What is an Informal Letter?

An informal letter is a letter that is written in a personal fashion. You can write them to relatives or
friends, but also really to anyone with whom you have a non-professional relationship with, although
this doesn't exclude business partners or workers with whom you're friendly with either. There are
different ways to carry out this type of letter depending on which country you're in. This article will
address the English/American way.
We'll discuss the following elements:

address
date
opening
text / body / content
closing / end
signature

Address
Your personal address should be located at the top right corner of the page, since you do not always
know if someone has your address in case they want to reply. Remember to also fill in your country
of residence (if that is where you are writing from).

Example:

Street name and number: 33 Downing Street

Postal code and city: 7777 AS Amsterdam
Country: The Netherlands

Addressee:
The addressee or receiver's address is usually located on the front of the envelope. You can,
however, also choose to place it at the top left of the letter, just below your own address.
Example:

Sur name, last name: John White

Street name 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 will insert the city where the letter is being written from. The
English, however, 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 spelled with capital letters.)

Example:

English letter: 22 November, 2011

 American letter: November 22, 2011

Body
The contents of your letter should be written in a personal and friendly tone. However, it's
important to adjust your use of language to the person you are writing to. A good way of assessing
how you should write is to think about how you would interact with each other in real life. Also, the
English and the Americans are fond of exchanging social niceties. For example, they like asking a
few polite questions "How are you?" or "How was your holiday?" for example. In general, they are
not as direct as most Europeans.

In the first paragraph of your body, you should state your reason for writing.
In the second and following paragraphs, expand on what you mentioned in the first paragraph.
In the final paragraphs, you can make some concluding remarks.

Opening
How do you address someone in English? This is fairly straightforward, and it is usually not as
important as would be with a business or formal letter. However, there are still a few things that you
should know about in terms of addressing someone properly in an informal latter.

First of all, in England there is no period after "Mr," but in American letters there is one.
Secondly, women are addressed as "Mrs." if they are married, and with "Ms." when they are
not.
Examples:

This heavily depends on how well you know the person in question. Carefully consider your
relationship with him or her. You could simply say: "Hi Richard," but it is always safer to just say
"Dear Richard," (Never forget the comma!)

Sample Opening Sentences

Your opening should be casual, and not as stiff as they would be in business letters.

Examples:

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
Closing sentences examples:

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
In terms of signing off, the choice is yours and you have a lot of freedom here. Here are some
examples:

Best wishes,
Best,
Kindly,
Kind regards,
Best regards,
Lots of love,
Love,

Pre-Written Examples
Below are some samples letters. You will see that they adhere to the same structure as discussed in
this article. These will give you a better understanding of how the letters can be written.
Source
Below you will find a personal letter template that you can use to put together your own personal letter.
To use this personal letter template simply highlight the text below using your mouse and select the
copy function from your browser and then paste into your favourite word processor:

How to Write a Personal Letter

[Your Street Address]
[Your City]
[Your Postcode]

[Month, Day, Year]

[Name of recipient]

[Street Address]
[City]
[Postcode]

Dear [Decide on your familiarity with the person and either use their first name or Mr, Mrs, Miss etc.
followed by their surname],

[Your personal message to the person]

Yours sincerely,

[Your written Signature]

[Your Name]
We hope that you found the above personal letter template useful. If you want to find out more about
how to write a personal letter including general conventions then please visit our personal letters page.
If you found the above free personal letter template useful please consider making a donation by
clicking below:

Contents
Introduction
FREE Guide
Writing Service
Templates
Introduction
A Personal letter is sent from one individual to another individual or organisation in order to address
matters of an informal nature.
Examples of these can include;
Apologies
Thank yous
Personal reference
Congratulations
Invitations
Condolences
They differ from formal types in that they can be used to express personal feelings and depending on the
relationship between the sender and receiver do not require formal concise language.

Layout
The example below details the general layout that a personal letter should conform to. Each aspect of the
is detailed more fully below the image.
 Back to top

Conventions
Conventions are not as critical as they are in a formal correspondence but the following general layout
should be adhered to:

Addresses:
1) Your Address
You must always remember to include your own address on the top right-hand side of the page. This will
enable the person that you are writing to, to be able to reply.
2) The Address of the person you are writing to
This address should be displayed beneath your address on the left-hand side, remember to include the
name of the person that you are writing to.
Date:
This should be displayed on the right-hand side of the page on the line beneath your address and should
be written in full format:

e.g. 1st January 2001

Salutation & Greeting:
Dear Mr Jones,
The above shows the format of the greeting line. The salutation formats are shown below:
Mr for a male
Mrs for a married female
Miss for an unmarried female
Ms for a female whose status is unknown or would prefer to remain anonymous
Dr for a person with the status of a doctor
The salutation should be followed by the surname only (not the first name).

If you are familiar with the person that you are writing to then it may be more appropriate to include their
first name rather than using their title. This is a decision that you will need to make based on your
relationship with the person in question.
Concluding:
1) Yours sincerely,
You should conclude with the words: Yours sincerely,.
Followed by:

2) Your signature
Sign your name, then print it underneath the signature.
You may wish to conclude with something more friendly e.g. All the best, Best regards, etc.

Back to top
Content
Consider your relationship and familiarity with the person or organisation with whom you are writing to
and adjust the level of formality accordingly.

Back to top

Further Considerations
Expressing Yourself Write by hand; your penmanship is a piece of you and by writing by hand it gives
the recipient something completely unique and special.
Mementoes Enclose a photo; in some circumstances your recipient might have forgotten about or never
have seen you. Alternatively enclose a memento of a shared experience (these can be photocopied, rather
than sending the original).
From the Heart Remind your recipient of your shared experiences; or share one thing about that person
that you admire, compliments can go a long way to building on relationships.
Avoid Email Email has made it easy to jot down a few words, spell check and hit send. When handwriting
use conventional snail mail, obviously checking for spelling and grammar. Know what you are going to
say and how youd like to write it before you start, there is no delete button in real life.

Writing Service
We have a great deal of experience with personal letter writing and as such are able to offer a great value
service. If you feel that after reading our guide that you would still like some assistance please contact us.
Samples of informal letters which are written in English. Wish it could help !! . You are advised to
modify this letter to be suitable for your purpose

Example 1: Sample informal letter to friend

22, Green street

Preston
Lancashire,
Pr5 4BB
20 July 2012

Dear Peter
My name is Andy and I am 9 years old. I live in Preston with my mum, dad and brother.

We have 2 cats. They are called Bubble and Squeak. Do you have any pets? Bubble likes to hunt. He is
always bringing home birds and mice!
My favorite hobby is music. I play the piano and violin. I also like reading and films.

I hope you will write to me soon

Andy

Example 2: Sample informal letter to sister

Dear Mimi,
How are you my dear sister? I hope you are fine. Don't worry about me; I am very fine. I am now a very
strong young man you know. How are those wonderful brothers of mine? Pass them my greetings.

I received you letter. Thanks a million for writing. The brothers and sisters in my congregation are fine. I
am only sorry to heat that Br. Banda is still sick. I hope he will recover soon.

My journey back here was fine, though it was quite a long one. I wanted to travel by CR bus but guess
what; all the wretched buses wee full so I had no choice but to travel by a small Rosa bus. The journey
took seven hours. \By the time we reached, my legs were tired and my bottom was severely sore, ugh!
Next time, I promise , I'm not gonna use one of 'em tiny buses!

I am glad you have a new literature teacher. Work very hard Mariam, I know you can do it. Follow that
plan I gave you and put your heart to it, You will be successful . I am glad you are Liberian. Did I tell you
what that I am librarian to, eh?

Finally Mariam, I would like to wish you all the best in your studies and all your endeavors. Don't forget
God. I love you and miss you; can't wait see you again..

Take care
Michael

P.S please reply

Example 3: Sample informal letter from Alice to his friends

22 Green Street
London
WI B BDH
Phone 07 1021531

10 January 2013

Dear John and Ann

Thanks a lot for great weekend we really enjoyed ourselves
Bill and I were talking about holidays. We thought it might be nice to go camping in Scotland for a couple
of weeks. Are you interested? Let me know if you are, and we can take about days

See you soon I hope. Thanks again

Love
Alice

Informal Letter (example)

1 Informal Letter (example)

Dear Claire,
Thank you a lot for your last letter. It was a nice surprise to hear from you. I'm sorry I haven't
written to you earlier but I had to organise some things concerning my trip.
As you probably remember I've always wanted to visit some unusual places. And now, at last, off
I went! But you'd never guess where I've chosen to spend my holiday. It's Antarctica! You would
never think of it, would you? I'm so excited about the whole event!
The people I travel with are incredible. It's their fourteenth expedition there. They know every
path in the snow by heart and they are very helpful. They share their knowledge and experience
with me. Would you believe that here everything is different? You even need to set your tent in a
special way. It's all very challenging. Tomorrow we plan to move further North so I may not be
able to stay in touch for a while.
Anyway, I'd like to meet you when I get back. Hope you are enjoying your holiday. Do write back
soon.
Love,
Amanda
Dear Cecilia,
I thought you'd never reply to my last letter! Anyway, back to your question. Well, if I were you, I'd
choose the museum job.
Working in a restaurant would be very tiring. Trust me I've done such a job, and I quit within a
month! However you talk to lots of people, listen to their discussions which can sometimes be
very interesting but still you get really tired.
Working in a museum though can be really interesting. You just have to explain to the visitors
what is what. You may think that you will have to talk all day, but that's not true. You see many
people just like to browse through the museum. You also have to remind the rules of the
museum to some that disobey them, but these people are usually very few; not something you
should worry about.
I heavily suggest you take the museum job. It's easier and less tiring. I'm looking forward to get
your reply.
Lots of love,
David