Formal versus Informal writing

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

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

Match the formal expressions (right side) with the informal expressions (left side) .

Obtain

Request

Inexpensive

Children

Reside 

Contact

Finally

Inform

Live

Ask for

Get in touch

Kids

In the end

Cheap

Tell 

Get 

Match the formal expressions (right side) with the informal expressions (left side) .

At first

Begin

Chance 

So

Seem like

Wrong

Show

Need

Appear 

Commence 

Incorrect 

Therefore 

Demonstrate 

Opportunity 

Require 

Initially 

Match the formal expressions (right side) with the informal expressions (left side) .

Buy 

Try 

Take 

Family 

By accident 

Lucky 

Help

Look into

Accidentally 

Attempt 

Fortunate 

Relatives 

Assist 

Accept 

Investigate 

Purchase 

Match the formal expressions (right side) with the informal expressions (left side) .

Big

Better

Change 

Call of

Put off

Put forward

But  

And 

Postpone 

Superior to

Propose 

Cancel

While 

Transform

As well as

Large

Study the definitions of the words you did not know 

Match the expressions on the left with the paragraphs on the right.

Yours sincerely,

Yours,

I was wondering if I could ask you a favour?

 I regret to advise you that ...

Signing off (informal letter)

Giving bad news (formal letter)

Asking for help (informal letter)

Signing off (if you begin with a name, formal) 

Match the expressions on the left with the paragraphs on the right.

Dear Sir,

Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Dear Peter,

I would be grateful if you could ...

Closing (formal letter)

Asking for help (formal letter)

 Beginning (informal letter)

Beginning (formal letter)

Match the sentences with formal or informal.

Hello Sabrina,

Dear Mrs Collins,

I'm writing to find out about ...

 I look forward to hearing from you.

 I apologise for not getting in contact with you ...

See you soon.

I'm not happy about ...

Sorry, I haven't written for ages, but ...

Formal 

Informal

I am writing to enquire about ...

 I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ...

Study the language (left: informal right: formal)

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

How do you end a formal letter?

1. Greetings,
2. Yours sincerely,
3. Sincerely,
4. Yours faithfully,

How do we start paragraph 1?

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

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

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, like ... you know, etc.) 

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

FORMAL

INFORMAL

Long sentences

Short sentences

Active voice

Passive voice

Email

Application letter

No contractions

You are writing a letter of application to Alice Duncan, who works at a Hotel. How should you adress her in your letter?

1. Dear Alice,
2. Dear Mrs A. Duncan,
3. Dear Mrs Duncan,
4. Dear Sir/Madam,

You are writing a letter of application to Alice Duncan, who works at a Hotel. With which 2 words should you end your letter (groet)?