Informal Letters

INFORMAL EMAIL/LETTER
LAYOUT	USEFUL PHRASES
GREETINGS	Dear Sally   Hi/Hello Sally   NOT:   Dear brother   Dear friend   Dear cousin
INTRODUCTION/   OPENING PARAGRAPH	How are you (keeping)?   It was nice to hear from you.   Thank you/Thanks for your email.   It’s taken me ages to reply, but…   I’ve been meaning to get back to you, but…   Just thought I’d drop you a line.   Sorry I haven’t written for ages, but I’ve been really  busy.   It’s ages since I heard from you.
MAIN PART   (2-3 PARAGRAPHS)	Invitations   • Accepting   • Refusing   Thank you   Congratulations   Giving news   Requests   Apologies	I was wondering if you’d like to…    Thank you very much for the  invitation. I’d love to come.     Thank you for inviting me to… but  I’m afraid I can’t make it.     Congratulations on passing your  exams.     I’m writing to tell you about…    Could you do something for me?    I’m writing to apologise for…/  I’m really sorry about…   (see sample letters)
CONCLUSION/   CLOSING PARAGRAPH	Well, that’s all for now.   Well, I’d better finish off here.   I must go now.   Keep in touch   Well, that’s all my news. Write back soon, telling me  what you’ve been up to.   Looking forward to hearing from you
ENDINGS	Love   Best wishes/regards (to)   Yours   Take care   Bye for now   All the best   See you soon

From: alex@rousso.co.uk  

To: huwprice@medaid.com;arvind@24-7work.com;(plus 10 others…)  Subject: Greetings from Scotland! 

Hi everyone,  

We’ve finally moved! The house is absolutely gorgeous – better than I remember it.  And the cat’s fascinated by the garden – she was born in our old flat and she’s never  been further than the balcony!  

We’re so grateful for all your cards and presents. I read the cards again this morning and  they made me cry! (Can anyone tell me what Pat Austin’s email is? She sent some  flowers to our new address.)  

We’re so sorry that we didn’t come to Jackie and Bill’s party on Saturday afternoon.  What happened was that we were supposed to finish packing in the afternoon. But we  quickly realised the lorry wasn’t big enough. So in the end we had to hire another van  and Mike had to drive to Edinburgh in the evening.  

Talking of parties, we’re going to have a house-warming party on 3rd February. Would  you all like to come? I know it’ll be a long time after we’ve moved in, but we might  have a chance to decorate first. We’d rather get organised before you come! I’m telling  you about this more than three months in advance so there are no excuses. There are lots  of B&Bs nearby and some of you can sleep here. Don’t forget to book train or plane  tickets soon if you’re going to come! Superflights (www.superflights.com) are offering  flights to Edinburgh for ₤30 at the moment, but they’ll get more expensive soon.  

Everything’s still in boxes of course, but I don’t start work for a week. Lucien’s got an  interview next week so think of him on Wednesday.  

Anyway, more news soon. Hope you all have a lovely break during the holiday!  Much love,  

Alex (and Lucien)  

Taken from Face2Face, Intermediate Workbook, Cambridge