Writing Letters

If you are asked to write a letter in the exam, there is a basic layout that you can follow. However, the content and the language contained within the letter will be affected depending on who (the audience) you are asked to address the letter to and what (the purpose) you are writing it for. The level of formality of the letter is dependent on these things. Formality would fall under the ‘tone’ of the text. We will discuss the tone of texts in more detail later in this unit.

The language of any letter must always be Standard English. However, when writing an informal letter, it is sometimes appropriate to use contractions (‘you’re’ for ‘you are’ and ‘it’s’ for ‘it is’ etc.) but this should always be avoided when writing a formal letter. In a letter, you will often be speaking about yourself, therefore using the first person (‘I’, ‘me’ etc.) will be required for this task.

Formal Letters

Normally, formal letters require you to write them to people or organisations who you do not know directly, or who you do not know very well. In this case, it is important that you write in Standard English and avoid using any contractions (do not use: ‘I’m’ to replace ‘I am’ etc.). A couple of examples for needing to write a formal letter may be to write a complaint letter to your electricity provider, or a letter to your child’s teacher at school informing them why they do not have their PE equipment. There are a few steps to follow when writing a formal letter:

• Insert your address in the top right-hand corner of the page. Directly below this, insert the date.
• If you know the person’s name then begin the letter with ‘Dear Mr/Mrs [insert surname]’; if you are not aware of the person’s name in who you are writing to then you can put ‘Dear Sir or Madam’.
• Finish your letter by highlighting what you would like to happen next; ‘I look forward to hearing from you soon.’
• After writing the contents of your letter, if you know the person finish with ‘Yours sincerely’ with your name inserted directly below; if you do not know the person then finish the letter with ‘Yours faithfully’ with your name inserted directly below.

Look at an example of what the contents and language of a formal letter may look like:

Informal Letter

An informal letter would only ever be addressed to someone you know well; for example, a friend or family member. Below are a few steps to follow when writing an informal letter to someone:

• When writing an informal letter, you are again required to insert your address in the top right-hand corner of the page with the date inserted directly below this.
• Begin the letter with ‘Dear [insert person’s first name]’.
• You can finish an informal letter in a number of ways. Either ‘Yours sincerely’, ‘Yours’, ‘From’, or even ‘Love’ (if you know and like them really well) with your name inserted directly below.

If you are asked to write an informal letter in the exam, using contractions will be appropriate but you must make sure you still use clear and easy to understand English. Even though it is informal, do not include any slang words and always make sure you use correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. An example of what an informal letter may look like is provided below:

Even if you are writing a formal or an informal letter it is vital to plan both before you begin writing. Plan each paragraph and make sure you have topic sentences for every paragraph in your letter. Plan using short, brief bullet points or a mind-map (whichever you prefer) and spend no longer than five minutes doing this.