Below are possible situations and letters you might be

asked to write about:

Letter of complaint
Application or resignation letter
Making a request
Making formal arrangements
Making an apology
Inviting a friend or colleague to join you at an event
or social occasion
Explaining something to a friend or colleague

Writing task 1 tips

The question will give you a reason to write the letter and 3
bullet points with information you must include. You should
therefore have 4 main ideas: why you are writing the letter
and the three bullet points. You should have one paragraph
only for one main idea.
You must not leave out any of the points or add irrelevant
material or you will lose marks. Your letter must be
paragraphed for example, a paragraph on each point and a
concluding paragraph with a suitable ending. You do not
need to include any postal addresses.
Yours sincerely and Yours faithfully can both be used to close
formal and semi-formal letters.Yours faithfully is used when
you don't know the name of the person you are writing to.
Remember in the IELTS Writing Task 1 (General Training) you
are assessed on:
- Task Achievement (how well you answer the question)
- Coherence and Cohesion (the layout, and ordering and

linking of ideas in your letter)

- Lexical Resource (use of appropriate vocabulary)
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy (the accuracy and
range of the grammar you use)

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing
to, begin with Dear Sir or Dear Sir or Madam or Dear
Madam and end your letter with Yours faithfully, followed
by your full name.

write your first name for an informal or semi-formal letter

and both your first and family name for formal letters.

Vocabulary Tip
The word staff refers to all the people working for an
organisation. To talk about one person, you need to say
member of staff or employee: I recently had a problem with
a member of staff in your company (or an employee in your
company or one of your staff). NOT I recently had a problem
with a staff in your company
Apology words and phrases for letters
How to break the bad news
Unfortunately,
Im afraid that
Another nice phrase for more informal letters is
Ive got some bad news to break/tell you
A simple apology
If it is a small problem you may just need to say sorry. You
should see though that you need to think about whether you
want to use but/that/for
Im sorry but Im sorry but I wont be able to come to
the party
Im sorry that Im sorry that I broke you mug
1

Im sorry for Im sorry for not having replied sooner

A stronger apology
These are phrases that work when there is a bigger mistake
I do apologise for I do apologise for failing to meet you
at the station
I must apologise for I really must apologise for
I sincerely apologise for I sincerely apologise for the
trouble this has caused you
Being more informal
If you are writing to a friend you may choose to use a more
informal phrase:
Im ever so sorry Im ever so sorry that we wont see
each other next week
Im really sorry Im really sorry that Ive lost that book
you lent me

Grammar Tip
Note that the phrasal verb to look forward is always followed
by to + ing: I am looking forward to seeing you soon. In
formal letters we use the simple present tense rather than
the present continuous: We look forward to hearing from
you.

Exam Tip
Be careful with the spelling of the following words: graceful,
sincerely, faithfully. Register is important when writing a letter.
Make sure the language you use is not too informal if the letter is a
very formal one, or too formal if the letter is to someone you know
well.

Being more formal

Again, if youre writing to someone you dont know that well
you want a more formal phrase. Typically, we use either the
verbapologise or the noun apology.
I would like to apologise I would like to apologise for
missing my appointment with you
Please accept my apologies for Please accept my
apologies for the disturbance caused
Thinking about the consequences
Something else you may need to do is to apologise for any
difficulty. These phrases should help:
Im sorry if this puts you out an idiom appropriate for
informal letters
I do apologise for any inconvenience caused a more
formal variation
I hope that this does not cause you any problems a
more neutral variation
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Structure
Dear X
Paragraph 1 Explain why you are writing the letter
Paragraph 2 Bullet point 1
Paragraph 3 Bullet point 2
Paragraph 4 Bullet point 3
Closing remark (e.g. I look forward to hearing from you etc.)
Ending (Yours sincerely, Kind regards, All the best etc.)
Your name
Correct tone
Formal and you dont know the name:

Dear Sir/Madam
Yours faithfully
Formal and you do know the name:
Dear [Mr(s). Family Name]
Yours sincerely
Semi-Formal:
Dear [First Name]
Kind regards
Informal:
Dear [First Name]
Best wishes