Structure Rules for Formal Letters & Emails
in IELTS General Training
Greeting
Name unknown:
Dear Sir/Madam,
Name known:
Dear Mr.…/ Dear Mrs.… / Dear Ms..+ surname
Reason for writing
I am writing to … I am writing concerning…
I am writing on behalf of …
Asking questions
I would be grateful if … I wonder if you could ….
Could you …?
Referring to someone else’s letter /points
As you stated in your letter, ….
Regarding …/ Concerning …
With regard to ….
Finishing the letter
If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to
contact me.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Signing
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If Dear + name = Yours sincerely,
If Dear Sir/ Madam = Yours faithfully
Your first name + surname must be
written clearly under your
signature.
Formal Letter IELTS General Exam
Checklist.
When you have written your letter, check:
1. It is a formal letter
2. It includes all the information necessary
3. You have asked all the questions you need to
4. The questions are correctly formulated indirect questions
5. The letter is divided into paragraphs
6. You have checked the letter carefully for mistakes
Language Practice: Formal Letters & Emails
Letters can be anything from very formal to very informal. The
IELTS General Writing paper will never ask
you to write a specialized
business or legal letter requiring a professional knowledge of business
words, structures, and expressions. However, they might ask you to write a
formal, semi-formal, or informal email or letter.
In this section of the chapter, we will focus on your use of language
and, in particular, your ability to create a formal register. This will help
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you do well in two of the assessment criteria: Language, by using a range
of formal vocabulary and grammatical
structures and communicative
achievement by creating an appropriate formal tone that has a positive
effect on the reader. We will identify some
of the features of formal
English that we often find in formal letters.
At the end of this section, you will find
a list of useful formal-
informal equivalents. This list will save you a lot of time in your
preparation for the exam. For example, in a letter of complaint: “I was
rather disappointed” is a formal way of saying, “I was furious” or “I was
furious.” See how many more formal and informal
equivalent items you
can learn next.
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