UNIT 7

E-mail and letter writing

Contents
Rules for Writing Formal Letters .......................................................................................................... 2
Addresses ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Date................................................................................................................................................. 2
Salutation or greeting ...................................................................................................................... 2
Body of the letter............................................................................................................................. 2
Ending a letter ................................................................................................................................. 3
Basic text connectors ........................................................................................................................... 3
Present Perfect Simple ........................................................................................................................ 4
Form of Present Perfect ................................................................................................................... 5
Use of Present Perfect ..................................................................................................................... 5
Past perfect simple .............................................................................................................................. 5
Main adverbs of Perfect tenses............................................................................................................ 6
Table of Irregular verbs........................................................................................................................ 7
Phrasal verbs (1) .................................................................................................................................. 9

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Rules for Writing Formal Letters
In English there are a number of conventions that should be used when writing a formal or business
letter. Furthermore, you try to write as simply and as clearly as possible, and not to make the letter
longer than necessary. Remember not to use informal language like contractions.

Addresses

1) Your Address
The return address should be written in the top right-hand corner of the letter.

2) The Address of the person you are writing to

The inside address should be written on the left, starting below your address.

Date

Different people put the date on different sides of the page. You can write this on the right or the left on
the line after the address you are writing to. Write the month as a word.

Salutation or greeting

1) Dear Sir or Madam,

If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, use this. It is always advisable to try to
find out a name.

2) Dear Mr. Jenkins,

If you know the name, use the title (Mr., Mrs., Miss. or Ms., Dr., etc.) and the surname only. If you are
writing to a woman and do not know if she uses Mrs. or Miss., you can use Ms., which is for married and
single women.

Body of the letter

This is the part where you include the main message of the letter or e-mail. Make sure you are concise
and to the point, but show respect for the person you are addressing in this piece of writing. Organize
the information into paragraphs (one main idea per paragraph composed of many smaller ideas inside it
that have to do with the main idea). You should include a small summary or conclusion at the end of this
part so that the reader can better understand what you wanted to say.

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Ending a letter

1) Yours Faithfully
If you do not know the name of the person, end the letter this way. Include your signature just below
this line.

2) Yours Sincerely
If you know the name of the person, end the letter this way. Include your signature just below this line,
like in the previous case.

3) Best regards

If you want to be very neutral with your tone, end the letter this way. Include your signature just below
this line, like in the previous cases.

Basic text connectors

Here is a list of some basic text connectors that you can use to connect sentences and/or parts of the
text together with others. It is important that, as you learn them, you also learn when and where they
can occur in a text. Make sure to look for more info on how to use them!

Contrast

 But
 Though/Although
 On the one hand... on the other hand
 Instead of

Addition

 Also
 Additionally
 What is more
 Besides

Example

 For example
 For instance
 Such as

Sequencing

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  First of all
 Firstly...(first idea) >> Secondly... (second idea) >> Thirdly... (third idea), etc.
 Next
 Later
 Finally

Time

 Before
 While
 As soon as
 Until

Purpose

 In order to
 So as to
 So that

Result

 Because of this
 Consequently
 For this reason

Cause

 Due to this
 As a result of this
 Thanks to

Present Perfect Simple

The present perfect simple expresses an action that started in the past and is still going on or that
stopped recently, but has an influence on the present. It puts emphasis on the result of the action.

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Form of Present Perfect
Positive Negative Question

I / you / we / they I have spoken. I have not spoken. Have I spoken?

he / she / it He has spoken. He has not spoken. Has he spoken?

For irregular verbs, use the participle form (3rd column of the irregulars table, see below). For
regular verbs, just add “ed”.

Use of Present Perfect

To put emphasis on the result

 Example: She has written five letters.

To indicate an action that started in the past and is still going on

 Example: School has not started yet.

To indicate an action that stopped recently

 Example: She has cooked dinner.

To talk about a finished action that has an influence on the present

 Example: I have lost my key.

Past perfect simple

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now. It is used to make it clear that one event
happened before another in the past. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense
makes it clear which one happened first.

In these examples, Event A is the event that happened first and Event B is the second or more recent
event:

Event A Event B

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John had gone out when I arrived in the office.

Event A Event B

I had saved my document before the computer crashed.

The Past Perfect tense in English is composed of two parts: the past tense of the verb to have
(had) + the past participle of the main verb.

Subject had past participle

Affirmative

She had given

Negative

She hadn't asked.

Interrogative

Had they arrived?

Interrogative Negative

Hadn't you finished?

Main adverbs of Perfect tenses

Here are some words that are often used with present perfect and past perfect. These words are
adverbs, which means they add information about how we do the action of the main verb :

Can be used in every sentence:

already just

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Example: "My mother was surprised because I had already cleaned my room before she came."

Can be used in negatives and/or questions:

never yet ever (only in questions)

Example: "I have never been to Paris" // "Have you seen this movie yet?" // "Has she ever driven a
car?"

Table of Irregular verbs

Base
Past simple Past participle Base form Past simple Past participle
form
beat beat beaten lend lent lent
become became become let let let
begin began begun lose lost lost
bend bent bent make made made
bet bet bet mean meant meant
bite bit bitten meet met met
bleed bled bled pay paid paid
blow blew blown put put put
break broke broken quit quit quit
breed bred bred read /ri:d/ read /red/ read /red/
bring brought brought ride rode ridden
build built built ring rang rung
burn burnt/burned burnt/burned rise rose risen
buy bought bought run ran run
catch caught caught say said said
choose chose chosen see saw seen
come came come sell sold sold
cost cost cost send sent sent
cut cut cut set set set
do did done shake shook shaken
dig dug dug shine shone shone
draw drew drawn shoe shod shod
dream dreamt/dreamed dreamt/dreamed shoot shot shot
drink drank drunk show showed shown
drive drove driven shrink shrank shrunk

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Base
Past simple Past participle Base form Past simple Past participle
form
eat ate eaten shut shut shut
fall fell fallen sing sang sung
feed fed fed sink sank sunk
feel felt felt sit sat sat
fight fought fought sleep slept slept
find found found speak spoke spoken
fly flew flown spend spent spent
forget forgot forgotten spill spilt/spilled spilt/spilled
forgive forgave forgiven spread spread spread
freeze froze frozen speed sped sped
get got got stand stood stood
give gave given steal stole stolen
go went gone stick stuck stuck
grow grew grown sting stung stung
have had had stink stank stunk
hear heard heard swear swore sworn
hide hid hidden sweep swept swept
hit hit hit swim swam swum
hold held held swing swung swung
hurt hurt hurt take took taken
keep kept kept teach taught taught
know knew known tear tore torn
lay laid laid tell told told
lead led led think thought thought
lean leant/leaned leant/leaned throw threw thrown
leave left left understand understood understood

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Phrasal verbs (7)
Here are some more phrasal verbs for you to learn:

Phrasal verb Meaning Example sentence

to write information in blanks, as on a Please fill in the form with your name,
fill something in
form (British English) address, and phone number.

to write information in blanks, as on a The form must be filled out in capital

fill something out
form (American English) letters.

I always fill the water jug up when it is

fill something up fill to the top
empty.

We don't know where he lives. How can we

find out discover
find out?

find something We tried to keep the time of the party a

discover
out secret, but Samantha found it out.

get something I tried to get my point across/over to the

communicate, make understandable
across/ over judge but she wouldn't listen.

I was surprised how well my new girlfriend

get along/on like each other
and my sister got along/on.

My grandfather can get around fine in his

get around have mobility
new wheelchair.

We worked so hard this year that we had to

get away go on a vacation
get away for a week.

get away with Jason always gets away with cheating in his
do without being noticed or punished
something maths tests.

get back return We got back from our vacation last week.

get something Liz finally got her Science notes back from
receive something you had before
back my room-mate.