Part a. General english

I. Writing an informal letter

1) Definition/differentiation

Informal letters are those written in the course of communicating with relatives and friends. They differ from formal letters in their style, tone, choice of grammatical and lexical resources.

Formal VS informal style differences:

	Formal style	Informal style
Tone	public, official, serious neutral, more polite	private, ordinary, relaxed emotional, more casual
Grammar	full forms “we have” “I am”, etc.; passive voice, complex sentences (try not to use expressions beginning with which, that or what) are more acceptable	informal style grammar: contracted verb forms like we've, I'm, etc. "I'm gonna read the book"; active voice, simple sentences are more acceptable. Avoid the constructions there is and there are
Vocabulary	more bookish, longer words and Latin borrowings; try not to use clichés, slang and abstract words.	more colloquial expressions, such as "How about?" or "OK", "How are ya doin' today?", phrasal verbs and idioms.

2-3) STRUCTURE/USEFUL LANGUAGE

Letter part	Useful language
Writer's/Sender's Address(excluding name)	..................(e.g. House Number, Lane etc.) ..................(e. g. Town, City etc.) ……………(Leave One Line blank)…………….
Date	(26th May, 200X (Date: name of month must be clearly written; top right hand corner (day/month-BE - or month/day-AE)) ……………(Leave One Line Blank)……………
Greeting	Dear Lucy, Dear John/Uncle/ Hi Jennifer, etc.
Asking about them, thanking for the letter	…Hi! How are things? /… How are you (and your family)? How’s it going? How was (your holiday)? …I hope you are well/ everything is okay. Thank you for your letter. Many thanks for your (last) letter – it was really nice/great…...to hear from you again/ …...to get your letter and hear all your news, Hope you are doing ok...
Apologizing for not writing sooner and explaining why	…It’s been such a long time since we wrote to each other. …It’s been a while since I last wrote to you. ……… I haven’t kept in touch, but… Sorry – I’ve been… up to my ears in work ……………but I’ve been really busy (studying for my exams ………….....but things at work (and home) have been really busy lately
Referring to their news	…Great news about… ...Glad to hear that… …It’s really good news that (you’ve passed your driving test! Congratulations!) ...Sorry to hear about…
Giving news and introducing new points	…Listen, did I tell you…? …Oh, and another thing. …By the way, you’ll never guess/believe (who I bumped into the other day). …(Do) You remember I told you in my last letter (that I was going to…) …Let me tell you about …Guess what? …Anyway, you asked me to tell you (all the family news) …The big news is that (Bob got divorced).Can you believe it? …One piece of sad news – you’ll be sorry to hear
Closing expressions	Once again ,( thanks very much for all your help) …That’s (about) all for now. Got to go. …That’s about all my news. …I must go (& pack my suitcase)- I’ll write again soon) …I’d better stop/go now (& get on with my studying) Give my love/regards to (your family/ to Ben) Say hello to… Everybody sends their love to… We all miss you (too) …Write (back) /drop me a line soon (and tell me all your news). …I’d love to hear from you. …(I’m) (really) looking forward to seeing you soon (in July/on…) …See you soon! …Can’t wait to see you (in the summer).
Signing off	Love, Lots of love, All my love, With love, Yours, All the best. Take care, Much love,...Thinking of you, Best wishes, Ever yours/Yours Sincerely/Truly/Lovingly/Affectionately/Take care, Cheers, Yours, etc. …………….(leave one line blank)……………... (+ Name of the writer)