How to write a standard English letter

Get ready for firts writing task in General Training IELTS

by Mehdi Safavi | Jul 19, 2019 | Writing

In many English courses writing gets a low priority. Sometimes you do have a chance to practise some writing, but without focus on letters (or emails). This is surprising, because emails are probably the most common type of written communication. Besides, letter writing is the first writing task in General Training IELTS.

Types of letters

Your writing could be in a formal or informal style, depending on the purpose of the letter and the person you are writing to. The letter you write to the local police, for example, is formal while a letter to a classmate is informal. If you are reporting a missing property, your letter will be formal whereas when you write to a friend to congratulate them on their newborn baby, the style should be informal.

How to plan

Before you start writing (at least 150 words), you should analyze (see underlined word below) the task to understand the situation, which determines the purpose and the recipient of the letter, and come up with a good imaginary scenario.

In this case:

recipient = a bank official (We don’t know the name of course)
purpose = reporting a missing bank card
=> the style = formal

Layout of the letter

A standard letter consists of five sections:

Salutation (Dear ….,)
Body (a few main paragraphs)
Closing line (e.g. wishing sb well and asking them to write back)
Valediction (i.e. complimentary close, e.g. “Yours faithfully”)
Signature (Your name)

How to begin and end a letter

It all depends on the recipient:

Informal (someone you know well)
Formal (not a friend but you know the person’s name)
Formal (an organisation and you DON’T know the recipient’s name)

Punctuation in letter writing

The only difference between letters/emails and other forms of English is the use of comma. Make sure you put a comma after:

the salutation: e.g. Dear Sir of Madam,
and the valediction: e.g. Yours faithfully,

Your turn

If you have any qeustions about letter writing in IELTS, leave a comment below and ask.

About the Author

CEO and Co-founder of Juice Academy

Mehdi Safavi is a Cambridge certified English teacher (CELTA Grade A), IDP-trained IELTS expert, Sussex Downs College TESOL with 17+ years of teaching & teacher training experience. More about him →