4M Formal letter

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 3,4

Writing a formal letter

Year 4

Formal letter examples

Examples of formal letters

• Applying for a job/position
  
• Filing a complaint 
• Asking for information 
• Sharing your opinion 
• A combination 

Lay out                                     

Everything starts on the left-hand side! Leave 1 line open after each bit

1

adres afzender:

Straat + huisnr. (niet je naam)

Postcode + plaats

Land

What is the very very very first thing you write ?

Write down your own address as if you're starting a formal letter.

2

Name (organisation and/or person) 

Number + street 

Town + post code 

Country 

When you write to an organisation company, you write the name of the organisation first and then give the name of the contact person at that organisation.

2

John Bugs

4327 Hazel Road

London W11 4UT

Great Britain

The Rabbit Charity

John Bugs

4327 Hazel Road

London W11 4UT

Great Britain

Write down today's date in the right way

4 Salutation / Greeting

When you don't know name or gender: Dear Sir or Madam,

When you only know it's a man: Dear Sir,

When you only know it's a woman: Dear Madam,

When you know the name: 

Dear Ms Foster, (getrouwde/ niet getrouwde vrouw)

Dear Mrs Watson, (getrouwde vrouw)

Dear Mr Adams,

What is the correct opening greeting if you DO NOT know who will read your letter?

What is the correct opening greeting if you write to our principal, Mr Heijnemeijer?

What is the correct opening greeting if you write to me, Miss van den Berg?

5 Content

1. Paragraph 1 is the introduction (you explain who you are and why you are writing).
2. The center part can be multiple paragraphs (1 to 3) (in this you ask for information or explain in more detail the goal of your letter).
3. Conclusion: summarize and conclude with what you want to achieve. (What do you want the reader to do?)

Let's play a quiz to see what you think works best.

How do we start paragraph 1?

1. Hello!
2. I'm ...
3. My name is ...

How do you say 'ik zit op het Mendel'

1. I sit on Mendelcollege
2. I am on Mendelcollege
3. I am at Mendel
4. I go to the Mendelcollege

Which one is correct?

1. I am a fourteen-year-old boy/girl
2. I am a boy/girl and I am fourteen
3. I am a fourteen years old boy/girl
4. I am 14 and a boy/girl

Which one is correct

1. The reason I write you is...
2. The reason I am writing you is...
3. The reason i am writing you is
4. The reason i write you is...

Paragraph 1 - let's recap

Paragraph 1:

My name is …. , I am a fifteen-year-old boy/girl and I live in … in The Netherlands. I go to the Mendelcollege and I am in the exam year. The reason I am writing you is….

Paragraphs

Every paragraph should be at least 3 lines long (when written by hand) and are divided by 1 open line

Closing statement

You ALWAYS use this phrase and it stands on its own.  You leave 1 line open above and below

I hope to hear from you soon.

Closing

Yours faithfully, / Yours sincerely,

(signature)

First and Last name (remember capital letters!) 

Mind the following

In a formal letter all words MUST be written in full

So do not use:  isn’t, it’s of won’t, but:

is not, it is en will not. Gonna and wanna  are a definite NO GO!

Salutations & Closings: Option A

Condition: No specific name is known

Salutation: Dear Sir/Madam,

Closing: Yours faithfully,

Signature

First & Last Name

Salutations & Closings: Option B

Condition: Name recipient is known

Salutation: Dear Mr Brown, / Dear Ms Brown, / Dear Mrs Brown,

Closing: Yours sincerely,

Signature

First and last name

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your address

recipient's adress

The date

Introduce yourself + reason of writing

Explanation of the situation

Conclusion

Closing sentence

Your name

signature

1

   2

  3

  4

   5

   6

   7

  8

   9

   10

DOs

1. Make it neat.
2. Use signal words and the appropriate tenses, wherever necessary
3. Use paragraphs ( and use blank lines to clearly separate them)
4. Use a difficult grammar item every now and then (passive, relative clauses)
5. At the end, check your work!
   

Don'ts

1.  DON'T forget about the lay-out
2.  DON'T use abbreviations / contractions (like I'll, didn't)
3.  DON'T use the first translation you find in a dictionary without checking. 
4. DON'T forget content elements 
5. DON'T use swear words or street language 
6. DON'T use dumb language (gonna, kinda, u, ur, w8, etc)

Frequent mistakes

Capital Letters:

When you talk about "ik", "i" is wrong, it is always “I” 

Days of the week, months : Monday, Tuesday, August, October

Frequent mistakes

Word Order

Wrong:  

In my opinion is it great to live in New York.

Right: 

In my opinion it is great to live in New York

Havo 3 

vs. 

In the video, squirrels will need to complete an obstacle course to get to the bird seed.
Are they going to succeed?

1. Yes
2. No

00:03-00:13

1) Mark designed an obstacle course for squirrels. It went differently then what he expected. How does he say this?

00:21

1) Mark designed an obstacle course for squirrels. It went differently then what he expected. How does he say this?

1. This course is extremely challenging.
2. I underestimated my adversary.

03:44-03:54

2) Why did Mark choose walnuts at the last obstacle?

04:14

2) Why did Mark choose walnuts at the last obstacle?

1. It was the squirrels' favourite choice of nuts.
2. The squirrels did not care for the other nuts.
3. The squirrels couldn't see the other nuts.
4. The squirrels chose walnuts first.

The words used are: ... walnuts are always the one they ate first.

08:17-08:27

3) Which squirrel or squirrels do you think are going to succeed in the obstacle course?

09:30

3) Which squirrel or squirrels do you think are going to succeed in the obstacle course?

1. Rick
2. Rick and Marty
3. Rick, Marty and Frank
4. Rick, Marty and Frank and Phat Gus

11:27-11:37

4) The squirrel doesn't get hurt in this obstacle. Why?

12:09

4) The squirrel doesn't get hurt in this obstacle. Why? Give 1 reason in English

1) they land on their feet like cats

2) they've jumped from this hight all the time (so he knew they would be able to do this)

14:35-14:45

5) Smart Rick runs the entire course backwards. Why?

14:57

5) Smart Rick runs the entire course backwards. Why?

1. He's enthusiastic.
2. He's scared
3. He's proud.
4. He's anxious.

The words used are: he's so stoked

16:19-16:29

6) Which 2 bodyparts does the squirrel need to be able to land safely?

17:50

6) Which 2 bodyparts does the squirrel need to be able to land safely?

1. head and back
2. back and tail
3. head and tail
4. head en arms

1) they lock their  head to the ground

2) they put their arms out for slowing down, and pull them in for spinning faster

20:15

7) You predicted which squirrels would succeed in the obstacle course. Did you answer it correctly?

1. yes
2. no

Dilemmarama

You are going to choose between 2 options.

There's no right or wrong.

1. you wash your hair with mayonaise every day
2. you always talk through a megaphone

1. there are cameras everywhere in your house, that live stream on CNN
2. you develop a serious allergy to ALL your friends and family