greeting
(Dear + title +
person’s surname,)
General Outline for semi‒formal letters/emails
Paragraph 1:
opening remarks,
reason(s) for writing
Paragraphs 2, 3:
subject(s) of the
letter/email
Paragraph 4:
closing
remarks
sign off (Regards/
Best wishes, +
your full name)
Dear Mr Gray,
Regarding your school’s forthcoming
exchange trip to our town this summer, I
would like to provide you with some details
in order to help you begin planning the trip.
Dear Mr Smith,
As you may already know, your son Adam’s
friends are planning a surprise party for his
16th birthday. Therefore, I would like to
invite both you and your wife to the party
which will be held on Saturday, 5th June
from 8pm.
Once again, thank you very much for
taking the time to come and talk to us.
Regards,
Jane Thompson
B
C
2
3
Please feel free to contact me via phone or
email if you have any other questions or
concerns. My class is really looking forward
to your visit!
Regards,
Andrew Jacobs
Dear Mrs Morgan,
I am writing on behalf of the students of
Class 2B to thank you for coming to our
school to give the talk on Internet safety.
1
I hope that you are both able to come. I can
be contacted at the email address above.
Best wishes,
John Sparks
A
1
Match the beginnings to the
endings. What type of letter/
email is each?
Semi-formal letters/emails
are sent to people you don’t know well or when you want to sound more polite and
respectful. For this reason they are written in a polite tone (see p. 22). They can be letters/emails asking for/giving
advice, asking for/giving information, explaining arrangements, expressing thanks, etc.
2
Match the semi‒formal sentences to the informal ones.
A
I am writing in the hope that you can help me.
B
Please could you give me some information about suitable
hotels in the area?
C
I would like to thank you for your kindness during my stay.
D
It would be a good idea if you did some extra Maths classes.
E
I am sorry that I will be unable to come.
F
I hope you will find this information useful.
INFORMAL
SEMI‒FORMAL
1
Asking for
information
Do you know where I
can find some good
hotels?
B Please could you
give me some
information about
suitable hotels in
the area?
2
Offering
advice
Why don’t you do
some extra Maths
classes?
3
Thanking Thanks for being so
kind to me when I
stayed with you.
4
Refusing an
invitation
What a pity that I
can’t come!
5
Asking for
advice
I thought I’d drop you
a line to ask you for
some help.
6
Giving
information
Hope this was what
you wanted to know.
• Semi-formal letters/emails
MODULE 1
28
