questions for Primary 5 English
10 questions to work through online, 3 of them written out the way the paper asks. Answer and you get the working straight away, then a score at the end. No sign-up, and you can retake it as often as you like.
- Choosing a greeting
- Matching tone to reader
- Choosing a sign-off
- Reading the task
- Writing a subject line
- Choosing what to leave out
- Writing to the right reader
- Writing the sign-off
- Writing formally
- Writing the purpose sentence
Answers and explanations for all 10 questions
Every answer with the reasoning behind it. Worth reading after you have tried the set — or on its own, if you are a parent marking it.
You are writing an email to your principal, Mrs Rani Kumar, about a lost item. Which greeting is correct?
Answer: Dear Mrs Kumar,
You know the reader and the situation is formal, so it is the title and family name: Dear Mrs Kumar.
Which sentence suits a formal email to the principal?
Answer: I would be grateful if the lost item could be kept at the general office.
I would be grateful if is a request rather than an order, and it keeps the level of formality the reader expects.
You began an email with "Dear Mr Tan,". How should you end it?
Answer: Yours sincerely, followed by your name
Naming the reader in the greeting means signing off Yours sincerely. Yours faithfully belongs with Dear Sir or Madam.
The task says: write to the community centre manager to ask permission to hold a book sale in the void deck, and explain what the money raised is for. Which of these must your email include?
Answer: What the money raised is for.
The task names two things: permission, and what the money is for. Every point named in the task must appear, and this is the one listed here.
Which subject line is best for an email asking to use the hall on 4 May?
Answer: Request to use the hall on 4 May
A subject line should let the reader see the purpose and the date without opening the email.
You are writing a short report for your form teacher about a broken tap in the toilet. Which detail does NOT belong?
Answer: That your friend thinks the school should replace all the taps.
A report gives what was observed. A friend's opinion about replacing every tap is neither observation nor part of the task.
You want the school to start a chess club. Who should the letter be addressed to, and why?
Answer: The principal, because starting a new club is her decision.
Situational writing is marked on writing to the person who can act. Only the principal can approve a new club.
Write the missing word. An email that begins "Dear Sir or Madam," should end "Yours ______ ,".
Answer: faithfully
When the greeting does not name the reader — Dear Sir or Madam — the letter ends Yours faithfully.
Rewrite the marked part in one formal word. I am writing to [say sorry about] the damage to the library trolley.
Answer: apologise for
The formal way to say sorry about something is to apologise for it, so the blank becomes apologise for.
Write one word for the blank. I am writing on ______ of the Primary 5 Resilience class to request the use of the hall.
Answer: behalf
On behalf of tells the reader you are writing for a group rather than only for yourself.