Essential IELTS Letter Writing Tips for General Training Writing Task 1. Learn the right approach and techniques to get a high score in your IELTS GT letter. This page was last updated in 2023.

On this page, you will find:

1. Instructions about IELTS Letter Writing with Tips
2. Types of IELTS Letters
3. Letter Aims
4. Opening your Letter
5. Signing Off
6. Grammar
7. Vocabulary
8. Spelling
9. Structure & Paragraphs
10. Planning your Letter
11. Model Letters

1. Instructions for IELTS Letters

You will be given instructions and three points to include in your letter.Below is an example of the type of instructions you can get:

You recently had a holiday visiting your friends and you stayed in their house.

Write a letter to your friend. In your letter:

• thank your friend for staying with them
• tell them what you enjoyed most about the holiday
• explain you are sending photos of the holiday with the letter

Tips for IELTS letter writing:

1. Spend 20 mins on this letter. Spend 3 -5 mins planning and then the rest writing. Always leave 2 mins to check your letter for spelling or grammar mistakes. You will need a full 40 mins for task 2, so don’t go over 20 mins for task 1. It is your responsibility to control the time in your writing test. Keep your eye on the clock.
2. You should write over 150 words (aim for between 160 and 180 to be safe). Writing a letter over 200 words is a waste of time. You don’t get a higher score for length.
3. Your letter is worth 33% of your final writing score. See this page: How your final writing score is calculated
4. You do NOT need to write an address on the letter. The first words will probably be “Dear” and then a name or title.
5. Pay close attention to who you are writing to and the relationship you have with that person. This will decide your style of writing and your tone.
6. Pay attention to the aim and purpose of the letter. You must fulfil the purpose of the letter.
7. It is essential that you use the three bullet points to structure your letter and provide the foundation for the information. This doesn’t mean that you write in bullet points, it means that you use the bullet points to create the content for paragraphs, for example the information for the first bullet point will be one paragraph.
8. All points must be included clearly in your letter. If you fail to include all the points in your letter, your band score will be lower. This relates to Task Achievement which is 25% of your marks.
9. You must use your imagination to fill in details and decide the names of the people in your letter.
10. Begin your letter by addressing the person and then an opening line. Always sign off appropriately. The way you address the person and the opening line will change depending on the style of letter, the person you are writing to and the purpose of the letter.

2. Types of IELTS Letter

There are three different types of letters: personal (informal), semi-formal and formal. Each type of letter will use different language. It will have a different beginning and a different way of signing off.  Before you start writing, you should decide which type of letter you must write by identifying the task given. Below are examples of the three different types of letters.

Informal Letter (or Personal Letter)

You would like to invite a foreign friend to visit you for your birthday

Write a letter inviting your friend. In your letter:

• tell your friend about your birthday
• explain how much the visit would mean to you
• suggest that your friend stays at your house for the visit

A personal letter is to someone you have a personal relationship, a friend who you meet or used to meet in your free time to socialise with inside your home. The content is about something social or personal, such as a holiday, party. Both the person and content are informal in nature.

Semi-formal Letter

You give advice to your friend who is seeking work.

Write a letter advising your friend about a job

• • tell your friend which job it is
  • explain why you think it is a suitable job
  • advise your friend about the application process

You would like to ask your boss for time off work.

Write a letter requesting time off work. In your letter:

• • explain why you are requesting time off work
  • give details of dates
  • explain how you will ensure you will keep up with your work

As you can see, I’ve provided two examples of a Semi-Formal letter. Both are semi-formal, but one is slightly more informal and the other is slightly more formal.

1. Semi-Formal / Informal: This means it is not 100% informal. Your relationship with the person is informal but the letter content is very serious, such as about work or education. Your letter might start with “Dear John” or “Hi John”, this means a more informal style of writing, but with much more serious content.
2. Semi-Formal / Formal: This means the letter is not 100% formal because you know the person. But you don’t know this person in your private life or home life so this relationship is not informal. This person is someone you know professionally, such as a colleague, boss, teacher, or a neighbour.  The style will be more formal, but your language will not be completely the same as a fully formal letter. The way you address the person might vary: your colleague “Dear Bob”, but your boss or neighbour “Dear Mr Brown”.

Note: You might find teachers vary slightly in how they categorise letters. Some teachers only have two categories of letters (Formal and Informal) and some teachers have three categorise but they might vary from mine. Teachers do not do this to confuse you. Each teacher chooses their categories because they think it is the best way to help you understand the letter style and content. Therefore, choose the categorisation that works best for you to have a clear understanding.

Formal Letter

You are interested in applying for a scholarship program to study at a foreign University.

Write a letter to inquire about the course. In your letter:

• explain which course you are interested in
• tell what you know about the University
• explain why you should receive the scholarship

A formal letter is to someone you have no relationship with about a very formal matter. The person is actually a position in a company, organisation or university. So, you are writing to the position, rather than a person. Examples of formal letters are to a magazine editor, hotel manager, local council, a college or university (not a teacher) or customer services department at a company.  You would address the letter as “Dear Sir/Madam” because you don’t even know the gender of the person you are writing to. To sum up, the person is unknown and content is formal.

3. Letter Aims

Letters can be based on different content which will affect the style of the letter. Below is a list of some of the common contents for letters. Although there are hints about whether the letters are usually formal or not, please note that you will know the style by reading the instructions given to you.

• complaints (usually formal)
• invitations (usually personal or semi-formal)
• applications or resignations (usually formal)
• request (any style common)
• making arrangements (often formal)
• explanation (sometimes semi-formal or personal)
• informative / news letter (often personal/ semi-formal but formal can also appear)
• apology (could be any style)

 4. Letter Openings

Letters usually start with an opening statement which explains the reason for writing the letter. This opening statement varies depending on whether you are writing a formal or informal letter. Below are two examples of an opening statement. Can you spot which one is formal, semi-formal and informal?

A)  I am writing this letter with regards to the scholarship program to study at London University which I read in Sunday Times on December 1st, 2014.

B)  It’s been so long since we last were in touch but I haven’t forgotten all the wonderful times we spent together last year. It’s my birthday coming up and I wanted to invite you over to stay at my place for the celebration.

C) I’m just writing to say thank you for the offer of joining your company.

Answer

5. Signing Off

Depending on the style and aim of the letter, you will need to adapt your sign off. Below you can see how the salutations (the way you address the person at the start) matches the sign off.

• Dear Sir / Madam = Yours faithfully,  (formal letters – to a hotel manager, magazine editor, company complains department)
• Dear Mr Robson = Yours sincerely, (semi-formal / formal letters – to a boss, teacher, neighbour)
• Dear John = Best regards (semi-formal / formal – to a colleague at work)
• Dear John = Best wishes (semi-formal / informal letters – to a friend about work or something serious)
• Dear Dave = Best wishes (informal- to a friend about something social)

Note:

1. As you can see, some sign offs use a Sir/Madam, sometimes we use the title with the surname (family name) and sometimes we use the first name (given name) without a title.
2. You use Sir/Madam when you don’t know the name of the person you are writing to. But please note, not to use such a title in your speaking test.
3. If you have a semi formal relationship with the person whose name you know, who you have met and who you know, you use “Mr Brown”. This is to a person who you don’t know social with in your private life and who is in a position of authority above you, such as a boss, teacher etc.
4. You can use “Dear John” with a semi-formal / formal letter to a colleague. Certainly, you don’t socialise with this person outside of work, but they are on the same level as you at work and you have more relaxed working relationship with them.
5. We use no title and no last name when we write to a friend. We only use their first name (given name).

Below are some examples of final comments before signing off, can you tell which ones are formal and which not?

It’ll be great to catch up again soon. Give my best to everyone in the family. (informal)

I look forward to hearing from you. (formal)

Note: there are other ways of giving a final comment but it depends on the content of the letter you are writing. See my model letters (links below) to see this.

Names 

You should write a name at the end of your letter. You can use your name or you can invent one. Likewise, to address the person you are writing to, you can invent a name.

6. Grammar: Formal and Informal

Formal and informal (friendly) letters contain different language and style of writing. While informal letters can contain contractions (I’m writing …), these contractions are unacceptable in formal writing so you need to write the words in full (I am writing …. …).

In a formal letter, you could write “I am writing with regards to ….”,  whereas for a semi-formal letter you can write “I’m writing about…” or “I’m writing to let you know that ..” or “I just want to tell you that..”. So, it is important to adapt your writing to suit the style of the letter. Also remember to use a range of different sentence structures in order to get a high score.

You’ll also get a score for a range of sentence structure and grammar features as well as tenses. Pay attention to articles(the / a / plural nouns), prepositions, word order etc.

7. Vocabulary: Formal and Informal

For vocabulary, be very careful using academic language in a personal letter. This would be inappropriate and will reduce your band score rather than increase it. Here are some examples of the difference between formal and informal language:

• You will be collected at the airport = I’ll pick you up at the airport
• The next available appointment is on Thursday = how about we meet up on Thursday?
• I would like to invite you to visit my house on…. = Why don’t you pop round to my place on …..
• I highly recommend that you come in August = it’d be great if you came in August
• Please respond at the earliest convenience = Get back to me as soon as you can
• Unfortunately I will not be able to attend  on … = Sorry, but I won’t be able to make it on ….

Details

IELTS will give you bullet points as content. It is your task to expand these bullet points into paragraphs with details. You need to invent those details. And, of course, details require appropriate vocabulary.

8. Spelling and Punctuation

The examiner will check your accuracy in your spelling and your punctuation (this means your use of commas and full stops). If you make frequent errors in spelling or in punctuation it is unlikely to get over band score 6. Spelling is part of the marking criterion of Vocabulary and punctuation is part of the marking criterion of Grammar.

9. Structure and Paragraphs

You must also organise your letter into paragraphs. This is an essential part of your letter writing and the examiner will be marking you on your ability to use effective paragraphing. In IELTS writing task 1 (GT), the letter structure below is most common as it usually follows the three points which you must include in your letter. However you must adapt it to suit the task given to you by IELTS. So spend time reading the instructions and deciding your paragraphing.

Structure:

• address to the person (name and possibly title as explained previously on this page)
• opening statement – reason for writing and in an informal letter to a friend it might also include a personal greeting.
• body paragraph A (first bullet point expanded into a paragraph with detail)
• body paragraph B (second bullet point expanded into a paragraph with detail)
• body paragraph C (third bullet point expanded into a paragraph with detail)
• closing statement (if needed)
• signing off
• name (choose a name or use your own)

10. Planning Your Letter

You should spend at least 3 or 4 minutes planning your letter. Covering all the points in your letter, adding details, using the appropriate style of letter writing and using paragraphs well count for about 50% of your marks. So it’s worth taking time to plan your letter well. Follow the points below for a well planned letter:

1. read the instructions
2. identify what style of letter you must write
3. read through the points you must include in your letter
4. think about how many paragraphs you will have and where to put each point
5. plan what information you will add to each point
6. decide how to open the letter
7. think about the language you will use (both grammar and vocabulary) – it must suit the style of the letter
8. decide how to close the letter
9. plan the content of each body paragraph
10. start writing

11. Model Letters for IELTS GT

• Apology Letter: Model Answers Formal & Informal
• Amendment Letter: Model Answer 2017
• Complaint Letter: Model Answer
• Complaint Letter: Error Correction
• Letter to a Friend: Model Answer
• Invitation Letter: Model Answer
• Collection of IELTS Sample Letters for Practice
• Using the bullet points properly for a high score letter

Also Review

• How to Improve your IELTS GT Letter
• Differences between GT & Academic Writing

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