IELTS Letter Writing Vocabulary

IELTS letter writing vocabulary includes some very specific words and phrases that you probably won’t use in any other part of the exam. This is the place to learn them.

This lesson covers:

First, we’ll look at all these points for informal letters and then do the same things for formal letters.

IELTS Letter Writing Vocabulary for

Informal Letters

1) The Greeting

Always start your letter with ‘Dear…’ followed by the first name of the friend, e.g.

Dear Ellen,

You probably use ‘Hi…’ and ‘Hello…’ in emails and texts but for letters, ‘Dear…’ is more appropriate, so stick with this.

It can be helpful to use the name of a real friend who you imagine you are writing the letter to. This will make it easier to sound natural than if you write the letter to an imaginary friend.

2) Do’s & don’ts – useful rules

Contractions are the easiest way to show the examiner that you know you are writing an informal letter, e.g.

I’m, I’ve, you’ll, we’d, they’re

Our text language is full of these, for example,

                           ‘Tues’ for Tuesday or ‘Sept’ for September (abbreviations)

                           ‘Thx’ for Thanks or ‘Lol’ meaning ‘laugh out loud’ (acronyms)

They have no place in a letter and you will lose marks by using them.

3) Common letter types

Your General Writing Task 1 question will be on one of these 7 topics. The topics highlighted in red are the ones you are most likely to get for an informal letter.

We’ll now look at appropriate IELTS letter writing vocabulary for these 5 common types of question.

     a)  A request

     b)  An apology

     c)  A letter of explanation

     d)  An invitation

     e)  A letter to make an arrangement

4) Other useful phrases

Here’s some more IELTS letter writing vocabulary that you can use in an informal letter.

     Stating purpose

     Thanking

     Expressing satisfaction

 
     Giving good news

     Giving bad news

5) The signoff

You must sign off your letter correctly. Use one of these phrases followed by your first name.

For example,

     All the best,

     Jacky

You would never add your surname when writing to a friend.

Now we’ll look at formal letters.

IELTS Letter Writing Vocabulary for

Formal Letters

1) The Greeting

2) Do’s & don’ts – useful rules

Contractions are informal language and should not be used in a formal letter.

Write:

          ‘I am writing to complain…’ not ‘I’m writing to complain…’

          ‘I would like to apply for…’ not ‘I’d like to apply for…’

This is the same rule as for informal letters. Save abbreviations and acronyms for texting and social media.

3) Common letter types

Here are the 7 letter topics again. The ones highlighted in red are the ones you are most likely to get for a formal letter.

We’ll now look at appropriate IELTS letter writing vocabulary for these 5 common types of question. All these phrases use formal language.

     a)  A request

     b)  A letter of complaint

     c)  An application or resignation letter

     d)  An invitation

     e)  A letter to make an arrangement

4) Other useful phrases

Here’s some more IELTS letter writing vocabulary that you can use in a formal letter.

     Stating Purpose

     Thanking

5) The signoff

You must use a suitable phrase to end your letter. One of these examples will be appropriate for most letters.

There are three ways you can sign off your letter:

Follow these rules when deciding which to use:

‘Kind regards’ is formal but friendly and is also appropriate for most situations. It is particularly useful if you struggle to remember how to spell ‘sincerely’ and ‘faithfully’.

Always sign off a formal letter with your full name, e.g.

     Kind regards,

     Jacky Spear

Practice using this IELTS letter writing vocabulary on past exam questions and it will soon become familiar.