WRITING: INFORMAL LETTERS AND E-MAILS

WRITING AN INFORMAL LETTER

The introduction

 

• Opening Expressions: How to start an email / letter

How are you?
How have you been?
How’s everything going?
I was glad to hear from you.
I hope things are going well with you these days.
I hope you are doing fine.
Hope you are well.
What’s new?

·       Reason one is writing:

I am writing because …
The reason I am writing is because …
I wanted to …
I would like to…

·      Opening Expressions when we answer an email / letter

Thanks for your email / letter
It was great to hear from you
It was so nice to hear from you.
Sorry for not writing earlier
I hope you and your family are well

·      Responding to news

Sorry to hear about…
Glad to hear that you’re all well
Good luck with …
Hope you feel better soon

Body

 

Then if you need to ask for something I suggest the following expressions:

·      Asking for something

Can you please…?
Is it ok if you …?
I want to …
Would you mind …?
I was wondering if…

Conclusion

• Closing expressions

Anyway, / Well that’s all for now
Hope to hear from you soon / Looking forward to hearing from you soon
Send my regards (love) to…
Take care / Best wishes / Regards / (Lots of) love from…
Sincerely,
Stay in touch / Keep in touch
Bye for now
See

PS Please give my love to your sister

Informal letter

Dear (first name),

Beginnings
Thank you/Many thanks for your (recent/last) letter/postcard.
It was good/nice to hear from you recently.

I’m sorry I haven’t written/been in touch for such a long time.
It’s ages since I’ve heard from you. I hope you’re/you and your family are well.

 Asking
Hi! / How are the things? / How are you? / How’s it going?

Referring to their 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.
I’m really sorry that I forgot to send you a birthday card but I was busy with my new job.
If you let me know where you bought it/how much it cost I’ll gladly pay for it/replace it.
Please let me know how much the bill is and I’ll gladly pay it.

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 vary 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/Good luck in/with your exams/your driving test/your interview.

Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll do well/pass.
Do be on time, won’t you, and don’t forget to …

Making suggestions and recommend
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 somewhere Don’t forget to do sth (Imperative -> Strong Recommendation)
I’m told that … People say that … (If you heard sth is good)

Endings
Give my love/regards to … Say hello to … Hope to hear from you soon.
See you soon! Write soon. Once again, thank you for all your help.

Signing off
Love,
Lots of love,
All the best,
Best wishes,