Informal letter writing- Useful phrases

Salutation or Greeting

•Start with Dear followed by the first name of the person who you are writing to.

•Use only the first name of the person you are writing to and not Dear Mr John, which is never used,

or Dear Mr John Brown, which sounds too formal.

•Informal letters have a comma after the person's name, and the letter starts on the line below.

Opening

•You would normally start with a greeting

•For example:

–How are you?

–I hope you are well.

-I know that we haven’t spoken for a while but…

-It has been a long time since we last spoke to each other …

-I know you may/might be angry with me so I decided to write rather than call you.

-I decided to write to you because I am scared of you and I don’t want to see you.

Referring to  news

–Great news about (+ gerund) passing your A-Level Maths exam

–Glad to hear that you are alive and have been writing to me for two years.

–Sorry to hear that you prefer to live with your mum

–Your mother/father has told me ….

–I am happy about …

–Did you know …?

–I have just found out that …

–I have been thinking about what happened and …

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 just wanted you to know that …

Apologies

–I’m really sorry about killing Wellington …

–I’m really sorry that I killed Wellington.

–I wanted to apologise for shouting at you …

–I know that you might be angry with me but …

Requests

- I wonder if / I was wondering if you could help me / do me a favour.

Closing the letter

Give a reason why you're ending the letter:

–Anyway, I must go and …

–I guess it's time I got on with …

Repeat main message

-As I said, I am really sorry for …

-Lots of love from, Christopher

-

-P.S.