Informal letter or email1

What is an informal letter or email?

An informal letter or email is usually between people who know each other fairly well. In addition
to giving news, they are often used to request information, congratulate people, give advice and
ask questions. There are a lot of similarities between informal letters and conversation. Informal
letters ask a lot of questions, show interest and enthusiasm, and imagine a lot of shared
information.
In exams...
In many exam questions, you will be told what to include in your reply. Make sure that your
reply answers any questions that you were asked in the task and takes into account any
additional information that you have been told to mention.

Salutation or Greeting
• Start with: Dear + first name (Dear Ben,)
• In emails and more informal letters, you can also use Hello / Hi + first name (Hi Ben,)

Body
Openings
When writing an informal letter, you are usually replying to another letter. You would normally
start with a greeting, then acknowledge the letter to which you are replying. It is often a
good idea to acknowledge some key information given in the original letter too. You can also
make a comment on your own reply.
Useful phrases for the opening
• How are you? / How have the family been? / I hope you are well.
• Thank you / Many thanks for your (recent/last) letter / postcard.
• It was good / nice / great to hear from you again.
• I was so surprised to hear that...
• I’m sorry I haven’t written / haven't been in touch for such a long time.
• It’s ages since I’ve heard from you. I hope you're well / you and your family are well.
• How are things? / How are you? / How’s it going?

Other useful phrases

Referring to news
• Great news about … Glad to hear that … Sorry to hear about …
Giving news
• Listen, did I tell you about …? You’ll never believe what …
• Oh, and another thing …
• This is just to let you know that …
• I thought you might be interested to hear about / know that …
• By the way, have you heard about / did you know that …?
Apologies
• I’m writing to apologise for missing your party but I’m afraid I was with flu.
1 Adapted from: http://www.rubenvalero.com/english/content/fce-informal-letter-or-email
 • I’m really sorry that I forgot to send you a birthday card but I was busy with my new job.
Invitations
• I’m / We’re having a party on Friday 19th and I / we hope you’ll be able to come.
• Would you like to come / go to see ‘Room With a View’ with me at the weekend?
• I was wondering if you’d like to go to the theatre / come on holiday with us.
• Could you let me / us know if you can come / you’d like to join us?
• Thank you very much for your invitation. I’d love to come.
• Thank you for asking / inviting me to … but I’m afraid I won’t be able to …
Requests
• I’m writing to ask for your help / you (if you could do me) a favour.
• I wonder if / I was wondering if you could help me / do me a favour.
• I hope you don’t mind me asking but could you (possibly) …?
• I’d be very / really / terribly grateful if you could …
Thank you / Congratulations / Good Luck
• I’m writing to thank you for your hospitality / the wonderful present.
• It was so kind of you to invite me to stay with you.
• I really appreciated all your help / advice.
• Congratulations on passing your exams / your excellent exam results!
• I wish you good luck with / Good luck in / your exams / your driving test / your interview.
• Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do well / pass / you'll manage.
• Do be on time, won’t you, and don’t forget to …
Making suggestions and recommendations
• Why don’t you …? / Maybe you could …? / How about …?
• You can’t leave New York without (...doing sth)
• I’m sure you will enjoy (...doing sth). If you like, we can …
• Do visit ... / Don’t forget to …
• You should really... / You ought to …
• You certainly can't miss...

Closing
The end of your letter is as important as the beginning. There are some standard ways of
finishing an informal letter or email.
• Give a reason why you're ending the letter:
• Anyway, I must go and get on with my work!
• I guess it's time I got on with that studying I've been avoiding.
• Send greetings and/or make reference for future contact:
• Give my love / regards to...
• Say hello to...
• Anyway, don't forget to let me know the dates of the party.
• I'll try and phone you at the weekend to check the times.
• We must try and meet up soon.
• I can't wait to hear from you
• Look forward to seeing you again
• Hope to hear from you soon
• See you soon
• Write soon
 • Closing statements should be written on a new line.
• Love, Lots of love, All the best, Take care, Best wishes,..

• Signing off: Your first name then follows on another new line.

Other things to consider

Range:
- Use grammatical expressions and vocabulary appropriate to the level of the exam. Even if
there are no mistakes in your writing, you will not be able to get a good grade if you use only the
language and vocabulary that you learnt at elementary level.
- You can use conditional sentences, a range of perfect and continuous tenses, indirect
questions, relative clauses, ...
Informal language, including phrasal verbs, informal vocabulary ("I guess you loved the pics"),
contractions, question tags.
Connectors: All good writing makes good use of connectors. For informal writing, you need to
use some of the connectors that are more specific to spoken language.
• To introduce a topic:
• Well, you'll never guess who I bumped into yesterday.
• I know how much you love tennis, so I've got us some tickets to Wimbledon.
• By the way, did you know that John's got a new job?
• To go back to a previous topic:
• Anyway, as I was saying earlier, I really wasn't very happy there.
• Now where was I? Oh yes, I nearly forgot, Mary asked me tell you about ...
• To introduce surprising or bad news:
• Actually, he came to the party after all.
• I'm really sorry but I can't make it.
• To tell you the truth, I don't really like sports much.
• To summarise what you've already said:
• Anyway, we had a really nice time in the end.
• Well, to cut a long story short, we didn't get there on time.
• Other connectors:
• Contrast: although, though, however...
• Purpose: to (in order to, so as to are a bit too formal but still ok)
• Reason: because, because of, as, (and) that's why...
• Consequence: so,
Model questions and answers

Informal email/letter 1 - Model question

TASK

You have received this email from an English-speaking boy called Simon.

Hello,
I would like to get to know someone from your country and a friend has told me that you would
like to practise your English. Perhaps we could email each other. Could you tell me a bit about
yourself and your family? Could you suggest how we might meet sometime in the future?
Thanks,
Simon

Write your email in 140-190 words in an appropriate style.

Informal email/letter 1 - Model answer

Read the model answer and fill in the gaps with words and phrases from the box.

already - let me start by – why don't you - hello – best whishes - although - I used to work for -
I'm glad – anyway, I must go - never – as your friend – as – hearing from you - both – what
about you?

________ Simon,

_______________ you're interested in my country. _______________ said, I'd like

us to email each other to help me improve your English.

_______________ telling you a bit about myself and my family. My name's Ivo and I
live in Kutna Hora, which is about 45 minutes from Prague by car. _______________
a medical company but now I'm learning to be a salesperson. In the future I want a
job where I can travel for my work. I've ________ been to a few places in Europe but
I've ________ been to an English-speaking country.

I live at home with my parents, which is convenient, ________I don't have to do

much housework and my meals are cooked for me. My younger brother is studying at
university. ________ he is four years younger than me, we get on quite well. We
________ enjoy snowboarding and music.

_______________ Have you ever been to the Czech Republic? It would be great if
you could come over one day and we could fix up a meeting. _______________ let
me know your plans?

_______________ and get on with my work! Looking forward to _______________

soon.

_______________,

Ivo
Informal email/letter 2 - Model question
TASK

You have received this email from your English-speaking friend, Jean.

I hear you organised a surprise birthday party for your mother. I'd love to hear about it. What
kind of party did you organise? Who did you invite? How did it go? Do tell me.
Love,
Jean

Write your email in 140-190 words in an appropriate style.

Informal email/letter 2 – Write your answer using the following indications:

Open with an informal greeting
___________________________________________
Start your reply by referring to the sender's email/letter.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Give reason for replying
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Start a new paragraph as the topic has changed slightly.
Use an informal linking word/phrase
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
When you close, make an excuse to finish.
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
Make sure you finish with an informal phrase
______________________________________________
Tania
KEY

Informal email/letter 1

Hello Simon,

I'm glad you're interested in my country. As your friend said, I'd like us to email
each other to help me improve your English.

Let me start by telling you a bit about myself and my family. My name's Ivo and I live
in Kutna Hora, which is about 45 minutes from Prague by car. I used to work for a
medical company but now I'm learning to be a salesperson. In the future I want a job
where I can travel for my work. I've already been to a few places in Europe but I've
never been to an English-speaking country.

I live at home with my parents, which is convenient, as I don't have to do much

housework and my meals are cooked for me. My younger brother is studying at
university. Although he is four years younger than me, we get on quite well. We both
enjoy snowboarding and music.

What about you? Have you ever been to the Czech Republic? It would be great if
you could come over one day and we could fix up a meeting. Why don't you let me
know your plans?

Anyway, I must go and get on with my work! Looking forward to hearing from you
soon.

Best wishes,

Ivo
Informal email/letter 2 - Model answer

Open with an informal greeting

Hi Jean,

Start your reply by referring to the sender's email/letter.

Good to hear from you again. I hope you're still enjoying your job.

Give reason for replying

I'm glad you asked me about the party I planned for my mother's birthday. Well, I
have to say it was a fantastic success. I told my mother we were taking her out for a
quiet meal at a local restaurant with just the family, but in fact I'd (1) hired a large room
in a hotel and invited all her old friends!(2)

Start a new paragraph as the topic has changed slightly.

Use an informal linking word/phrase
Anyway, I picked my mother up and told her I'd changed my mind. We were going to
have a meal in a hotel. You should have seen her face when she walked into the
room and everyone cheered! She just couldn't believe it and burst into tears (3). Then
the party got going and it didn't finish until four in the morning. We were absolutely
exhausted, but my mother had had a wonderful time.

When you close, make an excuse to finish.

Must dash now - I've got to go to college. Hope to hear from you (4).

Make sure you finish with an informal phrase

Love,

Tania

(1) Use contractions

(2) Use some exclamation marks (but not too many) to express emotion.
(3) Use a range of appropriate vocabulary and informal expressions
(4) Short sentences are acceptable

(+/- 150 words)