WRITING FORMAL LETTERS
Salutation Dear Mr. /Dear Ms./ Dear Sir/ Dear Madam/ Dear All/To whom it may concern,
Starting We are writing to inform / to confirm /to request .../ to enquire about / to ask …/ to complain about …/ to invite …/ to apologize for…/ I
am contacting you for the following reason/ I am writing to tell you about ...
Referring to Thank you for your letter of June 17 .../ Thank you for contacting us/ In reply to your request .../ Thank you for your letter regarding .../
With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday .../ Further to our meeting last week …/ Following our conversation on
previous contact Wednesday …/ It was a pleasure meeting you last week/ I would like to confirm the main points we discussed on Monday …
Making a request We would appreciate if you would.../ I would be grateful if you could .../Could you please send me …/Could you possibly tell us/let us
have.../In addition, I would like to receive .../It would be helpful if you could send us .../I am interested in (obtaining/receiving...)
replying to the We would be happy to .../Would you like us to .../We are quite willing to .../Our company would be pleased to ...
As you requested/ suggested …/As promised …/In answer to your request, we are offering …
request
Offering help Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance/If you would like any more information, please do not hesitate to
contact me on…/Please feel free to contact me again if I can be of further assistance/ Please contact me if you need any further
information.
Giving advice In response to … we may suggest that you contact.... / With regard to your enquiry about ... we advise you to ... / We would like to advise
all our customers to ...
Informing It has come to our notice that/ I am writing to inform you that/ Please be advised that/ I am writing to advise you that...
Giving good news We are pleased to announce that/ I am delighted to inform you that/You will be pleased to learn that ...
Giving bad news We regret to inform you that/ I'm afraid it would not be possible to/Unfortunately we cannot/we are unable to
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Asking for I am writing to ask/ enquire about/I would be interested to receive further details about/I would like some information about/ I would be
grateful for your advice concerning/I would appreciate your advice on/ We would be grateful if you could/We would appreciate it if you
information could/Please let us know about…/Please give us further details about ...
Complaining I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with .. /I am writing to complain about ...
Apologizing I am writing to apologize for …/I regret that …/We are sorry for the delay in replying .../would like to apologize for (the delay/the
inconvenience) .../Once again, I apologize for any inconvenience. /Please, accept our apologies/We apologize for our mistake and we
would like to take this opportunity to assure you that it will not happen again.
Enclosing I am enclosing/ attaching .../Please find enclosed .../You will find enclosed ...
documents
Closing remarks: I look forward to seeing you next month/ week.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Referring to I would appreciate a reply as soon as possible/ at your earliest convenience.
future
contact
Closing remarks Thank you for taking this into consideration.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
(other) Thank you for your help.
We hope you are happy with this arrangement
We hope you can settle this matter to our satisfaction.
Ending (greeting) Sincerely,
Yours sincerely,
Sincerely yours,
Best regards,
With kindest regards,
Yours faithfully,
Yours truly,
Yours,
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Layout:
Salutation
“Dear Ms. Jones”, etc.
Introductory information
Detailed information about the addressee (full name, position, address).
Introductory paragraph/ opening remarks
Briefly and clearly states the reason for writing eg. “With reference to your letter …”, “I am writing to apologize for…”.
Main body (2-3 paragraphs)
What we want to state, ask, complain about, etc.
Closing paragraph (usually with closing remarks)
What actions we expect to be taken, eg. “I am looking forward to hearing from you”.
Greeting
“Yours”, etc.
Enclosures
If we wish to enclose any documents, we put “Enc.” at the bottom of the letter.
