3M Letter Writing

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

Letter writing

3M

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

2564 PJ Voorburg 

The Netherlands

Write down your own address for the purpose of a formal letter.

2

Naam (bedrijf en/of persoon) 

Huisnr. + straat 

Plaats + postcode 

Land 

2

John Bugs

4327 Hazel Road

London W11 4UT

Great Britain

3

The date

3

12 March, 2023

Write down today's date in the appropriate manner

4 Salutation

if you don't know who will read your letter: Dear Sir/Madam,

if you know it is a man: Dear Sir,

if you know it is a woman: Dear Madam,

if you know the name: 

Dear Ms Foster, (getrouwde/ niet getrouwde vrouw)

Dear Mrs Watson, (getrouwde vrouw)

Dear Mr Adams,

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

What is the correct salutation if you write to your best friend, Pete Matthews?

Paragraphs

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

Paragraphs

Paragraph 1 is introductory (intnoducing yourself/ why you are writing).

The centerpart can be multiple paragraphs (1 to3) (in this you ask for information or explain in more detail the purpose of your letter).

Conclusion: summarize and conclude with what you want to achieve.

Paragraph 1 - example

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….

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."

6 Closing

Yours faithfully, / Yours sincerely,

(signature)

first and last name 

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’.

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 ( as signified by a blank line)


4. At the end, check your work!
   

Don'ts

1. Forget about the lay-out
2. Use abbreviations
3.  Use the first translation you find in a dictionary without checking 
4. Forget content elements 


5. Unofficial language (gonna, u, 2, etc.) 

Frequent mistakes

Capital Letters:

i is wrong, it is always “I” 

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