informal letters

Examples of how to write informal letters in English (Personal)

Here you can read about how to writeInformal letters in English. I will provide you with examples of opening and closing sentences (how to end a letter), address, date, and the signature, but also advice with respect to the structure and the content of such a personal letter. Below you can also find pre-written samples of complete letters.

What is an Informal English letter?

An informal letter is a letter that is written in a personal fashion. You can write an informal English letters to relatives or friends, but also to other people with whom you have a personal/informal way of interacting. This can also be with Businesspartners that address you in a personal and friendly manner. In a lot of countries there are of course different ways of doing this. Here only the English and the American way is addressed. We will discuss the letter by going through the following elements:

• Address

• Date

• Opening

• Text / Body / Content

• Closing / End

• Signature

Are you looking for how to write a business letter in English? Then have a look in my Examples of how to write an English business letter.

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Address

Your own address

In an English letter youw own address is located at the top right corner of the page. Even in an informal letter this is usally the case, since you do not always know if someone has got your address. Remember to also fill in your country of residence (if that is where you are writing from).

Example of an address of an Informal Letter in English

• Streetname and number: Downingstreet 33

• Postal code and city: 7777 AS Amsterdam

• Country: The Netherlands

Addressee

In an informal letter the address of the addressee (the receiver) is usually located on the front of the enveloppe. You can, however, also choose to place it at the top left of the letter, just below your own address.

Example of an address in an English letter

• Sur name, last name: John White

• Streetname and number: 21 Madison Road

• Postal code, city: NP 194 Oxford

• State or Province: Oxfordshire

• Country: United Kingdom

Date

In a number of countries people insert the city where the letter is being written from. The English do no such thing. The date is usually located below your own address. Simply leave one line below open and insert the date. The month, day and year are the normal thing to mention. Sometimes even only the month and day will be sufficient. Do not forget that in English the months are with capital letters.

Example of the Date in an informal English letter

• English letter: 22 November, 2011

• American letter: November 22, 2011

Text / Body or Content

When writing an informal letter in English you should use personal/friendly language. However, it remains important to adjust your use of language to the person you are writing to. A good way of assessing how you should write is thinking about how you would interact with eachother in real life. Another thing, the English and the Americans are fond of exchanging some social niceties. So they like asking a few polite questions etc. They are in general not so direct as most Europeans.

In the first paragraph of your body you state your reason of writing. In the second and following paragraphs you say what you have promised to say in the first paragraph. And in the final paragraphs you make some concluding remarks.

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Opening of an informal letter in English

How to address someone in English?

This is fairly straight forward. It is usually not of the same importance as with a business or formal letter, but it still is relevant. There are a few things that you should know about how to address someone properly in an informal letter. First of all, in England there is not . behind Mr., but in American letters there is. Secondly, you should know that women are addressed with Mrs. when they are married, and with Ms. when they are not.

Examples of how to open an informal letter in English

This heavily depends on how well you know the person in question. You should carefully consider your relationship with the person concerned. You could simply say: Hi Richard, but it is always safer to just say Dear Richard,. Never forget the comma!

Opening Sentences for an informal letter in English

Examples of opening sentences

Opening sentences of an Informal letter should be casual. Not so stiff as in Business letters. For examples of more formal opening sentences you should check out my business letter article.

• How are you?

• How have you been?

• How is life treating you?

• How are the kids?

• I hope you are doing well

• I hope you, Mike and the kids are having a great time in ...

Ending an informal letter in English

Examples of closing sentences - how to end an informal letter in English?

• I am looking forward to seeing you,

• I can't wait to see you soon,

• I can't wait to hear from you,

• I am looking forward to hearing from you,I hope to be hearing from you soon,

• See you soon,

• Send my love to ..

• I hope you are doing well,

• Give my regards to..,

Signature

Here you can be pretty free in your choice of ending your letter. Here are some examples of a signature for an informal letter in English

• Best wishes,

• Kind regards,

• Best regards,

• Lots of love,

• Love,

Pre-written examples of English informal letters