Write About a Special Event A2 Writing Practice Tests Rules & Examples

How to Write About a Special Event in English

A special event is something important or exciting that happens in your life — for example, a birthday party, a wedding, a school celebration, a family dinner, or a holiday trip. After the event, we often write to a friend or family member to tell them all about it.

In real life, you might write a short informal email or message to tell a friend what happened, share your feelings, and describe the details. This is a very common and useful type of writing in everyday English.

In this lesson, you will learn how to:

• organise your writing into clear paragraphs
• use the past simple to describe what happened
• connect your ideas with linking words like because, so, when, and after
• use friendly greetings and sign-offs in an informal message

Essential Writing Rules & Sentence Structure

1. Organise Your Writing into Paragraphs

A short informal email about a special event should have three clear paragraphs:

• Paragraph 1 – Greeting and opening reason: Say hello and explain why you are writing. Mention the event by name.
• Paragraph 2 – Key details: Describe what happened. Use the past simple. Answer: When was it? Where was it? Who was there? What did you do?
• Paragraph 3 – Closing: Give your feelings about the event and end with a friendly question or comment.

2. Use the Past Simple Tense

Use the past simple to talk about events that are finished. Add -ed to regular verbs. Learn the irregular forms carefully.

• Regular: watch → watched, dance → danced, arrive → arrived, enjoy → enjoyed
• Irregular: go → went, have → had, see → saw, meet → met, eat → ate, buy → bought, feel → felt

3. Use Commas After Introductory Time Clauses

When you begin a sentence with a time word or clause, always add a comma before the main clause.

• ✅ When I arrived, my friends were waiting for me.
• ✅ After we ate dinner, we danced for hours.
• ✅ Before the party started, we decorated the room.

4. Do Not Write Run-on Sentences

A run-on sentence happens when you join two complete sentences without a connector or correct punctuation. Always use a linking word or a full stop to separate your ideas clearly.

• ❌ It was a great party I had so much fun.
• ✅ It was a great party and I had so much fun.

Useful Linking Words (Connectors)

Use these connecting words to join your ideas and make your writing flow naturally. Choose the correct connector based on the function — the reason why you are connecting the two ideas.

Important: Do not confuse because and so. Because introduces a reason. So introduces a result.

• ✅ I was tired because we danced for two hours. (tired = result, danced = reason)
• ✅ We danced for two hours, so I was tired. (danced = reason, tired = result)

Model Writing Sample: An Email About a Birthday Party

Read this realistic model email carefully. Notice how it is organised, and look at the annotations in brackets.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Hi Sofia, [Greeting]

How are you? I hope you're well. I'm writing to tell you about my sister's birthday party last Saturday. [Opening line — reason for writing + name of event + when]

The party was at her flat and about twenty friends came. When we arrived, the music was already playing. We ate a lot of delicious food and then we danced for hours. After dinner, my sister opened her presents. She was very happy because she got so many lovely gifts. [Key details — where, who, what happened, feelings + linking words]

It was a fantastic evening! Although I was quite tired, I didn't want to go home. I really hope you can come to the next party. [Closing — feelings + friendly comment or question]

See you soon,
Laura [Sign-off + sender's name]

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Word count: 88 words

Model Text Breakdown

Key Phrases & Sentence Starters

Greetings

• Hi [name],
• Dear [name],
• Hello [name],

Opening Lines & Reason for Writing

• How are you? I hope you're well.
• I'm writing to tell you about…
• I just wanted to tell you about…
• You'll never guess what happened last weekend!
• I had such a great time last [day / weekend] and I wanted to tell you all about it.

Giving Details & Explanations

• The event was at… / It was at…
• About [number] people came.
• When I arrived, …
• Before the [event] started, we…
• After [activity], we…
• We ate / danced / saw / met / visited…
• It was great because…
• I felt nervous / excited / happy / tired because…
• Although it was [adjective], I really enjoyed it.
• There was also… / There were also…

Ending Your Message & Sign-offs

• It was a fantastic / wonderful / amazing event!
• I hope we can do it again soon.
• Let me know how you are.
• Write back soon!
• Hope to hear from you soon.
• See you soon, / Best wishes, / All the best, / Love, / Take care,

Common Writing Mistakes to Avoid

Study these four common mistakes that A2 learners often make. Make sure you do not repeat them in your own writing.

❌ I was tired so I danced for two hours.
✅ I was tired because I danced for two hours. — Use because to give a reason, not so. The dancing is the reason for being tired. So introduces the result, not the cause.

❌ When I arrived my friends were waiting for me.
✅ When I arrived, my friends were waiting for me. — When a sentence begins with a time clause (When…, After…, Before…), you must add a comma before the main clause.

❌ We went to a restaurant it was very nice.
✅ We went to a restaurant and it was very nice. — This is a run-on sentence. You must join two complete sentences with a linking word (and, but, so) or use a full stop to separate them.

❌ My sister enjoied her presents and she feeled very happy.
✅ My sister enjoyed her presents and she felt very happy. — Enjoyed is the correct spelling (not enjoied). Feel is irregular in the past simple: felt (not feeled). Always check irregular verb forms carefully.

Writing Checklist & Practice Task

Writing Checklist

Before you send or submit your writing, check every point on this list:

• ✅ Did I include a friendly greeting (e.g. Hi [name],) and a sign-off (e.g. See you soon,)?
• ✅ Did I write an opening sentence that explains why I am writing and names the event?
• ✅ Did I include key details — when, where, who was there, and what happened?
• ✅ Did I use the past simple correctly to describe finished actions? (went, had, ate, enjoyed, danced…)
• ✅ Did I use linking words such as because, so, when, after, although, or and?
• ✅ Did I add a comma after introductory time clauses starting with When…, After…, or Before…?
• ✅ Did I express my feelings about the event (e.g. I was so excited because…)?
• ✅ Is my writing between 60 and 90 words?
• ✅ Did I avoid run-on sentences and spelling mistakes?

Practice Task

Read the task below and write your own email in English. Try to use the model text, key phrases, and linking words from this lesson.

Your task:

You went to a special event last weekend — for example, a family celebration, a school event, a wedding, or a friend's birthday party. Write an informal email to your English-speaking friend, Sam, telling him or her all about it.

In your email, you should:

• greet your friend and explain why you are writing
• describe what the event was, when it was, and where it took place
• say what you did and who was there
• explain how you felt and why
• end with a friendly comment or question and a suitable sign-off

Write 60–90 words.

Now test your writing mechanics and sentence skills in the exercises below.