How to write an IELTS Informal Letter in General Training
In IELTS General training Task 1 you have to write a letter of minimum 150 words. This letter can be formal or informal; the letter types will be cleared by reading the statement. In the statement you will know why you are writing the letter and who you are writing to. Informal letters are always written to a friend so you should use a chatty writing style. 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
Which words you can use in an informal 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:
To make yourself comfortable and enrich with ideas imagine that you received a letter from your friend and you are reverting to it.
Example of an opening;
Dear Smith,
I hope you receive this letter in the pink of your health. I received your letter yesterday, it was so interesting to read and the photo of our vacation you sent is absolutely amazing.
After this write the reason for the letter according to the exam question.
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
3. Paragraphs and Structure
A well structured letter consists of 4-5 paragraphs. So, before starting the letter you should plan the whole thing deciding upon each bullet point. Make sure to connect each point with one another so that they look linked and you content go in a flow.
THANK YOU 🙂
