Informal Letter/ E-mail

Informal Letter

 What you need to take into account:

• Keep your language conversational for a more personable feel. Informal letters are meant to be read in a relaxed, casual way. Feel free to use contractions (don’t, isn’t), hypothetical questions, inside jokes, and other figures of speech. This will help your natural voice come through to your reader.

  • If you’re not sure what to say, it can be helpful to imagine that you’re having a conversation with a friend and simply write the way you would talk.

  Tip: You might kick off the body of your letter with something like this: “Hey bestie! Isn’t it crazy how time flies? One minute we’re chasing boys at summer camp, and the next you’re getting married! Being an adult is WEIRD!”

Formating your informal letter

1) Note your address and the date (optional).

In the upper lefthand corner of a new writing, put down your current location in one or two lines. Directly under that, record the day’s date, making sure to mention at least the month and year.

• You can either spell out the full date («Wednesday, February 12th, 2018») or use the abbreviated numeral form («2/12/18») to keep things simple.

• Including these details is a good way to let your recipient know when and where the letter was written, which can be especially useful if you’re in different parts of the world.

2) Write your recipient’s name at the top of the letter.

Begin your letter by addressing the person it’s intended for by name. Traditionally, the opening address goes in the upper lefthand side of the page, but you can put it anywhere you want as long as you have enough room to include your message beneath it.

• If you want, you can add a salutation before your recipient’s name, such as “Dear,” “My darling,” or even just “Hey.”

• If you’re composing an open letter and don’t know the name of the person who will be reading it, start with a general address like, “To whom it may concern” or “To whoever reads this letter.”

3) Fill out the body of the letter with your message.

Use the space underneath your recipient’s name to say whatever you want to say. The body of your letter can be as long as you want it to be, so don’t feel like you have to keep it within the confines of a single page. Pour your heart out!

There are several way of starting. Here you have some:

• Many thanks for your letter; it was really nice to hear from you!

• It’s been such a long time since we wrote to each other!

• How are you and your family? How are things (with you)? How’s it going? How is life?

• It was good to hear from you.

• I’m sorry I haven’t written for such a long time, but…..

Introducing the topic / giving information:

• You remember I told you in my last letter that…

• Guess what?

• You asked me to recommend some places to stay in my country.

• I have managed to find out some information about…

• About your visit,…

4) Write a short closing to wrap up the letter.

Once you’ve gotten your message across in the body of your letter, leave a little room (about the space of a single typed line) below your last sentence to include a brief sign-off. Your closing line might say something like, “Sincerely,” “Yours truly,” or “With love.”

• The closing essentially signals to your recipient that they’ve reached the end of the letter.

• Since you’re not sending a formal letter, there’s no need to add a closing if you don’t want to—you can always just sign off with your name.

EXPRESSIONS USED IN INFORMAL LETTERS

Make sure you use as well the following kind of decorative elements:

Phrasal Verbs 

Conditionals

Colloquial language

Adverbios intensificadores

OPENING PARAGRAPH:

Dear John / Hello Ben,

Hi Susan,

Hey Mike,

QUESTIONS ABOUT THEMSELVES

How are you? / What have you been up to? / So far so good? / How are things? / How are you doing? How are things panning out in your life? /

I hope you are well / Hopefully you’re doing fine / It’s been a while, hope you’re well / It’s ages since I’ve heard from you. I hope you’re well / you and your family are well /

QUESTIONS ABOUT RECENT NEWS

Have you seen the latest news? / What are your thoughts on what the gym/cinema club/etc. has informed/announced? /

SHOWING DISAPPOINTMENT

What a disappointment with the new changes…

I didn’t expect such bad news from….

Undoubtedly, I couldn’t be more disappointed with the tax increase/latest changes in the….

I wasn’t expecting such bad news from the….

In no way do I agree with this…..

THANKFULNESS

Many thanks for your (recent/last) letter / text /message

It was good / nice / great to hear from you again./

I was so surprised to hear that…

I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch for such a long time. /

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 I thought you might be interested to hear about / know that …

By the way, have you heard about ..?

APOLOGIES

I’m writing to apologise for missing your party but I’m afraid I was with flu /I’m really sorry that I forgot to send you a birthday card but I was busy with my new job.

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.

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 … /What about complaining together about …? / Let’s show our disappointment by writing them back and telling them …. /

CLOSING

• Once again, thanks for…

• Anyway, I must go and get on with my work!

• I’m looking forward to seeing you/ hearing from you / your visit ..

• Please let me know what you’re planning on doing

• Let me know if you agree with my idea! Bye for now

• Well, got to go now. See you soon! All the best!

• Give my love/regards to… Give my regards to your parents

• Please, keep in touch. Write back soon Best wishes!

• Best wishes, Regards, Cheers,

Informal Letter Sample

Sample A

Question: You have received a letter from your friend inviting you for a visit in summer. Write a letter to your friend accepting the invitation, suggesting something you would like to do and asking what you should bring with you.

Example of a short informal letter:

Dear Carla,

Thanks for your letter; it was great to hear from you! I’m sorry I haven’t written for ages (colloquial language), but I’ve been really busy preparing for my exams. It’s really good news you’ve passed your driving test. Congratulatis (contraction to «congratulations»)!

I am so grateful for your invitation to stay with you for a week in July; I’d love to come. I know you have a wonderful beach near your house and I’d really (you use intensifiers) enjoy spending some time there. I expect that the weather will be hot, so I hope we can go swimming.

What sort of clothes should I pack? (you ask questions as you are asked in the statement of the exercise) Casual or formal? Would you like me to bring anything for you? I would like to bring something special for you and your family from my country.

I’d better stop now. I hope you’re enjoying driving your car and I’m looking forward to (you use phrasal verbs) seeing you in July! Thanks again for the invitation.

All the best

Marta

Sample B

Question: You have received a letter from your friend telling you about her honeymoon and asking you about yours. Write a letter to your friend telling her your experience.

Example of a long informal letter:

Hey Sweets,

It was so wonderful to hear from you and to know you enjoyed your honeymoon abroad. I am thrilled (you use synonyms of «happy», which is a commonly used word) to share my own vacation experience with you, since I know you love to hear about travelling and unusual places. So, this time, Casey and I went to Sri Lanka—a magnificent (you use synonyms of «beautiful», which is a commonly used word) island with incredible traditions and ravishing nature.

To start with, going to Sri Lanka was never actually (you use intensifiers) part of the plan. Our aim was to go to Laos, but my fiance’s colleague just came back from Sri Lanka and literally talked us into (you use phrasal verbs) changing our plans. Well, I have to say we are very grateful, since this was, without any exaggeration, the best vacation I ever had. It was something between Thailand, with its gorgeous culture and Goa, with its perfect beaches.

The weather was another perfect part of our overall great vacation. Thankfully (you use intensifiers), it isn’t too hot in Sri Lanka this time of the year. The nature in Sri Lanka is just so magical and virgin, it almost made me feel like a Mowgli in the jungle. And guess what else I saw?! (you create rapport by asking these rhetoric questions  A real tea plantation, just like those we see in Lipton commercials, only far more beautiful. I was also surprised to find out that they only grow black tea on the island, but one of really nice quality. By the way (colloquial language), I’ve got a souvenir tea package waiting for you, so make sure to pick it up when you and John come back from your honeymoon.

Well, babes, I gotta get going. I hope you and John enjoy the rest of your honeymoon just as much as you have enjoyed it so far.

Casey and I will be waiting for both of you to come over for dinner once you get back from your trip.

Big hugs!

Yours,

Jen