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Up until the introduction of cheap phone calls to other cities and abroad, millions of people wrote letters to their friends, family members and loved ones in an attempt to keep in touch. This practice however was stopped in the late 70s as more and more people found that telephoning was a much better way to be in touch as it involves immediate response

FORMAL LETTERS page 1 © Panayota Lioupi

Introduction to letter writing

In the FCE examination students are asked to write one letter or an email message in the first part; this task is compulsory - many times there is the option of another informal or formal letter in the

second part Clearly, it is very important to master the techniques of writing letters if you want to maximize your chances of going through the examination successfully

The history of writing letters

Up until the introduction of cheap phone calls to other cities and abroad, millions of people wrote letters

to their friends, family members and loved ones in an attempt to keep in touch

This practice however was stopped in the late 70s as more and more people found that telephoning was a much better way to be in touch as it involves immediate response

Letter writing remained the standard form of correspondence in the field of business mainly because a

letter is a legal document which can be used as evidence in court in the case of a dispute

Business letters and the letters we still must write to people we do not

know in order to complete a transaction are quite formal

How formal they are depends on the receiver and our relationship with

him or her In any case, all letters keep to a basic format which is

outlined below

PARTS of a letter

1 Opening (reference to PAST communication)

2 Main Message (presentation of the PRESENT situation and request for action)

3 Close (reference to FUTURE communication)

Modern formal letters tend to be short and to the point, rather than lengthy reports using very formal

language

However, there are some simple rules that apply to all types of letters nowadays

1 The layout: BLOCK style vs traditional forms

Although some people still use indented paragraphing (old-fashioned type of companies/the Greek Civil Service), the introduction of word processors in the work place in the 80s has changed the style of letter writing

Nowadays most formal letters are typed and so…

they use double space to indicate a change in the paragraph Also…

the close remains on the left hand side of the page

There are, of course, exceptions to the rules i.e American vs British English but on the whole, the

main idea is the one of opening/main message/close

 The main message, which is the REASON FOR WRITING should not be too lengthy

 Different paragraphs are used to show different subjects

 The language used should be as clear as possible

EXAM TIP: Although it is quite OK to use the old style of paragraphing in the FCE

exam, you must take into consideration the fact that you are your letter and that your handwriting may not be the best one or the easiest in the world to read (!!!)… so, it

might be a better approach to use block style as it makes your letter look neat.

This is an actual BUSINESS letter Look how it looks when it’s HAND-written in block style:



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Block style helps us create neater, prettier, easier to read

letters!

Now look at the same letter HAND-written in the old style of paragraphing:

2 Conventions: Before you start writing

a The date

In Britain and most of Europe 06/09/09 means the sixth of September 2009 …BUT… in the United

States the same thing (06/09/09) means the ninth of June 2009!

Because you can't be certain how the person you're corresponding with will read the

date, it is better to write 6 September 2009

….and there will be no misunderstandings!

* Most computers record the date the American way (month-day-year) Check that you have the correct

date when you have received e-mail messages or copied something out of web pages!

If you would like to use a subject heading make sure that it goes before the opening salutation, in

the centre of the page and is underlined

An FCE task is typically a page with the situation e.g you have received a letter and are required to

answer it (you must decide what kind of letter is required and to whom) and some notes that you have made on that with the thing s you shouldn’t forget to include in your task

What you need to do first of all, is:

1 Look at the task carefully and number the points you must cover on the exam paper

2 Make a rough draft on your notebook/rough paper with what each paragraph should contain

and the order in which it should go

At this stage you must be careful to include all the points asked by the task and in the correct

order (just group the points and use common sense!)

3 Check that you know what action you are going to ask people to take as a result of your letter

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ALWAYS start with one of the following phrases…

3 Conventions: The opening and the close

A The OPENING SALUTATION:

This may depend on the relationship between the two people involved as this often

changes the tone of the letter/email to a more personal one

When you open Dear Sirs / Sir / Madam Dear Mr / Mrs / Ms Spock

you should close Yours faithfully Yours sincerely

When you open Dear Ben ,

you should close Best wishes/Best regards/Kind regards

This is how you decide which OPENING SALUTATION you are to use:

BUT: you can not start a letter with

"Dear Mr David", or

"Dear Mr David Evans" !!

B The 1st sentence of paragraph 1:

The opening of a formal letter depends on

 whether you are asking or giving information …

I am writing to enquire about your letter of 15 May regarding …

 whether you had previous contact with the person you are writing to…

I am writing in connection with your email message of today concerning …

I am writing with reference to our telephone conversation of 10 June about …

In connection with … our telephone conversation earlier today

 whether this is an answer letter…

Thank you for your letter (enquiring) about

phone call of 10 May concerning

C The 2nd sentence of paragraph 1:

You have now set the tone of your letter Now continue …

I am interested in and I would like to know

We are a school of … we are examining the possibility …

We are in the process of buying… are thinking of (…-ing)

I would like to receive/book/order/apply …

C The close

The way you close a formal letter depends on the way you open it Below, there are

some examples of different ways to close a letter

If you gave information at the letter you can close:

I hope that the information will help you

and add

Please, do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further

information

or

Please, feel free to contact me if you have any questions

There should always be reference to future communication…

I look forward to receiving your reply/order (FORMAL)

to meeting you on Thursday

(I’m) looking forward to hearing from you soon (INFORMAL)

You will do the same things in a formal email message ; The ONLY thing that’ll change is the fact that you MUST use a subject heading in the header!

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Practice: Write the first and the last paragraph of the following letters

You don’t need to use the addresses

A You saw this TV commercial on CNN about a new printer (HP 3500L), that has not been

imported to Greece yet Write to the company in the UK (info@PrintersRUs.co.uk)

B Write to World Expeditions (76 Piccadilly E1 45F, London) You want to know if they are

organizing a trekking holiday in Tibet next Easter

C You go to school in the American college in Athens You heard about this company (Syriani

Catering Ltd , 112 Kifissias Ave., 124 62, Halandri ) that does catering for several companies

Write to the owner about the next school party (the only thing you know is that the manager is a woman)

D You received a letter from an old professor of yours asking if you plan to go to a conference he

is to give a speech His name is Humphrey Loser (24 Beck Rd, Oxford OX34FL)

E Write to MEGA Channel (media.planning@megatv.com), to Ms I.M Bemba at the Media

Planning Department, asking for the price of TV commercials (weekends/before the 8 o’clock news)

* Note that even though no addresses are necessary in the examination you should

remember that they are vital in real life!

D The main message

The main message deals with all the above reasons for writing but it should be, as we mentioned before, as brief and accurate as possible

Here are some standard ways of SAYING THINGS in modern correspondence:

1 Giving good news

When the news is good, here's how you could give it:

I am happy to tell you

I am delighted to inform you that

I am pleased to announce

2 Giving bad news

Sometimes, the news is bad! Then here's how you could give it politely!

I am sorry to tell

3 Requesting action (always in the last paragraph of the main message!!!)

When you want information you can write

Please could you give me some further details about

I would be grateful if you could let me know about/if

I would appreciate it if you could (possibly) inform me about…

I would like to know if

Could you inform me about Could you fax/email me the price for …

When you ask people to do something for you, you can write

Please could you

I would be grateful if you could

I would appreciate it if you could…

…and add…

…as soon as possible

…without delay (…if it's URGENT!)

…immediately

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4 Giving the reason

Good or bad news, you've got to give the reason(s):

This has been/is because of

as a result of

owing to* (* FOR BAD NEWS ONLY!!!)

And when you don't really want to tell the reason …

This has been due to unforeseen circumstances

Practice

What would you write in the following situations? Choose a standard phrase Work with a partner and write the opening and the main message

1 You have seen a large UK department store's (Dixon’s electronics) advertisement for their new

catalogue on the web Write an email to ask for it to be sent to your home in Greece

2 You need to find out if your father’s company will fund your English summer course in London

Write to the Human Resources Manager

3 Write to somebody who applied for a job at your father’s company (the name of the person is

Mr Sotiris Hassouras) informing him that his application has not been successful

4 Write to a travel agent, asking for the new brochures for Caribbean cruises to be sent to your

home You want to leave in 15 days time and need to book as soon as possible

5 Answer the letter of the Englishwoman who will be putting you up while you are doing a

summer course in London, telling her what your allergies and food preferences are

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Letters of Complaint

Below are some guidelines to follow and some points to bear in mind if you are required to write a letter of complaint.

The aim of a letter of complaint is:

to inform the other party of an unsatisfactory situation

to put an end to this situation by requesting a specific action which will satisfy

you

Be careful!!! The aim is NOT to threaten! Always be aware of the fact that you are

writing to a person of a different culture who might be offended by the tone/content of your letter!

Style:

If the aims above are kept in mind then the style should be polite, concise, informative,

impersonal and objective (and of course formal!)

If the aims are not kept in mind your style might easily become , , ,

1 When you want someone to take note of something you could write

I should like to draw your attention to (the fact that )

I should like to point out that

2 Sometimes you are a little angry Then, you could write

I should like to remind you that

I hope that it is not necessary to remind you that

A letter of complaint is not different from other letters in that certain information must

be included and some must be left out

LETTER PLAN

1 Refer back to previous situation/event and give brief details such as times, dates and

ref./order numbers

2 say clearly what the problem is

e.g Unfortunately, we have not yet received order no 2465/a

3 draw attention to any relevant information which will support your case (your arguments)

4 politely request a specific action

We would appreciate it if you could… …deliver the order soon

We would be grateful if you could

5 make some specific reference to future communication (deadline)

6 close the letter (politely!)

EXAM TIP:

Do NOT start with "I am writing to complain about…"

 Better to start by referring back to an event/situation and add…

Here are some phrases you could use:

 Further to your article in … (date)… regarding our college and its activities

 Last week we accepted delivery of twenty bookcases for our school …

 It appears/seems that …

 Therefore, we would like to receive our order as soon as possible

When you are making a complaint

a say politely what the problem is

b explain why you are dissatisfied with the situation

c request action and give a deadline

You use a warning ONLY WHEN everything else has failed (it is extremely rare to have

to use it in the FCE exam)!!!

In a warning, the tone is still polite but you should

Unless we receive refund by … (date) we will be forced to take legal action

we will be forced to consult our solicitors

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Letters of apology

If you are required to write a letter of apology the following guidelines might be helpful.

As with any letter, you must ask yourself what the purpose of the letter is In this

case, the purpose is:

to show people that you are aware of a problem, that you understand the difficulties they have experienced as a result and that you genuinely regret this

to explain how and why the problem came about - i.e giving a plausible reason - or if the

reason is as yet unknown, to let the other party know that you are trying to find out the reason

and, obviously, you want to continue the relationship and to repair any damage to your image

Style: If the above purposes are kept in mind, the style and tone should be:

factual concise formal helpful constructive

LETTER PLAN

1 open by referring back to a previous communication, e.g letter, call, fax etc

4 state what action you intend to take

5 close with a reference to the future and a SECOND apology

Language:

A REFERRING BACK

We have received your letter of 10 April and are sorry that you are not satisfied with the printer

B FIRST APOLOGY

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused

We regret any inconvenience this may have caused

C EXPLANATION

This was due to a staff shortage

D ACTION

We will of course refund the amount in full

reasons for the mix-up

E THE FUTURE

happen again

F SECOND APOLOGY

Please accept our apologies once again

With apologies once again