Cartas En Ingles

WRITING AN INFORMAL E-MAIL or LETTER
•

Read the following e-mail and letter:

From: María ( maria@terra.es )
To: Alice (alice@hotmail.com )
CC:
Subject: My family
Hi Alice,
How are you? I hope you’re well. Thanks for your last e-mail. This time I’m writing to
tell you about my family.
My mother’s name is Amparo and my father’s name is Juan. My mother is 45 years old
and my father is55. My mother is a doctor and my father is a dancer. I love them both
very much.
I have a horrible little brother and no sisters. His name is Fernando. He goes to the
same school as me. He is 8 years old. He loves playing football, video games and
annoying me! I like playing basketball and going out with my friends. I don’t like school
because my teacher is always angry.
We have one dogcalled Bobbi. He is always happy.
Well, that’s all for now. I hope to hear from you soon.
Love,
María xxxxxx
41 46th S treet
New York
11104
February 12
Dear Miguel,
How are you? I'm fine. Here's a letter in English. It's good practice for you and
me! I’m writing to tell you about my school, the girls I live with and New York.
I have classes in English at La Guardia Community College. I'min a class with
eight students. They're all from different countries: Japan, Brazil, Switzerland, Poland,
and Italy. Our teacher's name is Isabel. She's very nice and a very good teacher.
I live in an apartment with two American girls, Annie and Marnie Kass. They are
sisters. Annie's twenty years old and a dancer. Marnie's eighteen years old and a student.
They're very friendly, but it isn'teasy to understand them. They speak very fast!
New York is very big, very exciting but very expensive! The subway isn't difficult
to use and it's cheap. It's very cold now but Central Park is lovely in the snow. I'm very
happy here.
That’s all my news. Write to me soon.
Best wishes,
Dorita

-1-

www.carmenlu.com

WRITING AN INFORMAL E-MAIL or LETTER
* We begin an e-mail or letter withthe greeting. We begin letters with Dear …,
(we use a comma, not a colon (:)). But we can begin an email not only with Dear…,
but also with Hi … or Hello… (followed by a comma).
* The introduction is the first paragraph. Here we ask about our friend’s health,
we thank her/him for his previous letter/email, we mention the reason for writing,
etc.
1. Where does the introduction begin andfinish in the e-mail? And in the
letter?
* The body is the most important part of a letter or e-mail. Here we write the
main subject/s of our letter/email, for example, we cancel something, we talk about
our school/work/family/holidays, etc. When we talk about two subjects, we write
two body paragraphs; when we talk about three, we write three paragraphs, and so
on.
2. Where does the body beginand finish in the e-mail? And in the letter?
* The conclusion is the last paragraph (third, fourth, fifth… paragraph). Here we
write our closing remarks: we say goodbye, ask the other person to write back, send
her/him or her/his family our love, etc.
3. Where does the conclusion begin and finish in the e-mail? And in the letter?

4. What are the main differences between e-mails andletters? Write L (letter)
or E (e-mail) next to each sentence:
1. You write your address (street/city or village/postcode) in the top right-hand corner.
2. You write your name and/or address in the first box before your composition.
3. In this type of composition, you don’t include your name in your address.
4. You write the name of the person you are writing to in the second box.

5. You can sendthis text to other people. You just write their address in the box
“carbon copy”.

6. You write the date under the address.
7. You don’t need to write the date.
8. You can tell the reader what your text is about in the “subject” box.
9. The greeting always begins with Dear… and we use a comma after it:
Dear Estefanía,

Dear Mr Squires,

10. The greeting can begin with Dear… or Hi…:...