FORMAL LETTERS. VOCABULARY

      DIFFERENT PARTS IN A FORMAL LETTER.

Follow the link.

Addresses:

1) Your Address
The return address should be written in the top right-hand corner of the letter.
2) The Address of the person you are writing to
The inside address should be written on the left, starting below your address.

Date:

Different people put the date on different sides of the page. You can write this on the right or the left on the line after the address you are writing to. Write the month as a word.

Salutation or greeting:

1) Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to try to find out a name.
2) Dear Mr Jenkins,
If you know the name, use the title (Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and the surname only. If you are writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs or Miss, you can use Ms, which is for married and single women.

Ending a letter:

1) Yours faithfully If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
2) Yours sincerely
If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way.
3) Your signature
Sign your name, then print it underneath the signature. If you think the person you are writing to might not know whether you are male of female, put you title in brackets after your name.

Content of a Formal Letter     

The first paragraph should be short and state the purpose of the letter- to make an enquiry, complain, request something, etc.

The paragraph or paragraphs in the middle of the letter should contain the relevant information behind the writing of the letter. Most letters in English are not very long, so keep the information to the essentials and concentrate on organising it in a clear and logical manner rather than expanding too much.
  
The last paragraph of a formal letter should state what action you expect the recipient to take- to refund, send you information, etc.

• FORMAL OR INFORMAL?

ACTIVITY 1

1. Dear Mr. Williams __________________________

2. See you later __________________________

3. Yours sincerely, Alan Stewart __________________________

4. Hi, how’s it going? __________________________

5. Lots of love, from Jermaine __________________________

6. Yours faithfully __________________________

7. Dear Madam __________________________

8. Dear Jeff __________________________

9. Take care __________________________

10.I look forward to hearing from you soon __________________________

11. Sorry I haven’t written for a while __________________________

12. Please can you send me an application form? __________________________

13. Best wishes, from Tracey __________________________

14. Please say hi to Pardeep for me – thanks! __________________________

15. We are writing to inform you that… __________________________ 


ACTIVITY 2. Choose the formal option:

Dear Mr Sexton,

I thought I’d write/ I am writing to complain about the state of the

yard/condition of the playground. Over the last two weeks, I have

  

noticed loads of rubbish/a great deal of litter.

   

I reckon/It is my opinion that this litter is a health hazard. For example,

yesterday a year 4 boy fell over and cut his hand on a broken bottle. The

boy I’m talking about/The boy in question needed four stitches.

Furthermore/On top of this, the litter is an eyesore. Our school has

beautiful views of the river and these are wrecked/spoiled by the litter.

I believe/I reckon that there are a load of things/a number of things

that you could do to fix/rectify this problem. Firstly, it may be posible

for you/you could purchase additional litterbins. This would help

stop/prevent people discarding their litter recklessly/willy-nilly.

What’s more/In addition, I think that our school needs better/more

adequate security to prevent vandals littering.

To finish/In conclusion, I hope you will take my concerns seriously and

I look forward to your reply/you writing back to me.

Yours Sincerely/Yours Faithfully