Writing Task - INFORMAL LETTER

Dear ..

Hi/Hello ...

Beginning

Great/Lovely to hear from you (after so long)

Thanks (a lot) for the letter / It was great to get your letter

Sorry to hear about your

Sorry for not writing for so long/I haven’t written/I haven’t been in touch for so long

Persuading

You’d get so much out of it

It’d be a wonderful/marvellous opportunity for you to..

Just think of (all the people you’d meet)

Just imagine how it would (improve your cv), not to mention (the money you could earn)

Advising

Whatever you do, make sure you..

It’s (not) worth/There’s no/little point + gerund

I’d/I wouldn’t…if I were you.

You’d be much better off + gerund

Ending

I must go now

Phone me as soon as possible.

Write back soon and let me know how it goes

(I’m) Looking forward to hearing from you

Please reply quickly

I’ll finish now as I’m running out of space

Bye for now

I’d better get going

Can’t wait to see you again

(Give my) love/regards to

Signing off

Friends: All the best/Best wishes/Bye for now

Relatives: Lots of love/All my love/Love

When possible, use:

-         contractions

-         the present continuous instead of the present simple ('I’m looking forward to hearing from you' instead of 'I look forward...')

-         the present simple instead of the conditional ('I want to visit your farm' instead of 'I would like to visit your farm')

-         colloquial expressions ('I’m most interested' instead of 'I am really interested')

-         direct sentences ('I think it's a good idea' instead of 'It would be a good idea')

-         phrasal verbs