How to learn to write long letters? How to write a business letter that gets read.

Constant correspondence and emails have become everyday means of communicating with friends today, but writing a letter is a more traditional, effective way to put a smile on your friend's face. If you're writing an email the old fashioned way, the format is still the same: a letter to a friend should include a greeting, questions to a friend, news from your life, and an appropriate ending.

Steps

Beginning of a letter

Main part

Start with nice things. The first part of a friendly letter is usually warm and cheerful. This can set the tone for the entire email, letting the recipient know what's next and making the email sound more serious or businesslike. Write a greeting in a few lines, tell a joke, or write about the weather.

"How are you?" or "How are you?" - the most common ways to start a letter. Ask a question so that the letter seems to be part of a long conversation. If you want to receive a response to the letter, fill it with questions.
You can use the first paragraph of the letter to ask the recipient in more detail about his life. For example: “I hope that little Yulenka likes kindergarten. I can't believe she's grown so much!"
The beginning of the letter often refers to the time of year. Think about how to start a small conversation that develops into a deep conversation. For example: “I hope autumn does not darken your mood. The trees in the area have become so beautiful. I still think the winter will be cold.”

Share news and details from your life. Now it's time for the body of the letter and the purpose of writing it. Why did you start this correspondence? Do you want to reconnect with an old friend, express how much you miss them, or thank them for their help? Be honest, open and try to clearly convey your thoughts on paper.
- Write about what is happening in your life. Despite the nature of the letter, your letter will be appreciated, but stories about your life will bring your addressee and you closer. Thus, the letter will be more effective and open. Tell us what happened, what emotions did you experience, and what plans do you have for the future.
- Do not describe your life in too much detail, otherwise the purpose of a friendly letter will be lost. Avoid the newspaper holiday template - your friend will immediately start reading the letter from the end if you list all your merits. No need to dive into the pool of your own problems, but be realistic when talking about yourself.
Choose topics that directly relate to your friend. What was your friend doing the last time you met him? Maybe he broke up with his soulmate? Perhaps he had a hard time on the football team? Tune in by referring to familiar topics and ask questions to show your interest in a friend's business.
- You can discuss topics that interest both of you. State your views on art, politics, recent events, or other areas of life that you would like to discuss with a friend.
- You can offer to watch movies or read books that you think your friend might like. The exchange of valuable information is always welcome in letters.

Letter Completion

Close the discussion. Write a final paragraph conveying best wishes to a friend or loved one. The last paragraph is usually lighter in terms of emotional load, but it should correspond to the general atmosphere of the letter. End the letter on a positive note to get your friend into your mood.
- Repeat the purpose of the letter again. For example, if you invited a friend to a party, write the following: "I hope you come!" If you just want to wish a friend a good time, write something like: "Happy New Year!"
- Inspire a friend to write back. If you want to be answered, write: “I hope for a speedy answer,” or: “Please write an answer!”
Write an ending. It should convey the mood of your letter, depending on its tone: formal or informal. Like a greeting, the ending is determined by the nature of your relationship with the addressee. Complete the letter with your name.
- If you want to formally end the letter, write: "Sincerely," "Respectfully," or "Best regards."
- If the letter is written in an informal tone, use phrases such as "Your...", "Take care of yourself," or "Bye."
- If the letter is personal, write "Love", "Love you very much", or "Miss you".
Consider a postscript. Postscriptum (Latin post scriptum (P.S.) - “after written”), as a rule, is used at the end of a friendly letter as a method of additional information that is not worth taking a separate paragraph to it in the main part. You can also add an interesting joke, or just omit the postscript. In any case, make sure that the postscript matches the tone of the letter and gives your recipient the feeling that you want to see him.

Nowadays letters have become exotic. It rarely occurs to anyone to send a paper envelope with a message and wait for a response. We write business messages, try to put as much meaning as possible into fewer words, stuffing SMS text, send links and funny pictures to each other. That is why men who at some point in their lives need to send a message to a friend by e-mail or regular mail often simply do not know how to write a letter to a friend, what should be in the text and how to start or end the message.

How to write a letter to a friend asking for help?

First determine the purpose of the message, it can be a solution to a business issue, and an expression of a request, or a response to a message previously sent to you. Thus, the guy will determine the subject of the letter. It is worth remembering that even if your goal is to solve a business issue, you should not start the text directly with a request or proposal. Still, do not forget that you are friends. Therefore, try to ask at the beginning of the text how your friend is doing, what is new in his life, and how his family and friends are feeling.

Next, be sure to tell about your news, men are interested to read that a friend got a new position or sold. You should not write too much about your wife, girlfriend or children, as a rule, such issues are not customary to discuss between guys.

Only then can you move on to the question or request that is the purpose of the message. Carefully think over the text, it should not be too insistent, the fact that you are friends is not a reason for a person to feel guilty if he has to refuse you. But do not minimize the importance of this question for yourself too much. If a friend decides that your request is not so important, then the likelihood of refusal increases. The golden mean should be observed.

Equally important is how you end such a letter to a friend. At the end, you should thank the person for taking the time to read the message, and also assure him that regardless of the decision he made, you will keep your friends. This should be done without fail, male friendship should not be destroyed due to the fact that one friend could not help another.

How should you write a letter to a friend living in another country?

If a friend lives in another state, then, first of all, he will be interested not in the details of your personal life, but in what is happening in the cultural life of a country alien to him. Describe customs, lifestyle, and major news stories. Men, of course, like to talk about politics, but try to avoid it. These questions can cause controversy, which means that instead of a cheerful letter to a friend, you get a not entirely pleasant dispute that can end in heated arguments.

Be sure to determine for yourself the style of communication with a foreign friend. Try not to violate the rules of etiquette that are accepted in another country. Read how to start and end a letter in the state, where the friend lives, also study the list of topics that are not customary to discuss there. For example, in England they don’t like it too much when their loved ones are mentioned, and in Germany, on the contrary, asking about your wife and children is a sign of good upbringing.

Also, do not write the first letter to a foreign friend expressing any requests. It's just not polite. Such a message can destroy friendships. But it is quite possible to invite your virtual interlocutor to visit you, but here the guy himself must decide whether he wants to host a visitor. If there is no certainty in this, then you should not express a desire to meet.

You have prepared a letter with strong content. It is useful, a cool promotion or a great offer. But will subscribers know about it? Every day they receive 40-50 (or even more) letters, and they have little time:

They delete some letters without looking.
Others procrastinate and forget
Others read immediately

In order for the letter to be in the third group, you need to give the subscriber motivation that will push him to open the letter. Give it in the subject line of your email. This article will help you. From it you will learn:

What is the subject of the letter and how to work with each field
What is optimal length email topics
What words and symbols will help you increase open rates
What tricks do spammers use?
How to make sure the subject line is correct

What does an email look like in your email inbox?

Some people think that the most important part of an email is the subject (highlighted in red in the picture):

However, there are other parts besides it: the sender and the preheader, and they also play an important role in whether the recipient opens your message or not.

On a mobile device, emails look like this:

To make the recipient want to open your letter, you need to work with each field.

When filling out the "Sender" field, adhere to two principles:

If you are addressing yourself, write your first and last name:

If from a company, the name of the company:

Some add to the name of the company the name and position of the person who communicates with subscribers. They explain it this way: “People prefer to communicate with people, and not with a faceless company.” I agree, but all this may not fit in the field:

This is bad, because you can’t immediately figure out who Olga Shuravina is. It turns out this is who:

To find out, I had to open the letter. But I was motivated - I needed to lead by example. Will the subscriber be motivated? Therefore, do not write the name of the company representative in the "Sender" field, but introduce yourself at the end of the letter:

header

The purpose of the headline is to tell about the content of the letter, to distinguish it from the background of others, to intrigue or provoke. There are nine steps to help you do this:

Format
Order
Lecture hall
Relevance
Intrigue
Question
allusion
Provocation

Let's consider each.

Format

The essence of the reception is to show the way the content is presented: a manual, instruction, test, survey, practice, video, etc. With the help of the format, the value of the letter increases: the reader sees that inside is not an ordinary article, but, for example, practice (read, implement and get results).

Company	header
Magazine "Personnel Business"	Step-by-step instructions: how to attract to work in holidays
	[Likbez] Email marketing for the store: how to set up a newsletter in MailChimp
Academy of Lead Generation (comprehensive training in Internet promotion)	[Video] Benefits of having your own lead generation department
AvtoZvuk (autoelectronics store)	How to choose wipers? Video!
Salecontent (content marketing agency)	[Infographic] 7 tools for repeat sales
	Practice: Improving the Sales Funnel

Order

The essence of the reception is to show that the information in the letter is structured. This technique also increases the value of the letter: the order hints to the subscriber that the author has done a great job of selecting a few good ways (tips, tricks) among the many available.

Company	header
Razor (sports and children's products: scooters, skateboards…)	10 reasons to buy a scooter
Fotoshkola.net (photo training)	5 good reasons to join a new intensive
Magazine "Glavbuh"	4 typical checkout violations: simple ways to correct Formal letter: 3 simple design rules
Mr.Kolgotoff (online store of tights)	Fall dress code
E-xecutive.ru (business community for managers)	Three main mistakes of Russian marketers
Condom-Shop.Ru (sex shop for intimate goods)	Recipes from the autumn blues
Magazine "Salary"	Difficult questions payroll for which your answers are required 10 New Answers to Accountants' Questions
Texterra	5 Best Ways to Come Up with an Idea for Super Content

It is not necessary to use numbers to show order. For example, let's compare two headings: "Ways to Increase Conversions" and "5 Ways to Increase Conversions" - both show order.

Lecture hall

The essence of the reception is to show who the letter is addressed to: managers, marketers, girls, mothers, couples, etc. By specifying the audience, you personalize the message, which makes the subscriber motivated to open the letter.

Company	header
Wix (website builder)	Secret to Wix Users: SEO Secrets Workshop
Forzieri (online store for bags, shoes, clothes, accessories and jewelry)	VIP event for bachelors and friends
003.ru (online store of household appliances, electronics, goods for home and office)	Everything for children on 003.ru! The best promotions and useful gifts for moms and babies!
Panyushkina Oksana (teaches hairdressers)	To all hairdressers who can't live without creativity
Mnogo.ru (accumulative program for the whole family)	Buyers of LitRes: 40% discount + triple bonuses

Relevance

The essence of the reception is to tie the content of the letter to reality. So the subscriber will see that now or today is the best time to read the letter - a little later, tomorrow or a week later it will be too late. With the help of relevance, the value of writing increases: a person first thinks about pressing problems, and then about eternal topics.

Company	header
Terminal.ru (online store)
Travelata (online tour hypermarket)
Quelle (online store of clothes, shoes and accessories)
SendPulse (mailing service)
Texterra
InMyRoom (the largest collection of interior design and decor ideas)

Intrigue

The essence of the reception is to use the curiosity of the subscriber. To satisfy him, he will open the letter.

Company	header
Lamoda.ru (online store of clothes, shoes and accessories)	It seems you forgot something interesting
Insider.pro (publication about financial markets)	What Putin will tell and what happened in California
Megaproryv (business development center)	trading business no money (almost)
	Til Schweiger makes spaghetti bolognese like this ... (Here the author deliberately put ellipsis, so he hints: if you want to know how Til Schweiger makes spaghetti bolognese, then open the letter)

Question

Reception works the same way as intrigue. The main thing is that the subscriber wants to know the answer to the question you ask in the subject line.

Company	header
RuTraveller (guide to cities and countries)	Where to have fun in winter? Where to go other than Egypt?
DAW-GAME (games for early development)	How to work and earn money on Instagram? Free webinar! What to give the baby for the holiday?
Shelomentsev Dmitry (helps people lose weight)	Why do you crave sweets so much?
Allo.ua (online store of equipment and electronics)	What to do if you get your smartphone wet?
Artur Budovsky (founder of the school of article business "TextUnique")	Why you will never have problems with orders?

Humor

The essence of the reception is to cheer up the subscriber. A person likes someone who cheers him up, so the likelihood that he will open the letter increases.

Use this technique with caution, because people perceive humor differently - what is funny to you, the subscriber may find it offensive.

allusion

The essence of the reception is to attract attention with the help of a headline that resembles proverbs, sayings, established expressions, the names of TV shows, films, books, songs and phrases from them. With the help of allusion, the subject of the letter both stands out and intrigues.

Company	header
	I want ideas from you Change or die Joy from the mind
Yves Rocher (online cosmetics and perfumery store)	One is good, six is better
Academy of good copywriters
Ozon.ru (online store of everything)	There is no such thing as too much tea! 3rd pack for 1 ruble
Domos.ru (online tableware store)	Buy more - pay less! Favorable New Year's gifts

Often, with the help of allusion, it is possible to attract attention, but not show what the letter is about. Because of this, some subscribers may consider: since it is not clear what the letter is about, I will not waste time on it. Therefore, further in the header or preheader hint about the content of the letter. For instance, (title) Who has time, that and the professional copywriter (pretitle) Black Friday has begun.

Provocation

The essence of the reception is to tell the subscriber something out of the ordinary, something that will cause indignation or joy, but will not leave you indifferent. So you stand out from the background of others.

Be careful with provocations: if the subscriber realizes that you used this technique only to sell something, then he can blacklist you or unsubscribe.

In addition, you can play with tricks: use not one, but several at once.

Testing will show which technique or combination of techniques will work best in your case. We will talk about this in the last part of the article.

The purpose of a preheader is to reinforce the headline and give the subscriber extra motivation to open the email.

When you don't use a preheader, the subscriber sees this:

Or this:

This is half the trouble. Worse, when the preheader duplicates the "Sender" field and the title:

But when this gets into the headline, it's like saying "hack!" to the executioner who was about to let you go:

The mail service generates a preheader automatically from the first words found in the body of the letter. However, it is in our power to make sure that what we need gets into it.

How to create a pretitle and make it invisible

Click on the title and a menu will appear. In the menu, click on settings:

Click in the font section on the field with a choice of colors, and a window with color options will appear:

Choose the color you want.

Here's what happens in the end. Look, the preheader in the subject line is:

I open the letter and do not see it, because it white color, like the background:

Now let's learn what to do to make the preheader strengthen the headline of the letter.

Decipher the title if you used allusion or intrigue:

Company	header
Magazine "Commercial Director"	Punishment cannot be forgiven Do you think it is necessary to punish an employee if he committed ...(at this point, the mail service cut off the preheader)
Alexander Tchaikovsky (helps clients sell products and services on the Internet with the help of selling texts)	Playing good and bad client How to speak with a client on an equal footing
Megaplan	Joy from the mind How to use knowledge The Boy Who Was Sold Secrets of turning a product into a brand I want ideas from you How to distinguish a good idea from a bad one
Megabreak	Increasing sales with a marker How to arrange social competitions on a single magnetic whiteboard
	All about myself yes about myself A selection of soul-saving articles on how to write about yourself

Explain the request if you are asking for something in the title:

Use a call to action:

Intrigue:

Use positioning (headings are different, but the preheading is always the same):

Add information if the letter touched on several topics:

Challenge:

Tell us what to do with the information received:

You noticed that in two of the examples, the email service cut off the preheader. It's not terrible, but it's better if this does not happen. Therefore, be guided by how many characters in the preheader a particular mail service displays and whether it displays at all. The images below will help with this:

And to check if the preheader is displayed correctly in mailboxes, do the following:

set up test mailboxes in all mail services that subscribers use;
add them to the database;
send an email to test boxes first;
see how the preheader is displayed on different mail services, devices (computer, smartphone, tablet) and browsers - if normal, send an email to the entire database.

Optimal Header Length in an Email Subject

Marketers often ask what is the optimal length of a headline in an email subject line. Let's look at the research results.

According to the research of the company, which analyzed 1.2 billion emails in 2012, titles 4-15 characters long have the highest Open Rate (15.2%), and titles longer than 51 characters have the lowest (10.4%).

If you are offering the same to the whole database, then it is better not to use the name of the recipient. Instead, use headline techniques, share interesting information, and help solve problems. Then the subscriber will open your letters, regardless of whether they are registered or not.

As with headline length, only testing will tell if a personalized message will have an effect.

Magic words in email subject lines

There is an opinion that there magic words, which increase email open rates. UniSender tested 12 words that are recommended and frequently used in emails and concluded that they do not greatly affect email open rates:

In addition, expert opinions differ on the impact of certain words on open rates. For example, the words "free" and "gift".

Andrey Tsilikov, director of sales at Sendsay, writes in his article “The 5 Deadly Sins of Email Marketing” that the word “free” reduces open rates, while “gift” increases open rates.

Maxim Higer, founder and head of the Smartresponder service, in the article “How to create an effective email subject line? ” writes that “free” can increase open rates, and cites the results of testing a letter with an invitation to a master class on speed reading as an example:

The headline “Download a free mini-book on speed reading” worked better than the headline “Increase your reading speed by 2 times” - Open Rate 38.4% vs. 28.3%.

And the results of a study of 300 million emails conducted by SendPulse show that the subject line with the word “gift” has the lowest Open Rate.

What does it say? The fact that it is worth listening to the opinion of experts, and looking closely at the results of research, but checking all this with the help of testing. As Andrey Tsilikov writes in the above article:

"Don't forget to A/B test email headers and find your magic words."

Emoticons and Symbols in Email Subjects

The purpose of emoticons and symbols is to grab the attention of the subscriber and make the email stand out from the rest. They are:

Experian found that a black heart increased Open Rate by 2.2%, a black sun by 14.9%, and an umbrella by 50%.
Swiftpage conducted an A/B test: it sent half of the base an email with a symbol in the subject line, and the other half without a symbol. Letters with the symbol had an Open Rate higher by 3.29%.

He chose Gmail subscribers who view mail on computers.
Sent one half an email with an animated character in the subject line, the other half without.
I checked the result after 70 hours: the theme with animated symbols had a 20% higher Open Rate.

The problem lies in the mail services and devices used to view mail: they display emoticons and symbols differently or not at all.

Gmail displays everything:

But sometimes there are failures that depend on operating system, browser and device used to view mail:

Yandex.Mail and Mail.ru display characters and emoticons in black and white, even if you used color ones.

Mobile Gmail and Outlook display popular characters on the iPhone and behave unpredictably with rare ones. For example, let's take a familiar topic:

E-Mail Marketing Tipps - Animated options are marked in yellow. To use emojis and symbols, copy the box above the image and paste it into the email subject line.

Pro-smm - here emoticons and symbols for social networks, but they can also be inserted into the subject of the letter (there are no animated ones). To do this, copy the desired character and paste it into the subject of the letter.

How to use

So that subscribers do not perceive the letter as spam, use emoticons and symbols in the right place and do not abuse them.

Here is a spam example:

One or two characters are enough for one topic. If there is only one character, put it:

If two:

As for relevance, the main thing here is that the symbols reflect the essence of your brand or email subject line:

inappropriate	Appropriate
	50% discount on guitar lessons
How to know if your husband is cheating on you	Every Friday two pizzas for the price of one

Unfortunately, even if these conditions are met, some subscribers may perceive an email with emoticons and symbols as spam. Therefore, test variants with and without symbols.

Spammy email subject lines

Spammers also want their emails to have a high Open Rate. And they came up with two methods for this: disguise as personal correspondence or as notifications from government agencies. In no case do we recommend that you use these methods, because they imply deception: the subject of the letter does not match what is inside. Because of this, it causes negativity among recipients and harms the reputation of the company. We give these examples only for reference, because. they really increase the Open Rate, and simply cannot be left out of this article.

Disguise for personal correspondence

This technique increases the Open Rate by 15-20%.

header	What is the strength
RE: Here is the info you asked for	The prefix RE: tells the recipient that this is a reply to his letter. He does not remember that he sent it (not surprising, because he did not send it), but the fact on the face is the answer to his letter. The recipient will doubt his memory and open the letter.
Gathering on Friday	Potentially, only a friend or colleague can communicate with the recipient in this way. He does not feel the trick and opens the letter.
(No subject)	It is very similar to personal correspondence, because when we correspond with friends and colleagues, we are often too lazy to fill in the title field, they say, according to the content of the letter, they will understand everything. Again, the recipient does not feel the trick and opens the letter.

Disguise as notifications from government agencies

Immediately for example.

A certain company sent a letter to directors of secondary and higher educational institutions with a proposal to make a website and host it without advertising for 21,500 rubles. In order for as many recipients as possible to open the letter, she titled it as if it were a notice from the prosecutor's office:

"About site checks educational institutions prosecutors"

As a result, more than 70% of recipients opened the letter.

Test

If you've been reading carefully up to this point, you've noticed a pattern: you always need to test to find the most effective email subject line. There are no universal methods, because subscriber bases, like people, are different: what worked on one base is not a fact that it will work on another. And vice versa.

In each mailing list creation service, the testing function is implemented in its own way, but the essence is the same. Let's say you come up with three headlines and want to determine the most effective one. To test them:

Create three copies of the email with the same content but different headings.
Mark the Open Rate as a parameter by which the system will determine the winner.
Determine the percentage of subscribers for testing. Use the Sample Calculator to determine how many subscribers to send the test to make sure the results are valid.
Set the duration of the test. Usually marketers ask 24 hours. Microsoft writes that you need to allow 48-72 hours for the test, and notes that this period may vary depending on the industry and segments. If time is short, set 3 hours - this is what UniSender advises.
Set a start time for testing.
You start the test.

Will randomly select a given percentage of subscribers and send them emails.
Collects information about open rates for a given time.
Will send a letter with the winning headline to the rest of the base upon completion of the test.

In this way preheaders, title length, subject with and without name and symbols are tested.

So we’ve finished figuring out how to compose an email subject line so that as many recipients as possible open it. Did you know:

Please enable JavaScript to view the

An example, a sample, a template for a letter to a friend in the army. Author Egen Kurveeva site "Letters of Love". Letters from friends.

Now almost everyone can write to a friend or to a friend a message through the World Wide Web. Now, in order to come to visit, you do not need to agree in advance, call and ask if a person is free or not. Even the problems to come at an inconvenient moment itself disappeared. And it’s also not at all necessary to visit to call the next day to the cinema or to the club. There is the Internet.
People write emails, ICQ messages, talk to a visible interlocutor on Skype. Not even a hindrance distance. The World Wide Web allowed friends to connect across Russia and even from abroad.

But sometimes there are times when you just want write a letter. Ordinary, paper letter, in an envelope with a stamp.

And get the same. And so you take paper, sit down and think about how to write a letter to a friend? This question is solved by everyone in their own way.
For example, what to write to a friend: "Hello how are you? Mine are already better. I don't get sick anymore. The runny nose is gone. By the way, the cat brought kittens. You have already seen them in my LiveJournal, but I will still write how great it was ... The weather is good. I now walk in the new sandals that you advised me to buy. Only one had a broken strap, but they have already repaired it. I thought I couldn't write letters. And so much has already been written.
And further in the same spirit. The text of the letter, consisting of small pieces, will take up a surprisingly large amount of space. It remains only to send letter to a friend. She will be very happy. Because it will bring you closer. And the letter contains some long-forgotten romance of paper, ink, envelopes, mailboxes and waiting for news from a distant land. It's like you're stepping into the past. And if, at the same time, we still do not say about the upcoming Internet, then there will be a big and pleasant surprise.
Also, in an envelope with a letter to your beloved friend or girlfriend, you can put a picture, photograph, bead, flower or just a sheet that keeps the warmth of the hands holding it ...

Only, alas, not everyone can understand the lyrics of the moment. And someone will continue to correspond over the network, instead of regular mail ...

Prepared by Alexey Popov

To begin with, dear readers, let's define the goals of our lesson. So, we must define what a personal letter is and how it differs from a business letter, study its structure, and most importantly, learn how to write a letter to a friend in English on our own using ready-made templates.

People use letters as a way to exchange information around the world. Letters can be written to friends, relatives, acquaintances or people with whom we do not know much, for example, business partners. It is from the one to whom your letter is addressed that its belonging to business or personal correspondence depends, and the form, structure and style of writing your letter depends on its affiliation. You could familiarize yourself with the rules for writing business letters in our previous article letter in English, and now we will get acquainted with the features of writing personal letters in English.

So, friendly or personal letters, as a rule, are addressed to people with whom you personally know (friends, relatives, loved ones). The language of writing such letters may have a colloquial colloquial character. For example, pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person (I, you) are very often used. It is not excluded the use of dialect words, slang words, exclamations, interjections, vernacular, modal verbs, affectionate forms, etc. In personal letters, you can freely express your opinion, that is, a subjective assessment of any situation is not prohibited. Personal letters can be highly emotional. As you can see, friendly correspondence does not have such strict stylistic restrictions as business.

As for the structure of a personal letter in English, in form it practically does not differ from a business letter, just some points can be neglected at your discretion. You can familiarize yourself with the structure of the letter in the article “Learning to write letters in English correctly”. If you have to write a personal letter to a friend in English, for example, in an exam, then of course the form of the letter cannot be neglected.

Step-by-step letter structure with template phrases

So, a personal letter to a friend in English must necessarily include 5 points according to all the rules:

The first item is the "header" of the letter, i.e. the sender's address and date. (Heading: address and date)
The address is written in the upper right corner and has the following sequence: the house number with the name of the street, the apartment number separated by a comma. The next line is the city with postal code, the next line is the country. Do not put commas or dots.

46 Riverview Park
New York 542,210
USA
February 15th, 2008

On the next line or every other line, the date is written immediately below the address. Several spellings are possible:

May 12, 2014
May 12th, 2014
May 12, 2014
May 12th, 2014

The 2nd point is "appeal". (salutation or greeting) The appeal is written on a new line on the left. A comma is usually placed after the conversion.
Very often, the appeal begins with the word Dear + the name of the person you are writing to.

Dear Rima, Dear Karan
Dear Daddy, Dear Mammy
Dear Uncle Ray
Dear Mr. Green

Various options are possible. It all depends on who you are writing to.

My dear Jim
dearest
my darling
Or just - Hello, my dear Olya

The 3rd paragraph is the “body text of the letter”. (body/message)
The first paragraph of the body text is an introduction or opening sentence (opening sentence), where you can thank your friend for the previous letter, tell why you haven’t written for so long, or simply write that you were very happy to hear from your friend the news. Approximately it looks like this:

I’m writing to (thank/ tell/ ask/ congratulate/ apologize/ etc.)
I’m writing to thank you very much for the nice post card ... - I am writing to you to thank you for the wonderful postcard ...
Many thanks for your letter… Many thanks for your letter...
I was very glad to get your letter ... - I was very glad to receive your letter ...
Thanks for your recent letter. It was good to hear from you… - Thank you for your last letter. I was glad to hear from you...
I've been meaning to write to you for ages but somehow just haven't been able to find the time I really should have written sooner… late reply...
I’m sorry I haven’t written for so long but I’ve been really busy with…
I must apologize for notоt writing earlier…- I must apologize for not writing earlier…
I’m sorry I’ve taken such a long time to reply to your last letter…

In the second paragraph, you can answer your friend's questions. If you are writing a letter to a friend in English as an assignment for an exam, then the assignment usually contains questions that you must answer.

You are asking me about ... I "ll do my best to answer your questions. - You asked me about ... I will try to answer your questions.
That's about all I can tell you about this problem. “That's all I can tell you about this.

In the third and fourth paragraph, you talk about the events in your life, share the news and ask your questions to a friend.

Nege is some news about ... - I have news about ...
I think you are studying hard now. Have you already chosen the university where are you going to apply? Will it be difficult to study there? “I think you are studying hard right now. Have you already chosen the university you want to go to? Will it be difficult to study there?
How has your summer been? - How was your summer?
What have you been up to? What interesting thing happened to you?
Are you playing any sports? - Do you do any sports?
Have you been traveling? — Did you travel?
I am preparing for entrance exams to the university. I am preparing for the university entrance exams.
We are going to travel to Turkey. We are going to go to Turkey.

The fifth paragraph is the closing sentence, where you bring your message to a conclusion and can wish you success, ask for something, or express hope for something. You can also write that you are in a hurry somewhere or you have to go somewhere.

Anyway, I must go and get on with my work. “Anyway, I have to go to work.
Well, got to go now. - Well, perhaps everything.
I've got loads of homework to do tonight. I have a whole bunch of homework for today.
I must finish my letter because it is very late and I must go to bed (because my Mum is calling me / because I have to do my homework). — I am finishing my letter because it is late and it is time for me to sleep (because my mother is calling me/because I have to do my homework)
Hope to hear from you soon. “I hope to hear from you soon.
Drop me a line when you are free. — Write me a couple of lines when you're free.
Looking forward to hearing from you. - I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Write soon. - Write as soon as possible.
See you soon! - See you soon!
Do keep in touch! - Let's keep in touch!
Don't forget to write! Don't forget to answer!
looking forward to seeing you. - I look forward to meeting you.
Write back to me soon. - Answer as soon as possible.
Let me know what happens. - Let me know what's going on.
I hope this advice is of some help to you. I hope my advice will be helpful to you.

The 4th point is the final polite phrase (subscription / closing). A comma must be placed after the final phrase.

love,
best wishes,
All the best
yours,

The 5th final point is your signature. You put your signature on the next line under the final phrase without a dot.

So, as you noticed, a letter to a friend in English has the same structure as a business letter. The main difference lies in the style of the language. That is why template phrases for personal and business letters are completely different.

I want to give you a couple more tips for successfully writing a letter to a friend in English. In order for the text to be solid and sound good, use linking words and conjunctions: just now, and, at all, but, that's why, also, as for me, maybe, though, so, not only, to tell the truth, besides, now, first, also, finally, but, however, so that, such as, for example as, because, when, while, Well, Right… Use short forms verbs: I've, there's, I'd...

If your English vocabulary is not that great, you can still easily handle a task like writing a letter to a friend in English. To do this, you will have to visually remember the structure of the letter and memorize a ready-made template, which will need to be supplemented with a couple of sentences.
You can create a template yourself using the phrases that we have selected for each item.

Letter to a friend template in English

46 Riverview Park
New York 542,210
USA

my dear jim,
Thanks for your letter. I'm sorry I haven't written for so long but I've been really busy with…
You are asking me about… I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
Nege is some news about ... (tell the news)
What have you been up to… (ask your questions)
I must finish my letter because it is very late and I must go to bed. Hope to hear from you soon.
love,
Mary

Here's how easy it is to write a letter to a friend in English using template phrases! You just need to add a couple of sentences and the letter is ready!

Study the following letters to a friend in English with translation in order to better understand the structure of such letters.

Examples p Letters in English with translation

46 Riverview Park
glentown
Dublin 23

dear jim,
How are things in Wicklow? I have not seen you for ages so I decided to write and give you all the news from Glentown.
The football team is doing really well this season. We have reached the semi-final of the Cup. The new goalkeeper we got after you left is great. He has not let in a goal in the last three matches.
My sister, Sandra, Has just had a baby girl, so I am now an uncle. Maybe I will be able to make some money from baby-sitting and then I can come down on the train to visit you.
Write soon and let me know all the news.

your friend,
Martin

46 Riverview Park
Glentown
Dublin 23

Dear Jim,
How are things in Wicklow? I haven't seen you for ages, so I thought I'd write to you and tell you all the news from Glentown.
The football team is really doing well this season. We have reached the semi-finals of the Cup. The new goalkeeper who joined us after you left is great. He hasn't conceded a single goal in his last three matches.
My sister, Sandra, just had a baby girl, so I'm an uncle now. Maybe I can make some money as a babysitter and come by train to visit you.
Reply to me as soon as possible and tell me all the news.

Your friend,
Martin

12 Hill Drive
Navan
Co. Meath

Dear Susan,
I hope all is well with you. It has been ages since we saw you here in Meath.
I am writing to ask you to come and stay with us the weekend of the 6thJune. We are having a little get together because John is going to Australia for a year. It would be lovely for him to see you before he goes, you are his godmother after all. Let me know if you can make it, don't worry if not, any weekend before then is fine.
We are all in good form here. Very busy trying to get John organized. I will miss him while he's away.
I hope all the family are well.

12 Hill Drive
Navan
County Meath

Dear Susan,
I hope you are doing well. It's been an eternity since we saw you here in Mita.
I am writing to ask you to come and stay with us on the weekend of June 6th. We are all getting together because John is going to Australia for a year. It would be great for him to see you before he leaves, after all you are his godmother. Let me know if you manage to come, if not, then don't worry, you can come any weekend before he leaves.
We are fine. Constantly busy trying to pack John for the trip. I will miss him very much when he leaves.
I really hope your family is doing well.

With love,
Mary

12 Hilly Drive
Navan
Co. Meath

Dear Susan,
I am writing to say thank you for the lovely flowers. I can't believe you remembered my birthday! You are so thoughtful.
We are all in good form here. I hope all the family are well. Paul is starting a new job next week. I hope to get down to Cork to visit you soon.
Thanks again.

12 Hill Drive
Navan
County Meath

Dear Susan,
I am writing to thank you for the beautiful flowers. I can't believe you remembered my birthday! You are so considerate.
We are fine. I hope everyone is ok too. Paul starts to new job next week. I'm thinking of coming to visit you in Cork soon.
Thank you very much again.

With love,
Mary

46 Riverview Park
New York 542,210
USA

Hi Sophie,
I'm writing this from the cutest little café in New York! Mum's been making sure we don't miss one sight in the whole city, so we've been walking practically all day. So far we've seen Times Square, Broadway, Central Park and The Plaza. I caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty but we're going to go and see it properly tomorrow!
The streets are super busy here and everyone looks amazing in their winter coats and hats. I had to buy mittens today! I miss being able to feel my fingers!
Hope you're enjoying your holidays.
Miss you times a million, see you back in Adelaide on the 20th!

love,
Ashley

PS: I'm bringing you back a souvenir!

46 Riverview Park
New York
USA

Hello Sophie,
I am writing to you now from the cutest little cafe in New York! Mom does her best to make sure we don't miss out on anything interesting in the city, so we were up and about most of the day. So far, we have already managed to see Times Square, Broadway, Central Park and the Square. I caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, but we're going to explore it properly tomorrow!
The streets here are super busy and everyone looks amazing in their winter coats and hats. Today I had to buy mittens! I'm losing the ability to feel my fingers!
Hope you are enjoying your vacation.
Missing you like crazy, see you again in Adelaide on the 20th!

With love,
Ashley

PS: I'll bring you a souvenir!

12 Tulip Road
Flowertown
Dublin 20

Dear Sally,
How are you settling down in your new school in Cork? Our class is quite different since you left. It's much quitter for a start. All the teachers are remarking on it!
We had an English test yesterday. When Mrs. Byrne came in today with the results she was so mad there was nearly smoke coming out of her ears!
Phil Martin and Sandra Byrne have split up. Phil is really down in the dumps. But otherwise everybody is in great form. We are all going down to the club in the Sports Center on Friday night. It's a pity you won't be with us.
Write soon and tell us all about Cork. goodbye for now.

12 Tulip Road
flowertown
Dublin 20

Dear Sally,
How did you get on in your new school in Cork? Our class has changed a lot since you left. A lot of people have become lazy. All teachers notice this!
Yesterday we had an English test. When Ms. Byrne came in today with the results, she was so angry that she thought she was about to have smoke coming out of her ears!
Phil Martin and Sandra Byrne split up. Phil walks now as if lowered into the water. But everything else is fine with us. We're going to the club at sports center Friday night. Too bad you won't be with us.
Write as soon as possible and tell about Cork. Well, for now.

With love,
Joe

2 West Road
Violetville
Cork

Dear Joe,
Greetings from Cork! Now that we have settled in our new house I am having a house- warming party to celebrate.
I am inviting some of the gang from Dublin and some of my new school friends from Cork.
The fun begins at 9 pm on Saturday, March 3rd. Why not come down on Friday night and stay for the weekend? I have asked Sandra and Brian to stay over also.
The train leaves Dublin at 4.15 pm and arrives in Cork at 7.30 pm.
My dad will meet you at the station.
Let me know as soon as possible if you can come.

2 West Road
Violetville
County Cork

Dear Joe,
Hello from Cork! Now that we've settled into our new home, I'm going to celebrate with a party at home.
I'm inviting some of the Dublin crowd and some of my new high school friends from Cork.
The fun starts at 21:00 on Saturday, March 3rd. Why don't you come Friday night and stay over the weekend? I asked Sandra and Brian to stay too.
The train leaves Dublin at 16:15 and arrives in Cork at 19:30.
My dad will meet you at the station. ( 37 Votes: 4,27 out of 5)