作者：耿志華
日記是用來敘述一天生活中發生的事情或感受的文體。所記述的應是最有趣或讓人感受頗深的一些事情。要寫好英文日記必須注意三個基本要素，即格式、時態和人稱。
1. 英文日記的基本格式
日期(Date) 星期(Day) 天氣(Weather)
正文
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
通常是在左上角寫出當天的日期、星期；在右上角寫上當天的天氣情況。正文可有標題，也可不要。正確書寫12個月份和7個星期名稱。天氣情況應用形容詞表示。
①星期名稱：Sunday（星期天）, Monday（星期一）, Tuesday（星期二）,Wednesday（星期三）, Thursday（星期四）, Friday（星期五）, Saturday（星期六）
②月份名稱：January（一月）, February（二月）, March（三月）, April（四月）, May（五月）, June（六月）, July（七月）, August（八月）, September（九月）, October（十月）, November（十一月）, December（十二月）
③表示天氣狀況的詞：clear(晴朗的), fine(晴朗的), sunny(晴朗的); rainy(有雨的); snowy(有雪的); windy(有風的); cloudy(多云的); overcast(陰的); stormy(有暴風雨的); shower(陣雨的)等。
2. 時態和人稱
日記一般是記載已發生的事，因此日記中句子的謂語動詞多用過去時態。但應靈活掌握，對于文后發表的感想或評論等，可使用現在時態或將來時態。日記主要是記錄自己的活動和思想，一般都用第一人稱。
3. 寫作內容
寫日記時，不能不加選擇地寫，而應該選擇一些最有意義、最有趣味或發人深醒的內容來寫。日記一般是按事情發生的先后順序來記述的，所以常用at first, then, later on, soon, at last等單詞或詞組使整篇文章通順連貫。
4. 范文欣賞
June 9th Wednesday Rainy
Today is my birthday. I invited some friends to my birthday party this evening. It was raining all day long. I was afraid that no one would come. It was 6 o'clock and my friends didn't appear. I felt unhappy. Just then the door bell rang. I jumped up and rushed to open the door. Some familiar faces were smiling at me. Each of them gave me a birthday present. I was deeply moved, not by their presents but by their coming.
After dinner we danced and sang together and took many photos. We shared a big birthday cake. The party didn't come to an end until 11:30. We had a wonderful time.