• Formal letters/emails
greeting
(Dear + title +
person’s surname,)
Dear Sir/Madam,)
General Outline for 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
(Yours sincerely/
Yours faithfully, +
your full name)
Formal letters/emails
are sent to
people in an official position or
people you don’t know well
(e.g. Director of
Studies, Personnel Manager etc.)
They are
written in a formal style with a polite,
impersonal tone (see p. 22). They are
normally written to apply for a job/course,
make a complaint, give/request official
information, etc. When we know the name
of the person we are writing to, we begin
with
Dear + person’s surname
, and we
sign off with
Yours sincerely, + our full
name
. When we don’t know the name of
the person, we start with
Dear Sir/
Madam,
and we sign off with
Yours
faithfully, + our full name
.
• Applying for a job
Dear Mr Jones,
I am writing with reference to your
advertisement in the Evening News on 3rd April
for teenagers to help children in the computer lab.
I would be really interested in applying for the job.
I am 17 years old and am currently completing
my final year of sixth form. I will be starting my
university studies in September in Computer
Programming. I am a native speaker of English, but
I am also fluent in Italian and am presently learning
Spanish.
Furthermore, I am very keen on computers. I
have participated over the past year in our school’s
programme tutoring pupils and helping my teachers
with our lab. Therefore, I would welcome the
opportunity to help children with something I am
familiar with.
I attach my CV and a reference letter from my
Computing teacher. If you feel that my qualifications
meet your requirements, I will be happy to hear from
you. I would be available for an interview at any time.
Yours sincerely,
Jessica Jameson
2
Read the letter again and find formal expressions to match
the informal ones.
• about your advert ...
• I fancy the idea of ...
• right now ...
• my Italian is also pretty
good ...
• I am mad about ...
• it would be really great ...
• I know about ...
• I’m sending you ...
• If you think I’m right for
the job ...
• I can come in for a chat ...
•
with reference to your advertisement ...
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Are you good with computers?
Do you speak good English?
Are you polite and reliable?
Our local community centre is looking
for teenagers to help children aged 7 to
10 who will be practising in the
computer lab after their computing
lesson. The ideal candidate must be
able to answer simple questions and
willing to demonstrate how to use the
computer. This position is on a part-
time basis (11 am to 1pm, Monday to
Friday).
If you’re interested, write to Mr Cyril
Jones at Best Computers, 6 Hadley
Way, Sevenoaks, Kent,TN20 IXX
1
Read the rubric. Then read the
letter. What is each paragraph
about?
You have seen the following job
advertisement in the
Evening
News
. Write a letter applying for
the job (140‒190 words).
MODULE 1
30
Introduction
Para 1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Main Body
Para 2
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Para 3
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Conclusion
Para 4
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
