Writing Formal Letters and e mails
•Try to write as simply and as clearly
as possible,
and not to make the letter/e mail
longer than necessary.
• Remember not to use informal
language like contractions.
•LETTERS->
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
The Your Address
Address of should be written in
the person the top right-hand
you are corner of the letter
writing to
should be
written on
the left, Date:
starting You can write
below your this on the right
address or the left on
the line after
Salutation or greeting: the address you
1) Dear Sir or Madam, are writing to.
If you do not know the Write the
name of the person you month as a
are writing to, use this.
word.
2) Dear Mr Jenkins,
Ending a letter:
If you know the name,
1) Yours faithfully
use the title (Mr, Mrs,
If you do not know the name of
Miss or Ms, Dr, etc.) and
the person
the surname only.
2) Yours sincerely
3) Your signature If you know the name of the
Sign your name, then print it person
underneath the signature. © Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
A covering letter is the one that accompanies your CV when you are
applying for a job. Here is a plan for the layout of the paragraphs.
Opening Paragraph
Paragraph 3
• Briefly identify yourself and
the position you are applying for.
Add how you found out about • Inform them that you have
the vacancy. enclosed your current CV and
add any further information
Paragraph 2 that you think could help
your case.
• Give the reasons why you are
interested in working for the Closing Paragraph
company and why you wish to be
considered for that particular
post. State your relevant • Give your availability for
qualifications and interview, thank them for
experience, as well as your their consideration,
personal qualities that make restate your interest and
you a suitable candidate close the letter.
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
The following abbreviations are
widely used in letters:
• asap = as soon as possible
• enc. = enclosure (when you include other papers
with your letter)
• ps = postscript (when you want to add something
after you've finished and signed it)
• pto (informal) = please turn over (to make sure
that the other person knows the letter continues
on the other side of the page)
• RSVP = please reply répondez s'il vous plaît,
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
Writing a formal e mail
•Use a neutral e-mail address. It should be a variation of
your real name, not a username or nickname.
• Use periods (.), hyphens (-), or underscores (_) to secure
an e-mail address that's just your name,without
extra numbers or letters, if you can.
•Use a short and accurate subject header.
Avoid saying too much in the subject header,
but make sure it reflects the content of your email .E.g:
>Inquiry regarding sales position
>Request for volunteer application.
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
Use a proper salutation. Addressing the recipient by
name is preferred. Use the person's title (Mr. Mrs. Ms.
or Dr.) with their last name, followed by a comma (,) or
a colon(:).
• Optionally, you can precede the salutation with
"Dear..." (but "Hello..." is acceptable as well).
• Using a last name is more formal and should be
used unless you are on first-name terms with the
recipient.
• If you don't know the name of the person you're
writing to (but you really should try and find one)
use "To Whom It May Concern".
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
Introduce yourself in the first paragraph. Also
include why you're writing, and how you found that
person's e-mail address, or the opportunity you're
writing about
• E.g. "My name is Pitt Rivers. I am writing about the
traffic citation I received on December 31, 2009. I
obtained your e-mail address for the Westchester
County Clerk website.
• "My name is Pitt Rivers. I am contacting you to apply
for the administrative assistant position listed on
[Link].“
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
• Write the actual message. Be sure to get your point
across and do not ramble on! Be direct and to the point.
• The email should be no more than 5 paragraphs long, and
each paragraph should be no more than 5 sentences long
• Use the correct form of leave-taking.
– Yours sincerely,
– Yours cordially,
– Respectfully,
– Best,
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
7. Sign with your full name.
• If you have a job title, include that in the line
after your name, and write the company name or
website in the line after that.
• If you do not have a job title but you have your
own blog or website related to the content of the
e-mail, include a link to that below your name.
• If the e-mail is about a job, only include a career-
related website or blog, not hobbies or interests
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
The term cc stands for carbon copy, and bcc for blind carbon copy. The cc addressee
is visible in the email, but the bcc is not. These are old terms that originated with the use of
typewriters to type letters. To make a copy before photocopy machines, you had to use
carbon paper
© Dulce Rosales- EOI Arucas
