EXAM STYLE QUESTIONS FOR INFORMAL LETTERS

A. Student descriptive letters

● Question 1:
An English student who has never been to your country before
is coming to stay with your family for three weeks and will also go
to school with you. Write a letter about 200 words long telling the
student about your home and school and the sort of things you do.

CLUES:
i.Use your imagination (Have a real picture of the person you’re
writing to in your mind).

ii.Add support to your sentences. E.g.

…. so you’ll never be at a loose end
…. so we can go shopping wherever you like
…. so we can sit and watch the world go by
…. so you can put your feet up, relax and enjoy the view

iii. Personalize whenever possible (Use phrases that will make

the person you’re writing to feel that he is included in your
thoughts as you write and that his/her feelings and opinions
have been taken into account). E.g.
- You’ll be glad to know……
- I’m sure you’ll get on really well with ……
- Wait until you meet ……
- You’ll really enjoy …….
- I can’t wait till you ……
- As you know, I …….
- I know you …….

iv.Be very careful of the register (informal in this case) you’re

using.

v. Make sure your prepositions are accurate.

SAMPLE RESPONSE

Dear Carter,
I’ve been meaning to write for ages, but I’m afraid I
just haven’t got round it. Just a quickie to drop you a line about
my home and school in order to prepare you for your upcoming
trip down here.
Guess what? I live in the outskirt of the capital city in
Turkey, Ankara, which is actually not bad at all. The town is
Golbasi and it’s pretty much a long way off from the city centre
here. That said, it has some pretty attractive features such as
booming developmental projects, shopping malls, recreational
centres and so on unlike your place over there which doesn’t
have much of these. Also, there are some couple of cafes where
we can hang out during our free time, so get ready to meet-up
with new guys! Apart from what I have mentioned so far, there is
also a lake about ten minutes walking distance from my house. By
the way, my house is a block of flat situated along one of the
major highways in the town and I’ve got a big garden as well, so
we won’t have to find some other place outside to get our hands
dirty.
As regards my school, I can tell you to brace up for the
best memory ever because I’ve already scheduled a meet-up
with my favourite teacher- Mr Brown- who is such a big laugh! Mr
Brown teaches geography in my school and he’s very famous for
being very interesting and interested in what his students has got
to say. Isn’t that cool? Interestingly, there are a handful of other
teachers who you’ll come across with in the course of your study
at my school, so I bet you’d definitely have a full package.
Please let me know about anything else you’d need to
make you comfortable during your stay here. I can’t wait to see
you!

Lots of love,
Chris.
1. Salutation: Dear + the first name of the person you’re writing
to.

2. Introduction: We can write the introduction for our informal

letter in three (3) ways.

1st way- by using apology

E. g. I’m sorry I haven’t written to you for ages, but I’ve been
busy studying for my exams.

2nd way- by not using apology

E.g. It was lovely to get your letter yesterday.

3rd way- by beginning with something very personal or something

that shows friendship.
E.g. Congratulations on passing your exams.

3. Body paragraph- create interest, add support to your

sentences, use your imagination and personalize.

4. Conclusion
Let your closing paragraph be short (about 2-3 lines), restate your
main subject and add a personal reference. +
With love, OR
Love from OR
With best wishes, OR
Yours,
(+ your first name only)