Informal Email/Letter- Sample and Tips

Sample Task

This is what a typical email writing task in the FCE exam might look like. It is an actual email that you have to reply to and, of course, we can analyse this task in exactly the way described above.

Firstly, we want to see what to include in our email and, secondly, who we are writing to in order to choose the correct register. The best way to do this is to underline the key pieces of information. Take a look.

Always underline the important pieces of information.

I’ve underlined the reason why David’s friends are coming to your area (“…travel around and learn about …”), which gives us a general idea of what to write about as well as two very specific things David is asking us to tell him (“places they could visit” and “the best way to travel around”).

On top of that, when you write to a friend like David you have to write in an informal style. Generally speaking, this means that you should use contractions ( e.g. I’m, don’t), colloquial expressions (e.g. tons of, ‘What’s happening?’) as well as phrasal verbs and idioms (end up, ‘Guess what!’)? .

Generally, an email or letter always comes in 4-5 parts:

1. an opening formula and SHORT paragraph
2. 2-3 topic paragraphs depending on how many topic points there are in the task
   • Why would you like to go on the trip?
   • What skills do you have which would be useful on the trip?
   • What experience do you have of travelling (if any)?
3. a SHORT closing paragraph and formula

This pattern works for every single email/letter so try to memorise this.

Don’t forget to plan your email/letter

There is one thing that, unfortunately, too many candidates do wrong when they take the writing exam and even when they practise. By developing this bad habit they often waste a lot of time during the actual test and sometimes lose valuable marks.

Of course, I’m talking about making a plan before you start writing. Take a few minutes to note down the different paragraphs (see the example in the previous section on organising your emails and letters) and add just a few words to help you give your text a logical structure.

You will see how much easier it gets when you can focus on the content of your writing task instead of the organisation and logical order of your ideas.