18
Writing
an informal letter/email describing a house for rent
b. Which words/phrases does Laura use to describe
the interior/exterior of the house? In which
paragraphs does she mention these?
c. Study the table, then find examples of informal
style in Laura’s letter.
Analysing a Model Text
Dear Peter,
How are you? Hope everything’s OK. I’m writing to let you know
that I think I’ve found the perfect summer cottage for you.
It’s in a really nice location. It’s a quiet area, but the best thing
about it is that it is less than a kilometre from the sea. Also, the rent
for the cottage is only í150 a week.
The house Ès really charming outside. It’s an old brick farm building
which has been converted into a holiday cottage. It’s got a patio and is
surrounded by a beautiful garden.
Inside, the house is nice and comfortable. It has two floors. On
the ground floor there is a cosy living room and a kitchen with all
the modern equipment you would expect, as well as a dining
room and a WC. Upstairs there are two small bedrooms and a
bathroom. The house is fully furnished so you don’t need to worry
about that.
Let me know if you like the sound of it. I can easily talk to the
owner, Mr Smith, for you. I hope I’ll see you here soon. I’ll tell you
all of my news then.
Yours,
Laura
1
2
4
5
3
2
a. Read the letter and replace the
underlined
sentences,
then
replace
them with
your own
sentences.
1
Read the rubric, look at the underlined phrases and
answer the questions.
Peter has been looking for a summer house to
rent on the coast for August. He has asked his
friend , Laura, to find a house for him. Laura has
found a suitable house and is going to write
Peter a letter describing the house and giving
rental details.
1
Who is going to write a letter? To whom? What is
their relationship?
2
What style is appropriate?
formal – to someone in authority
semi-formal – to someone you do not know very
well
informal – to someone you know very well
3
Which of the following would you expect to find in
Laura’s letter? Tick (
✓
) accordingly.
description of the outside
description of the inside
location of the house
historical details
weather conditions
rent
Analysing the Rubric
Style
When we write an informal letter/email to a
friend describing a house for rent, we can divide it
into five paragraphs. We start our letter with
Dear +
our friend’s first name
.
In the
first paragraph
we write our
opening remarks
and the
reason
for writing our letter.
In the
second paragraph
we describe
the location
of
the house and give details of the
rent
.
In the
third paragraph
we describe
the exterior
of the
house (what it is made of, garden, etc).
In the
fourth paragraph
we describe
the interior
of
the house (e.g. floors, rooms, furniture, special
features, etc). We start each main-body paragraph
with a topic sentence i.e. a sentence which introduces
or summarises the paragraph.
In the
last paragraph
we write our
closing remarks
and sign off using
Yours, Best wishes, etc + our first
name
.
We can use a variety of adjectives to make our
descriptions more interesting to the reader.
Informal style
abbreviations
e.g. I’ve got
simple linking words
e.g. but, so, and,
etc.
shorter sentences
e.g. I’d like to see you
personal tone
e.g. I’ve got some great news
everyday expressions
e.g. Thanks a lot.
Formal style
no abbreviations
e.g. I have got
formal linking words
e.g. despite
longer sentences
impersonal tone
e.g. passive
formal expressions
e.g. I look forward to hearing
