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IELTS Letter Writing Formal & Informal

IELTS Letter Writing

Formal & Informal

One of the most important tasks of IELTS letter writing is to decide on the tone of your letter. There are two options:

Formal

Informal

If you get this wrong, you will get a low score for Task Achievement which makes up 25% of your total mark. This lesson will help to ensure that you get it right.

The tone is determined by the person you are writing to.

Formal – to someone you don’t know or don’t know well.

Informal – to a friend.

You will use different language and a different style of writing depending on who you are addressing. Follow this rule and you won’t go wrong:

If the question includes the word ‘friend’, use informal language.

If the question does not include the word ‘friend’, use formal language.

The only exception is if the letter is to a close family member when you would also use an informal tone, but these are not common.

Occasionally students get confused by a letter that is to a friend but of a serious nature such as informing them of a sad even. You would still use an informal tone but choose appropriate language to fit the situation. Tone is never determined by the topic of the letter, only who it is written to.

We’ll look at some examples in a minute but first, I want to talk about the semi-formal tone.

Should a semi-informal tone ever be used?

My advice is to use only a formal or informal tone as appropriate. I believe in keeping things as simple as possible and having a third style option is an added complication and unnecessary.

You could argue for the use of a semi-formal tone when writing to a colleague or manager you are friendly with. However, for your IELTS letter writing test, assume that they are not friends and write the letter in a professional style, that is, in a formal tone.

The other situation that can be confusing is where the person you have to write to is a neighbour. Again, assume that you do not know them very well and keep the letter formal.

If you follow the rule of only writing an informal letter when the question contains the word ‘friend’, you’ll be fine.

Ielts general writing task 1 topics with answers pdf

IELTS Letter Writing Questions

So, let’s look at some sample questions and decide which tone and style we should use for each.

Read through the following 4 questions and decide whether you should write a formal or informal letter for each one.

Question 1

You live in a room in college which you share with another student. However, there are many problems with this arrangement and you find it very difficult to work.

Write a letter to the accommodation officer at the college. In your letter:

describe the situation
explain your problem and why it is difficult to work
say what kind of accommodation you would prefer.

Question 2

A friend has agreed to stay in your flat and look after it while you are away. You want to give them some information.

Write a letter to this friend. In your letter:

give information about the flat
provide any important instructions
say what he/she should do if there are any problems.

Question 3

A friend is visiting a city that you are familiar with.

Write a letter to this friend. In your letter:

describe to him/her a place worth visiting
suggest some eating options
suggest transport options.

Question 4

You have seen an advert in a newspaper asking for volunteers to help run a charity event.

Write a letter of application to the organiser. In your letter:

explain why you are interested in helping
give details of relevant past experience
suggest ways you might help with the event.

Answers:

Questions 1 & 4 require formal letters as they will be written to people you do not know, that is, an accommodation officer and an event organiser.

Questions 2 & 3 require informal letters as they will be written to friends.

In the next lesson, we’re going to look at useful language for IELTS letter writing. The lesson gives examples of specific words and phrases appropriate for both formal and informal letters.

Click this link to study it: IELTS Letter Writing Vocabulary

Before you do so, have a read through these two letters, one formal, the other informal, to get a feel for the language, tone and style used in each.