5.1. Tone and Greetings
Read who the letter is to, choose the tone that fits, and open and close with the pair that matches, one step at a time.
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You recently had a new washing machine delivered and installed by a local shop, but it has leaked water into your kitchen twice since it was fitted.
Write a letter to the shop's customer service manager. In your letter:
- give details of the purchase and the installation
- describe the problems the machine has caused
- say what you would like the shop to do
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Write at least 150 words.
The short version
You write a letter to the reader the task names: at least 150 words, in about 20 minutes.
The tone is how formal the letter sounds. The reader decides it: a manager, a neighbour, a friend.
The greeting is the first line, such as Dear Sir or Madam. It decides the sign-off, the last line.
One tone from the first line to the last. Mixing tones costs marks in every criterion.
What you have to do
The test shows a situation, the person you are writing to, and three bullet points. You write a letter of at least 150 words in about 20 minutes that covers all three bullets. It is marked on four things. First, whether it covers the task in a tone that fits the reader. Then organisation, vocabulary and grammar. Tone means how formal the letter sounds. The task above is to a manager you have never met, so its tone is formal.
The three tones
Formal is for someone you do not know, or an official: a manager, a council, a company. Semi-formal is for someone you know by name but not well: a neighbour, a landlord, a colleague. Informal is for a friend or family. Each tone has its own greeting and sign-off, and its own grammar. Contractions such as I'm and can't belong in an informal letter and nowhere else.
Someone you do not know, or an official. Dear Sir or Madam → Yours faithfully. Dear Ms Khan → Yours sincerely.
Someone you know by name but not well (a neighbour, a landlord, a colleague). Dear Mr Patel → Kind regards or Yours sincerely.
A friend or family. Dear Abi → Best wishes. Love is only for close family or a partner.
Step by step
- 1Read the situation, the reader and the three bullets first
Before you plan a word, read the whole task. Pick out three things: what has happened, who the letter is to, and the three bullets. The reader sets the tone. On the task above, the reader is a customer service manager you have never met, so the letter is formal. A cousin would make it informal; a neighbour you know by name would make it semi-formal.
- 2Decide what the task demands: every bullet, one tone, a purpose line
Every letter task wants the same three things. All three bullets covered, each in its own short paragraph. A tone that fits the reader, held from the greeting to the sign-off. And a purpose stated in the first line: one sentence saying why you are writing. For the task above, that line is formal. I am writing to complain about a washing machine that has leaked twice since your engineer installed it.
- 3Use the bullets' words to plan one paragraph each
Each bullet is the topic of one paragraph, so turn its words into that paragraph's first line. Give details of the purchase becomes I bought the machine from your Fen Road branch on 2 May. Change the verbs, keep the facts, and add one concrete detail: a date, a price, a place. In a formal letter, write those lines without contractions. To a friend, contractions are natural.
- 4Leave out what the bullets do not ask for
A letter is not an essay and not a life story. No paragraph about how companies should treat their customers, and no history of every appliance you have owned. If a sentence does not serve a bullet, the greeting or the sign-off, cut it. On the task above, the manager needs the date, the fault and the ask, and nothing about your views on modern kitchens.
- 5If you are stuck, use the fallback plan
Write the greeting that fits the reader. Then one sentence of purpose: I am writing to... Then one short paragraph per bullet with one concrete detail each: a date, a place, a sum of money. Then a closing line, I look forward to hearing from you, and the sign-off that matches the greeting. That is a complete letter, and the shape carries you past 150 words.
Same complaint, two tones
I am writing to complain about the three-week closure of the main pool and to ask when it will reopen.
I’m writing because the pool at the leisure centre has been shut for three weeks and I have nowhere to swim.
Quiz time5 questions
Each drill gives you the task or the sentence it needs, so nothing has to be looked up. Practise one judgement at a time.
Read the reader first
Read the task, find the reader, and decide the tone.
Read thisTask: Your neighbour, Mrs Okafor, has agreed to look after your cat while you are away. Write a letter to her. In your letter: give the dates, explain what the cat needs, say how she can contact you.
A neighbour you know by name, but not well. Which tone fits?
Match the greeting to the sign-off
The task names the reader. Choose the pair that goes together.
Read thisTask: You have seen an advertisement for a part-time job at a bookshop. Write a letter to the manager, Ms Rowe. In your letter: say which job you are applying for, describe your experience, explain when you are available.
You are writing to Ms Rowe, whom you have never met. How do you open and close?
Spot the tone drift
Four sentences from one formal letter. One drops the tone. Find it.
Read thisFrom a letter to a landlord, opened with *Dear Mr Ali*, about a boiler that keeps failing.
Which sentence contains the error?
Four readers, four pairs
Match each reader to the greeting and sign-off that fit.
Read thisFour readers from four tasks: a council officer whose name is not given; the editor of a local newspaper, Mr Grant; an old school friend, Tom; your sister, Anna.
Rewrite the line for a friend
This purpose line is formal. Rewrite it for the reader the task names, keeping the facts.
Read thisTask: Write a letter to a friend telling them about your new job. In your letter: say what the job is.
I am writing to inform you that I have accepted a position as a junior designer at a firm in Fen.
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
The full model
Below is a semi-formal task with a complete letter written the way the five steps produce it. Read the greeting and the sign-off first, then check that the tone holds in every sentence between them.
You are going away for three weeks, and your neighbour has offered to look after your flat while you are away. Write a letter to your neighbour. In your letter: - thank them for the offer - explain what needs to be done - say how they can contact you Write at least 150 words.
Dear Mr Novak, Thank you very much for offering to keep an eye on the flat while I am in Lisbon. I am writing to let you know the dates and to explain what needs doing. I leave on Saturday 6 July and get back on Sunday 28 July. The main jobs are the plants and the post. The two ferns on the balcony need water every other day, and the cactus by the window needs none at all. If you could push the post through to the kitchen table, that would stop it piling up behind the door. The spare key is with Mrs Bell at number 12, and I have told her to expect you. My mobile will work in Portugal, so a text is the easiest way to reach me. I have also left my sister's number on the fridge in case of anything urgent, such as a leak. Thank you again. I owe you a coffee when I am back. Kind regards, Jordan Hale
A neighbour you know by name → Dear Mr Novak and Kind regards. Polite full sentences, no contractions, but warmer than a letter to a company. Every bullet has a paragraph.
Your turn to write2 questions
Check
Choose the correct pair.
You write to a leisure-centre manager and you do not have a name. How do you start and finish?
Your turn: purpose line
Write one purpose sentence. Do not start an essay.
You write to the leisure-centre manager. The main pool has been closed for three weeks. You want a date for reopening and a refund of your unused month.
0 / 12 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Tips
- Write the sign-off before the body
Once the greeting is on the page, write its matching sign-off at the bottom straight away. The pair is then fixed, and time pressure cannot break it.
- Read the letter back for contractions
In a formal letter, every I'm becomes I am and every can't becomes cannot. To a friend, the opposite: full forms all the way through sound stiff.
- Use the name if the task gives one
A task that names the reader wants that name in the greeting, with Yours sincerely at the end. Dear Sir or Madam is only for a reader with no name.
Recap
Read who the letter is to before anything else: the reader sets the tone.
Match the greeting to the sign-off, and hold one tone from the first line to the last.
One paragraph per bullet, with nothing the bullets do not ask for.
Next: how to cover all three bullet points in a clear shape.