English Writing How to Write a LETTER on Any Topic

in the digital age knowing how to write letter is still very important skill to have so much so that high-stakes English tests including IELTS c-a-e and even oet still have it as part of their tests even plenty of high school students in countries like Germany or Japan have to write letters as part of their English class tests so in this video I'm going to teach you how to write letter for any topic and any scenario let's get into it foreign letter can be super important skill to have in addition to English tests well-written letter can get you job it can help build beautiful friendship it can inspire people but it is definitely skill that can take time and effort to get good at now before we start don't forget to subscribe and feel free to download the four sample letters from the description below that you can use to help you write your own letter so letter writing can be different depending on number of situations usually you'll have formal letter if you're writing one letter and that's it but you might be writing an informal letter if you know the person better or if you have letters going back and forth let's start with formal letter formal letter might be letter of complaint or letter to your local city council with suggestions on where to build the new library so let's take look at the first step step one include the date in letter start with the date at the top the format generally doesn't matter some countries have different formats but these two should be fine step two write the salutation now you could do few things here if you know the person to whom you are writing you can write Dear Mr Keating or whatever their name is in terms of Ms miss or Miss it's Ms if you don't know their marriage status Miss if they are married and Miss m-i-s-s if they are unmarried if you don't know who is going to receive the letter you can write Dear Sir Madam or to whom it may concern step 3 State the purpose or subject if you're writing formal letter it's pretty important to State the purpose quickly am writing to express my dissatisfaction with your service am writing to let you know of my intention to leave my position here at Google am writing to inquire about the city's plan to rebuild the State Library there are so many situations you could be writing about that couldn't possibly cover them all the main point is that it's good idea to State your purpose at the beginning step four write the content of the letter so the content is the purpose of the letter the content could be well anything simple rule of thumb is to make the point in the first sentence kind of like topic sentence and then to let the rest of the paragraph extend that idea conversely in formal complaint letter your letter might be more like narrative or story about what happened in which case you would start at the beginning of the story and then explain what happened step 5 write the complementary close now to finish your letter formally we just end with simple close like kind regards and to be honest in formal letters this is really all you need don't worry too much about memorizing too many alternatives finally step six put your full name at the bottom great so let's have look at two samples remember you can download these samples by clicking the link in the description so this first letter is letter of complaint to doctor's office you can see it's got clear purpose in the beginning and then it tells the story of what happened now in this case don't have topic sentence but you can see how I've made Clear Choice in where to break the letter into two different paragraphs the first part of the trip to the doctor and the second part where the situation actually gets worse here's another formal letter this one is letter to my boss asking for some time off and here you can see it starts with clear purpose in the first content paragraph explain why I'm taking the course then explain the potential problem and sign off both of these have all the key components of letter that most teachers or examiners would probably expect in writing test now let's move on to the informal letter now in this case there will be few key differences to look at first of all your formal letter would have been professional or formal in tone you don't use contractions you use formal greetings and formal clothes in an informal letter you would use casual tone you can definitely use contractions and you can use informal greetings and an informal close now keep in mind if this is test it's best to keep it simple and follow these rules in the real world as you start going back and forth in your writing with real person whether formal or informal you might start by following these rules but you'll see that the tone can change as you get to know the person better in an informal letter you can start with the date typically deer is your go-to for an informal or personal letter when it comes to the purpose in an informal letter you obviously don't have to have purpose but oftentimes you may need one but it'll probably be bit less serious something like this just wanted to check in and see how you're doing now if you've been writing back and forth for while your message might possibly start with something like this hey Johnny how's it going hope the job interview went well I'm sure you crushed the interview anyway just wanted to send quick thanks for and then whatever it is you want to say as said once you start becoming more familiar with someone you'll find your own style of letter writing now be careful if you've got an English test and they ask you to write to friend would not be too liberal with this approach when in doubt keep your letter introduction simple and polite in real life same thing start simple and polite and then let the writing relationship develop next for our informal letter we write the content or body of the letter that's the actual message now you could start each section with topic sentence like have great news or to answer your question about my plans and then extend or you could just tell them story Pro tip in letter writing describe what happened and then describe how you feel about that the complementary close can be more casual any of these are fine cheers take care love with love warm regards don't worry too much about having multiple options available and then of course sign off with your first name here is sample in formal letter to an unfamiliar person someone know but possibly don't know well like the brother of friend it has clear purpose and each paragraph has single Focus and here's super quick letter to friend you'll see it's super short and very casual and that's it remember that in the real world writing can change depending on so many situations but hopefully these tips will help you with an upcoming English test or that first scary letter you have to write to someone at your new job or in your new home don't forget to subscribe to this channel for more videos on writing in English and I'll see you in the next video