IELTS Informal Letter in General Training
IELTS General training is bit different from Academic IELTS specially in Reading and Writing modules. Today let’s talk about Writing, in this module Task 2 i.e. essay is same in both the formats but Task 1 is different. In General IELTS Task 1 is a letter which can be formal or informal and you have to write minimum of 150 words to complete this task. To know the letter types you should read the statement carefully. The statement will tell why you that to whom you are suppose to write the letter. Keep in mind that Informal letters are always written to a friend so you should use a chatty writing style. Second thing to remember is that it should be written in a friendly, personal style, we use when we are gossiping with a friend.
The topic of letter can be related to your work or about the explanation of why you changed jobs? so the topic is work-related. When the statement says ‘write to a friend’, you should understand that the style is informal even though it’s about work. So, today we will learn How to write an IELTS Informal Letter in General Training
Main points to look at when writing informal letter writing:
To make your writing task impressive and to response properly you should follow these points:
1. Read and understand the given statement carefully.
2. Make sure it is an informal letter as you are said to write it to your friend.
3. Covered all the 3 bullet points.
4. Make clear the reason of writing the letter.
5. Use an informal style.
6. Organize paragraphs properly.
7. Do paraphrasing and use synonyms.
8. Use variety of vocabulary and various grammatical structures and tenses.
9. Avoid repetitions of words and sentences.
10. Check for spelling mistakes.
11. Be clear and loud.
Informal language
Here are some examples of informal language that can be used in the letter-
• In the opening you can use ‘Dear…, ‘ or ‘Hi…,’
• For closings,. ‘Love…’, ‘All the best,’, ‘Take care,’, ‘Bye for now,’ or ‘See you soon,’ can be used.
• You can write It’s… instead of ‘It is…’
• Use informal vocabulary, like job, help and pretty instead of heavy words like position, assist and reasonably.
• Use of ‘should’ and ‘could’ to make suggestions (instead of a ‘May I suggest…’)
• Remember to read all the content you have written in the end of the exam this will help you to identify and work on any spelling or grammatical mistake. These type of mistakes decrease the overall scores in IELTS.
Additional Tip:
Here are some other phrases that can be used to start and conclude the letter.
Opening your letter suggestions:
• I just thought I’d write to let you know that I finally quit my job ……
• I’m writing to tell you about ……
• I thought you might be interested to know/ hear that ….
• I thought you would like to hear about …..
Closing your letter suggestions:
• I’m looking forward to hearing all about….
• Write back soon with your news.
• I can’t wait to hear all about ….
• Let me know if you need…./ want…../ are able to visit etc
Paragraphs and Structure
A good letter consists of 4-5 paragraphs. So, to make your letter effective and impressive you should plan the whole thing before starting the letter. Make sure that you cover all the bullet points. Never forget to connect each point with one another so that they look linked and you content go in a flow.
