Tone / Formality for Better Letters and Emails – B2 First

Improve Your Skills! Master adjusting the tone and formality of emails and letters for effective communication. Perfect your writing with this B2 First guide. Emails are considered to be less formal than letters, but these days letters are not used very often, so formal emails are common too. As a result, the tone / register or formality is often difficult to get right for them in B2 First Writing Part 2. This also has to fit it with the demands of the task.

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B2 First Writing Part 1 Quiz: Know All The Answers?

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There are three basic registers: formal, semi-formal and informal.

There is a range within each, for example you could write an informal email to your best friend and to someone who you have met once or twice. The former would be much more informal because you know each other so well.

As for semi-formal, there is a difference between writing to your neighbours (who you know) and to your child’s teacher who you do not know well. So you have to try and

Formal email differences would start to change to semi-formal as a relationship is established over a period of time. Formal letters, on the other hand, would not change.

Let’s go through each part of a letter / email task

Greetings are an important part of letters and emails because it lets the reader know what you think your relationship is like.

Formal
For formal greetings, you should use one of the following:

To whom it may concern – A traditional greeting, not used so much now when you have no idea who is going to open your letter / email. Most people these days expect to read one of the other two formal greetings below.

Dear sir / madam – when it is to someone you don’t know, and you don’t know if they are a man or a woman. This could be to a bank manager, a shop, an insurance company etc.

Dear Mr. Smith, Mrs Jones, Miss Brown – similar to ‘dear sir / madam’ but when you know the person’s second name. Mr. is for a man, Miss is an unmarried woman, Mrs. is a married woman, and Ms. means we don’t know if she is married or not.

Semi- formal
Because semi-formal is a mix of formal and informal, it is difficult to address people in this way. Usually you would use an informal greeting with a first name. Using a second name would make it far too formal. In the case where you want to complain to people you know (neighbours for example). then it would be better to have an informal greeting with some kind of a reference, such as

Ref: The noise from your party on Saturday night.
Dear James,

Informal
Dear Jim, Jane …… – This is to someone you know as a friend or acquaintance. This could be a good friend, a school friend or a work colleague you get on well with.

Hi, …. – This would be to someone you are very close to, so close that you don’t even need to use their name. People like this would include your best friend, a brother or sister and so on.

The introduction says who you are and why you are writing. This is very important, and you should imagine the person receiving your letter and after reading the introduction, they know what the letter is about.

For example:

Formal – My name is Alan Grumbleson and I am writing to you to complain about the way my wife was insulted in your shop last Friday the 28th of January.

Semi-formal / Neutral – It’s Alan Grumbleson, I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch for such a long time, but I have been abroad.I am just writing to see how you are and to catch up with everything.

Informal – It’s just me. What are you up to? I’m bored out of my mind and was hoping you would be able to come over to my place on Friday afternoon for a natter and a cuppa.

In each letter or email writing question, there should be 2 or 3 points given for you to write about. Each point can have its own paragraph, although if two are similar, then you can put them in the same paragraph.

Each letter MUST have a conclusion, which summarises what you have written.

For example:

Formal – Just to repeat, I expect your company to write a full apology to my wife about the incident, otherwise I will contact the police.

Semi-formal / Neutral – Anyway, that’s about all that’s been going on with me, please write and tell me what you have been doing.

Informal – Can’t wait to hear from you. Hope you’ll think of something brilliant to do of Friday.

Then you should add something after the conclusion and your signature at the end.

Formal

Yours sincerely – if you have never written to the person before

Yours faithfully – if you have written to them before

Kind regards

Best regards

Semi-formal

I am looking forward to your reply

Thank you very much for your time

All the best

Informal

See you

Hope to see you soon

Love

Lots of love

So what are the differences between formal and informal writing in letter and emails? There are several, and most of them are quite easy to remember.

What not to do	What to do
Do not use slang, phrasal verbs, jargon, colloquialisms, or sexist language, such as Hi, dude, bitch etc	Use formal language, such as hello, man, girl
Do not use shortened verb forms (contractions), such as they’re, isn’t, can’t	Use the full verb form instead, e.g., they are, is not, cannot
Do not use common vocabulary, such as have got, a lot, nice, the other thing.	Make more formal vocabulary choices, e.g., have found, a great deal, attractive/ advantageous, the other issue/problem/notion/idea/topic etc.
Do not use conversational opening phrases, such as Well, you see, Yes …, Let’s move on.	Leave out conversational phrases. Use appropriate connectors and introductory phrases, such as Furthermore, in addition, however
Do not use personal pronouns e.g. I, you, we (unless specifically required), i.e. do not write We think that you should be able to compete.	Be non-personal, e.g. It should be possible for everyone to compete.
Do not use sweeping generalisations	State main ideas clearly and concisely in your own words in topic sentences.
Do not use bullet points or lists, unless it is in a report.	Use complete sentences and link these into logical paragraphs.
Avoid waffling or repeating yourself.	Be clear and concise.
Do not pose (direct) questions in the running text, that is, do not write, for instance: Can carbon emissions be reduced?	Convert questions into statements, for example, The possibility of carbon emissions being reduced is questionable.
Do not mix words and numbers unsystematically.	Use words for numbers nine and below and numbers for 10 and above.

From this list, if you want to be less formal, then you use more of the points on the left, perhaps adding contractions and some phrasal verbs to make a letter sound semi-formal. Doing this can make it seem like you are trying to be more friendly to the person you are writing to.

So, when you are writing to your best friend (informal), it should sound the same as if you were chatting on the phone.

For someone that you don’t know so well, it would be better to add some more formal points, such as using some more formal vocabulary or being non-personal in some parts.

For sending a letter or email to your neighbour or someone you know to complain, then use an informal greeting, but mostly formal language.

For someone who you want to help you, such as a shop manager or a neighbour you don’t know very well, then use a more formal greeting, but add contractions and personal pronouns to make it seem more personal.

To write to a bank manager, a large company or a government department, then be completely formal.

The secret is to think about who you are speaking to. You would speak to someone like your boss or your headmaster at school in a completely different way than your best friend’s mum or the shopkeeper you meet every day. That again would be different to the way you speak to your classmates or colleagues and again to your best and closest friends and relatives.

Formal
You have seen an advertisement for a part-time job and you want to apply
Part-time team leaders needed for an activity camp for children from different countries. You need to:
• have experience in organising activities for children aged 8-12
• be able to communicate well in English and one other language
• be good at at least one outdoor sports activity.
Write to Amy Salomon, Senior Manager, explaining why you would be suitable for the job.
Write your letter. Do not write any postal addresses. 140-190 words

Dear Ms Salomon,

My name is Alan Grumbleson, and I am writing in reply to your advertisement for part-time team leaders for an activity camp for children from overseas. Let me give you some more information.

I am the oldest of four children so I have had a lot of experience looking after younger children and their friends and have organised events such as treasure hunts, hikes and cycling trips, as well as the usual division of chores.

As for communication, I have been in my school debating team for the last year, while I also visited France last year as art of an exchange programme, so my French is better than average.

My favourite sport is football, but I am more enthusiastic than good, but am a reliable hiker and reasonable rock climber.

All in all, I believe I am a good fit for this position and would be keen to attend an interview if necessary.

Yours sincerely

Alan Grumbleson

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Semi-Formal
You recently saw this advertisement in the local newspaper.
We need enthusiastic young people to help us organise a series of music festivals.
Write and tell us why you think you would be good for this job. Describe any experience you have in organising events and say how much time you could offer us during the summer.
Write your letter. Do not write any postal addresses. 140-190 words

Dear sir / madam,

My name is Alan Grumbleson and I am writing in answer to your advert in the local paper for help organising a series of music festivals.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I am tall, strong and fit and would be able to help with any lifting that needed to be done. I also excel at physics at school, so I know my way around a wiring diagram as long as they’re not too complicated.

I was recently on the committee for organising our high school concert, which had over 15 performances, all with lights and sound. Collaborating with others made everything fit together well and it turned out to be something I really enjoyed.

As far as time goes, out of the two month holiday, I could offer you three weeks, if you want. I have other plans and am going abroad for most of the remainder of the vacation. So I would be free from the 1st of July to the 22nd of July.

I would really appreciate the chance to be able to help because this would fit in with the course I am going to do at college next year.

Yours sincerely

Alan Grumbleson.

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Informal

You have received an email from your English-speaking friend, Robert:
Hi!
My parents are both 50 next month and I want to do something special for them – I can’t decide whether to organise a surprise birthday party or take them away to a hotel for the weekend. What do you think I should do?
Write your email. 140-190 words

Hi,

Great to hear from you,although it seems you are in a bit of a quandary about what to do. Let’s see if I can help.

I think the main thing you mentioned is that your parents are 50 next month. That’s great and everything, but it doesn’t leave much time for you to do anything. You were talking about a party, but if you only have a month, you’d probably have it at home.

The same applies to taking them away for the weekend. If it was to be special, then anywhere that is any good would probably be booked by now. The other thing is, what would you do at the hotel?

The best thing you could do is to take them out for a meal somewhere and invite all their close friends, saying they’ll need to pay for themselves as their present. I’m sure you could find a restaurant that would be able to do that.

Let me know what you end up doing. I’ll be in that situation in a few years, so it’ll be good to have a few ideas.

Later

Alan