Letter Writing- Importance Terms (Informal)

BEGINNINGS

• Thank you for your lovely letter.
• Many thanks for your letter.
• Thanks for writing.
• It was good to hear from you.
• Sorry for not replying sooner. I have been very busy.
• Sorry for taking so long to reply. I have been revising for my exams.
• I’m sorry I haven’t written for ages,  but I’ve been busy studying and haven’t had the time.

SIGNALLING: "THE END IS NEAR"

• Well, that’s all my news for now.
• It’s getting late, so I’d better stop now.
• I’d better stop now. It’s past midnight and I have an exam tomorrow.
• I’d better finish – I’m running out of space.
• My mom is calling for dinner so that’s enough for today
• I have to finish my home works so I am dropping my pen
• My favourate movie is there on tv tonight so it’s time to drop my pen

ENDINGS

• I look forward to hearing from you.
• I can hardly wait to meet you.
• Please write again soon.
• Please keep in touch.
• Give my regards to …
• Hope to hear from you soon.
• Awaiting an early reply .
• Inform my regards to Sam

Don’t forget to inform my updating to Aunt and uncle.

Special Terms

·        By the way . . .

·        To tell you the truth . . .

·        I must tell you about . . .

·        Right now I’m . . .

·        You will never believe it but . . .

·        I hope that . . .

·        To be honest . . .

·        I imagine that . . .

·        I should have told you that . .

·        I have been looking forward to . . .

·        I am looking forward to . . .       

·        I am worried about . . .              

·        I was looking forward to . . .

·        I expect that . . .

·        I think that . . .

·        As it happened . . .

·        I didn’t expect . . .

·        I don’t expect . .

·        In truth . . .

·        The best bit is . . .                    

·        The worst part is . . .               

·        Worst of all . . .

·        Best of all . . .

·        You’ll never guess what happened?

·        You know what?

·        Do you know what?

·        Can you imagine it?

·        Have you ever . . ?

·         Do you think that . . ?

·         Don’t you think that . .?

·         Isn’t it time to . . ?

·         Have you ever thought about . . ?

  Punctuation Marks

! – Exclamation Mark (Wonder )

. – Full stop (Sentence Completion)

, - Coma (Line break)

: - colon

; - Semicolon

‘’- Single Inverter coma (give imp)

“” – double inverter coma(quote)

? – interrogation Mark (Question mark) 

Letter Writing – Informal(Format)

Dear jack,

                        After all this time since your last letter, you must think I’ve dropped off the end of the world. It’s just that things have been so hectic since you left. I haven’t had time to do much beyond make it from one day to the next.

Anyway, I would like to drop a line to let you know about my………………………………………………………………………........

……………………………………………………………………………….

You will never believe that I got four ‘A’ stars in my GCE ‘O’ level………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………

I’d better stop now. It’s past midnight and I have an exam tomorrow.

Don’t forget to inform my regards to everyone specially Emili. Hope will write you soon.

With love,

Joke.

Letter Writing – Informal (Sample)

Write a letter to a friend who needs advice on his studies.

Dear Jay,

I‘ve been meaning to write to you for ages, but I’m afraid I just haven’t got round to it. Anyway, I thought I would drop you a line to give some suggestions on how to organise studying for an exam, now that you have mentioned them in your previous letter.

In my opinion, when you study you should find a quite calm and well-lit room. Then following that is your ability to set up a schedule, how to allocate your subjects during the course of the week. The timetable should also include some free times as well as to reduce boring with continues hours of studies. Moreover you should concentrate fully on studies while you following you study hours.

Another way is try to clear your doubts with the subject teachers and go through the exercise book. Don’t keep any topic for the eleventh hour of the exam, since the day should be used for quick revision along with more relaxation. You will be confident and less stress in your exams. ok dear, I’d better finish now because  I’m running out of space.

I hope this gives you some idea. Keep in touch and look forward to hear from you. Don’t forget to inform my regards to Sam.

With love,

Black

Letter Writing - Informal

What is Informal Register?

q   Although it is called friendly, it is not as informal as the language you would use when speaking to a friend.
q   Although written, it not as formal as the language you would use when writing a letter to apply for a job.
q   Friendly register is a level of language which comes between informal spoken language and formal written language.

Writing in Friendly Register
- When writing in friendly register, be careful not to make your level of language too informal.
- Do not include the following three features which are used when speaking to a friend :
v   Words or sentence structures which use slang :
v  Words shortened to look phonetic (i.e to look the way they sound)
v   SMS-style phonetics,
            ‘u’ for ‘you’         small ‘i’ instead of ‘I’                a number to represent a word

FORMAT OF A FRIENDLY LETTER
Greeting / Salutation
Paragraph 1 : Introduction (Opening sentence)
Paragraph 2 ,3 : Transition and body (Expand the points)
Paragraph 4 : Conclusion (closing sentence)
Signature

v  Greeting / Salutation
To a friend : Dear + first name
To a brother / sister : Dear + first name
Dear Brother Ahmed  (X)
To your mother / father : Dear Mom / Dear Dad (Ö )
Dear Mother / Father  (X)
To your parents : Dear Mom and Dad (Ö )
Dear Parents  (X)
To a cousin : Dear + first name (Ö )
Dear Cousin Ali   (X)
Dear  Ali     (Ö )
To an aunt : Dear Auntie + first name  (Ö )
To an uncle : Dear Uncle + first name  (Ö )
v   In every case, use only the standard Dear. Do not be tempted to write :
Dearest (X)                   My  Dearest (X)                       My Best Friend (X)

q  Paragraphs need to be clearly shown by indenting the first line of each paragraph so that it lines up under the comma following the name.
Introduction
What is the purpose of an introduction?

The introduction warms the reader up and prepares for the main part of the letter.

What can be written on an introduction?

1- Using an apology
2- Not using an apology

3- Personal reference

 (1)    A favourite way to begin an informal letter is by using an apology. There are two kinds of apology introductions.
Apologizing when there is a genuine reason why the writer has not written
I’m sorry I haven’t written for ages, (apology) but I’ve been busy studying and haven’t had the time. (reason)

b) Apologising when there is no real excuse for not writing
I’ve been meaning to write for ages, but I’m afraid I just haven’t got round to it.

 (2) Other introductions to friendly letters do not involve an apology. Eg :-
It was lovely to get your letter yesterday.
It was really great to hear from you last week.

(3) It can also begin with something very personal, to show your friendship or closeness.
Congratulations on passing the exam!
I hope you’re feeling better.
I hope you’ve got over the flu. 

Transition
This will be the first sentence in the second paragraph and it is needed to link the introduction to the main body of the letter.

How do we write a transition sentence?
There are 3 different ways to begin a transition.
1- Using the words Anyway, or Anyhow
2- Using the past tense
3- Using other methods

Ending
Don’t try to enter directly to the ending par.Bofore  concluding your letter you have give some hint(reason) why you are not able to write more.

For Example:

My mom is calling for dinner so that’s enough for today………….
I have to finish my home works so I am dropping my pen……………
My favourate movie is there on tv tonight so it’s time to drop my pen……..

The following can be used as a closing sentence.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Awaiting an early reply .
Inform my regards to someone’s name
Don’t forget to inform my updating to any name.

Once you have finished writing the letter and used an appropriate ending, write on a separate line, on the left of the page (usually), one of these :
Love,                     Love from                  With love from                          Yours,

Note the use of capital letters and which phrases need a comma after them. Do not include your family name just write your first name.