Personal letter

Personal Letter

These days we still tend to write letters on special occasions to invite, thank someone, and express sympathy or congratulations. A personal letter may require you to undertake several things within one letter.

  • The register can be informal.
  • Grammatical structures should be appropriate to the content.
  • Make sure your sentences are complete and well structured.
  • Your tone should be informal.
  • Include an appropriate opening salutation. The most common salutation is ‘Dear,’ followed by the reader’s first name.
  • To conclude you can use ‘Love,’ ‘Best wishes,’ ‘Cheers,’ etc.
  • Your signature goes below the close.
  • Start with your address and date.
  • Open and close the letter correctly with an informal salutation and ending.
  • The most common salutation is ‘Dear,’ followed by the reader’s first name.
  • Use paragraphs to structure your letter. In the first paragraph, start with a salutation and state the reason why you are writing. In the second paragraph, develop your ideas deep into the topic/ idea. Finally, close to an opinion or suggested things to do.
  • To conclude you can use ‘Love,’ ‘Best wishes,’ ‘Cheers,’ etc.
  • Your signature goes below the close.
  • Audience: This is an informal text, so your audience might be a friend or a person you know.
  • Context: The situation you decided to address.
  • Purpose: To narrate an event, describe, explain your thoughts or ideas, give advice or instructions.
  • Saad AlDin, K. & Morley, K. (2018). English B: Second Edition. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Page 15.