This is an example of a letter to a colleague in the company you work for.
This kind of letter/email can be difficult because it often depends on where you work.
Are you on first-name terms with all your colleagues? If you are, then a formal email would be inappropriate.
But if you work for a huge company where you don’t know anyone in the other departments, it’s important to keep the tone polite and formal.
The main thing is that your tone is CONSISTENT throughout. This is a criteria for a Band 7 in Task Achievement.
So it doesn’t matter which level of formality you choose. Just keep it the same throughout.
Here I show 2 examples of the same letter (one formal, one informal).
Listen to my podcast here:
Quick note: How to use The Present Perfect in letters
In the podcast episode I talk about using the Present Perfect in letters and how important it is for you to understand when and how we use the Present Perfect.
You can see some examples here:
‘We haven’t had a Christmas party for the past two years.
‘The company have offered to pay’.
‘I’ve asked around the office’.
You have been asked to organise a social event for your company. Write an email to your colleagues. In the email say:
- What suggestions have been made
- What you think about the suggestions
- What you have decided to do.
IELTS letter to a colleague: Formal Version
Dear colleagues,
We haven’t been able to have a social event for the past two years due to our limited budget. This year, however, the company has agreed to fund an end-of-year celebration. We’ve discussed various options as you will see below.
Firstly, we considered an office party held on the premises. The main advantage of this would be that it avoids any need for people to make special travel arrangements. On the other hand, the building doesn’t really have a space that is suitable.
We therefore looked at a meal out. There are a number of suitable restaurants and hotels close to the office. One argument against this was that sitting at table is not a very good way for us to mix and get to know people from other departments.
Finally, we discussed a day trip, for example to a local tourist spot. The main drawback of this is the cost. In addition, it’s difficult to find somewhere that caters for all of our needs and interests.
Taking all of the points into consideration, we propose an office party for all staff, to be held in the main reception area. We have yet to decide on a date and time.
Please let us know your opinion, preferably before the end of next week,
Regards,
Fiona
IELTS letter to a colleague: Less formal version
Hi everyone
As you know we haven’t had a Christmas party for the past two years because of a lack of funds. But this year, the company has said that they’ll pay for some kind of get-together. I’ve asked around the office, and this is basically what we’ve come up with.
First of all we thought about having after-work drinks in the office. This would be the easiest option because everyone would already be there, though it’s not ideal because there’s not much space.
So then we looked into a meal out. There are loads of nice restaurants not too far away from the office but some people thought it probably wasn’t the best way to mingle because everyone would be sitting at a table all evening.
Finally, we came up with the idea of a day trip to somewhere nice and local. The only problem with this would be the cost and also it’s quite difficult to find somewhere that suits everyone.
So after a lot of thought, we’ve decided that an office party in the main reception would be the best bet. Date and time to be confirmed.
Please let us know what you think before the end of next week if possible.
Many thanks
Fiona
Get more advice about General Training letters from this page on the official website IELTS.org.
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Hi i have an enquiry for task 1 writing
I was asked to write a letter to my working colleagues .
May i start off with
Dear colleagues
Ending with yours faifthfully
Hi Sujung Kim
Yes – ‘Dear colleagues’ is a nice way to start. ‘Yours faithfully’ is a little formal – I would suggest ‘Best regards’ for work colleagues (‘Yours faithfully’ is usually used when you don’t know the person’s name – when you start with ”Dear Sir or Madam”).
Thanks for your comment
Best wishes
Fiona
Hi,
Rather than saying Dear everyone or Dear colleagues, If I have written the letter to one person of the team and asking him to convey my message to everyone in the team, will that be wrong way to write this letter?
Hi Nishant. I would always try to follow the instructions exactly as they are in the question, so if it says ‘colleagues’ it want to test that you have the right form of address for a group of people. I don’t think it would be a huge problem to write to one person of a team, but it’s always better to play safe [better safe than sorry!]. Thanks for your question, Best wishes, Fiona
Hi i have an enquiry for task 1 writing
I was asked to write a letter to my working colleagues .
May i start off with
Dear colleagues
Ending with yours faifthfully
Yes those are ok but ‘yours faithfully’ is a bit formal.
Best wishes
Fiona