Formal Letter Writing

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

Formal Letter Writing

Test Letters

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

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

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

1

Aart van der Leeuwkade 14

2272 KX Voorburg 

The Netherlands

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

3

The date

3

12 March, 2021

Write down today's date in the right way

4 Salutation 

When you don't know name or gender: Dear Sir/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, (woman, relationship status unknown)

Dear Mrs. Watson,, (married woman)

Dear Mr. Adams,

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

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

5.1 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.

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?)

6 Closing

Yours faithfully, / Yours sincerely,/Yours truly,

first and last name 

Signature 

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 ...
4. First of all I am going to introduce myself

How do you say 'ik zit op het Vechtdal college

1. I sit on the Vechtdal college
2. I am on the Vechtdal College
3. I am at the Vechtdal College
4. I go to the Vechtdal College

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 St Maartenscollege and I am in the third 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

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!

For names of magazines or newspapers, use quotation marks. The ‘Telegraaf’.

Salutations & Closings: Option A

Condition: No specific name is known

Salutation: Dear Sir/Madam,

Closing: Yours faithfully,

First & Last Name

Signature

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your address

recipient's address

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

Salutations & Closings: Option B

Condition: Name recipient is known

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

Closing: Yours sincerely,

First and last name

Signature 

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, like ... you know, etc.) 

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!
   

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