Lesson 6, Email Architecture & Register
The spine of Task 1. Everything structural and mechanical lives here, the six type lessons that follow assume it and never repeat it.
What Task 1 asks you to do
You’re given a situation and an email to write, to a manager, a landlord, a company, a friend, a neighbor. Underneath are three bullet points. Your email must cover all three.
That’s the whole task, and it’s more mechanical than it looks. The structure is decided for you before you write a word.
How this task is scored
All four dimensions apply, but two decide most outcomes:
- Task Fulfillment: did you cover every bullet, in the right register, at the right length? Most marks are lost here, usually for reasons that have nothing to do with English ability.
- Content/Coherence: is each bullet actually developed, or merely mentioned?
Get those two right and the rest is execution.
Part 1, The 5-Block Email
Every CELPIP email fits this shape.
| Block | Contains | Words |
|---|---|---|
| 1, Open | Greeting + why you’re writing | ~30 |
| 2, Cover | Bullet 1, developed | ~40 |
| 3, Cover | Bullet 2, developed | ~40 |
| 4, Cover | Bullet 3, developed | ~40 |
| 5, Close | Wrap-up + sign-off | ~25 |
Total ≈ 175 words: right in the target zone.
One bullet, one paragraph. Always.
Don’t merge two bullets into one paragraph, and don’t split one across two. The one-to-one mapping guarantees coverage, makes your organization obvious to the rater, and removes every structural decision from your 27 minutes.
Two sentences per body, minimum
A single-sentence body reads as undeveloped and is marked down. For each bullet, plan two points: a statement plus a detail, reason, example, or consequence.
❌ “I would like to request a refund.” ✅ “I would like to request a full refund for the item. Given that it arrived damaged and I reported it within two days, I trust this is straightforward to arrange.”
Keep your paragraphs balanced
Bodies should be roughly equal in length. The pattern raters notice: candidates start strong and let paragraph three collapse into one thin line because they’re running out of time. Plan all three before you start and it doesn’t happen.
The proportion rule: if a paragraph is an apology, more than half of it must actually be apologizing. A paragraph that opens with “I’m sorry” then spends four lines on something else hasn’t fulfilled that bullet.
Part 2, The task-verb check
The most valuable 30 seconds you will spend. Before writing, read each bullet and underline what it actually asks you to do.
| Bullet says | You must |
|---|---|
| ask · find out · enquire | Ask a question. Not state something. |
| explain · describe | Give detail and reasons |
| suggest · recommend | Propose something specific |
| complain about | State the problem clearly |
| request | Make a direct, polite ask |
| apologize for | Actually apologize, at length |
The failure that costs more than any grammar error
Bullet: “Find out how important the book is to your friend.” ❌ “The book is very important to you, I know.” ✅ “Could you let me know how much the book actually means to you? I’d like to understand before I decide what to do.”
The first version is grammatically perfect and fails the bullet. The candidate told when asked to find out. Perfect English, lost marks.
Check every bullet’s verb. Every time. If a bullet contains find out, ask, enquire, or check - your paragraph must contain a question mark.
Part 3, Register: the complete swap table
This is taught once, here. Every type lesson refers back to it.
Which register?
The question always tells you. Look at who you’re writing to.
| Informal | Formal |
|---|---|
| A friend | A manager or supervisor |
| A family member | A landlord or property company |
| A close colleague or classmate (first name) | A company or customer service |
| A neighbor you know well | An official body, school, or a stranger |
Quick test: would you greet them with just a first name? Then it’s informal.
The swap table
| Informal | Formal | |
|---|---|---|
| Greeting | ”Hi Sarah,” / “Hey Marcus," | "Dear Mr./Ms. + surname,“ |
| If no name given | Invent a first name | Invent a surname, never “Dear Sir/Madam” or “Dear Manager” |
| Contractions | Yes, throughout | None |
| Exclamation marks | Yes, two or three | None |
| Phrasal verbs | Yes (catch up, drop by, sort out) | Sparingly (resolve, not sort out) |
| Direct questions | Yes, they add life | Occasionally, politely |
| Opening | Warm greeting, then the reason | Purpose in sentence one, no small talk |
| Sign-off | ”Talk soon,” “Take care,” “Cheers," | "Regards,” “Sincerely,“ |
| Your name | First name only | Full name |
Two register rules worth memorizing
1. No small talk in formal emails. This is where careful candidates lose marks. Opening a formal email the way you’d open a message to a friend delays the purpose and reads as a register error.
❌ “Dear Mr. Okafor, I hope you are well. How have things been? I hope you had a good summer.” ✅ “Dear Mr. Okafor, I am writing to raise a concern about the heating in my apartment, which has not worked since 3 March.”
2. No business English in informal emails. The inverse trap, and it catches strong writers, formal English feels more advanced, so they drift upmarket without noticing.
❌ “Dear Sarah, I am writing to inform you that I will be unable to attend. I look forward to your question response. Yours sincerely, Leah Martins” ✅ “Hi Sarah! I’m so sorry, but I’m not going to be able to make it on Saturday.”
Informal does not mean simple. You still need complex sentences and precise vocabulary. What changes is the warmth, not the sophistication.
Warmth without slang
There’s a band of language that’s warm but still test-appropriate:
| ✅ Warm and fine | ❌ Too casual |
|---|---|
| awesome, great, lovely | lol, gonna, wanna |
| catch up, drop by | hit me up, my bad |
| It’s been ages! | sup, u, thx |
Test: would you write it in an email to a friend’s parent? If yes, it’s safe.
Part 4, Which lesson do you need?
Read the question, identify the dominant purpose, and go to that lesson.
| If the question asks you to… | Go to |
|---|---|
| Report a problem and ask for it to be fixed | Lesson 7, Complaints |
| Say sorry for something you did or failed to do | Lesson 8, Apologies |
| Ask for information, permission, or a favor | Lesson 9, Requests & Inquiries |
| Propose ideas, improvements, or places to go | Lesson 10, Suggestions |
| Invite, thank, congratulate, or share news | Lesson 11, Invitations & Social |
| Handle something at work with a manager or team | Lesson 12, Workplace |
When a question blends two types
Most real questions do. A complaint usually ends with a request. An apology often contains a suggestion. This is normal and it isn’t a problem.
The rule: lead with the dominant purpose, borrow phrases from the secondary one.
“Your delivery arrived damaged. Write to the company. • Explain what happened • Describe the inconvenience • Say what you would like them to do.”
Dominant purpose = complaint (bullets 1 and 2). Bullet 3 is a request. So: structure it as a complaint, and lift the third paragraph’s language from Lesson 9.
The five email templates are on Celpora, ready to open in a new tab. Every worked model, phrase bank, and opener/closer line from Lessons 7–11 is at Celpora email templates, one page per purpose. Pull the structure while you draft; write the specifics yourself.
You don’t need a lesson per combination, you need the dominant frame plus the right phrases for one paragraph.
Part 5, Any other email type
Occasionally you’ll get something the six lessons don’t name, a thank-you, a resignation, a reference request, a notification. You are not stranded. Every CELPIP email answers to the same method:
- Identify the task verb in each bullet: this alone tells you what each paragraph must do
- Pick your register from the swap table
- Use the 5-Block structure: it’s type-independent
- Ask what the reader needs from this email: information? An apology? A decision? Reassurance? Write to that need.
- Borrow the closest phrase bank. A thank-you email borrows warmth from Lesson 11; a resignation borrows professionalism from Lesson 12.
The structure never changes. Only the phrases do. That’s why the spine is taught once and the types are short.
Part 6, Your word budget
| Words | Verdict |
|---|---|
| Under 150 | Penalized. Too short to develop three bullets. |
| 150–170 | Safe but tight |
| 175–190 | Target zone |
| 190–200 | Fine, but near the edge |
| Over 200 | Risky. Don’t gamble. |
Aim for 180. It’s what the 5-Block structure produces naturally when each body gets two proper sentences.
Worked mapping, planning, not prose
This is what your four minutes should produce.
Question: You rented an apartment three months ago. The heating has not worked properly and your building manager has not responded. Write to the property management company. • Explain the problem • Describe how it has affected you • Say what you would like them to do
| Plan | |
|---|---|
| Dominant type | Complaint (Lesson 7) |
| Register | Formal, property company |
| Open | Purpose: heating fault, apartment number, date it began |
| Body 1 | Explain: radiators produce no heat + reported three times, no reply |
| Body 2 | Describe effect: below 15°C + bought two heaters, bills up |
| Body 3 | Request: engineer within a week or temporary fix + cost consideration |
| Close | Look forward to response |
Four minutes, no sentences, and the writing becomes almost mechanical.
Grade your own plan
- I’ve identified the task verb in all three bullets
- Any find out / ask bullet will contain a question mark
- I know the register, and why
- I know the dominant email type
- I have two points for each bullet
- My three bodies are roughly equal in planned weight
- I know my opening and closing lines
- The plan took under 5 minutes and contains no full sentences
All 8 = you’re ready to write, and the writing will be the easy part.
Your practice
Open one set on Celpora and put today’s lesson to work.
Practice Task 1: Email. 27 min · 150–200 words · AI feedback on all four dimensions
