C2 Proficiency formal letter practice and phrases

• Matching opening and closing conventions to each other and to the reader.
• Sustaining a formal but human tone across a whole letter.
• Making a complaint forceful through precision rather than through strong adjectives.
• Stating a purpose clearly in the first paragraph.
• Requesting action in a way that is specific and easy to agree to.
• Concession and diplomacy: acknowledging the reader’s position before pressing your own.
• Formal equivalents of everyday phrasal verbs and informal idiom.
• Paragraphing by function: purpose, evidence, consequence, request.
• Impersonal and passive structures used for distance where distance is wanted.
• Accuracy in formulaic language, which is where slips are most visible.

1. Step 1: 1

   Fix the reader and the outcome first

   Write down who receives the letter and what you want them to have done by the end of the week. Every paragraph exists to make that outcome more likely, and anything that does not can be cut.

2. Step 2: 2

   State the purpose in the first two sentences

   I am writing to object to the proposal published in your March issue. A reader who has to reach paragraph three to find out why you wrote is already unsympathetic, and the examiner notices the same thing.

3. Step 3: 3

   Match the opening to the closing

   Dear Sir or Madam pairs with Yours faithfully; Dear Dr Alvarez pairs with Yours sincerely. Getting this wrong is a small error with a disproportionate effect, because it is the first thing a reader sees and the last.

4. Step 4: 4

   Complain with facts, not adjectives

   Three calls, two unanswered emails and a fortnight’s delay is more damaging than appalling and unacceptable, and it keeps your tone controlled, which is what the register mark rewards.

5. Step 5: 5

   Concede one point

   I appreciate that the department has been short-staffed. A single concession makes the rest of the letter read as reasonable rather than aggrieved, and it costs you nothing you actually wanted.

6. Step 6: 6

   Make the request specific and easy

   Ask for one thing, name it, and say by when. A refund of the deposit within fourteen days is actionable; some form of compensation is not, and the reader will choose the cheapest reading of any vagueness.

7. Step 7: 7

   Replace phrasal verbs with formal equivalents

   Put off becomes postpone, find out becomes ascertain, go up becomes increase. Do it as a pass at the end, and do not overdo it: a letter of nothing but Latinate verbs reads as a thesaurus exercise.

8. Step 8: 8

   Close with the next step

   I look forward to your reply and would be glad to discuss the matter by telephone. End with what happens now, not with a restatement of your grievance.

• Not thisDear Sir or Madam, ... Yours sincerely,

  ThisDear Sir or Madam, ... Yours faithfully,

  Faithfully goes with an unnamed reader, sincerely with a named one. It is a memorised pairing and examiners see it broken constantly.

• Not thisYour service is absolutely appalling and I am disgusted.

  ThisThree calls over a fortnight produced no reply, and the second engineer did not arrive.

  Strong adjectives read as loss of control. Specific facts are both more formal and more damaging, which is exactly the combination a complaint wants.

• Not thisI want you to give me my money back right now.

  ThisI would be grateful if the deposit could be refunded within fourteen days.

  A bare demand is a register failure. The polite conditional still names the sum and the deadline, so nothing is lost but the rudeness.

• Not thisHi there, hope you're well!

  ThisDear Ms Okafor, I am writing with regard to the notice published on 3 March.

  An informal greeting in a formal letter undermines everything after it, and it is usually the first line the examiner reads.

• Not thisI am writing this letter to you in order to make a complaint about something that happened.

  ThisI am writing to complain about the cancellation of the evening service.

  Padding in the opening delays the purpose. Formality is not wordiness, and the examiner is reading for control, not for length.

• Not thisYou should of told us before the deadline.

  ThisWe should have been informed before the deadline.

  Should of for should have is the error that most damages an otherwise formal letter, and the passive version also removes the accusatory second person.

• Not thisEnding with 'Thanks!' after four hundred formal words.

  ThisI look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, ...

  The last line sets the tone the reader leaves with. A collapse of register in the sign-off cancels the impression the letter has built.

with regard to

concerning; formal opening reference

I am writing to

standard statement of purpose

I would be grateful if

polite request frame, followed by a past or could form

at your earliest convenience

as soon as you reasonably can

bring to your attention

formally inform you of a problem

I appreciate that

concedes the reader’s difficulty before pressing on

fall short of

fail to reach the expected standard

on several occasions

repeatedly (formal alternative to lots of times)

ascertain

find out (formal)

postpone

put off (formal)

reimburse

pay back money someone has spent

in the event that

if (formal, for a contingency)

I trust that

I expect and rely on; polite pressure

further to

following on from (a previous letter or conversation)

I look forward to hearing from you

standard closing request for a reply

Yours faithfully / Yours sincerely

closings for an unnamed and a named reader respectively

40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.

• Previous: Review40 questions
• All C2 Proficiency writing topics5 task types
• C2 Proficiency preparationFree C2 Proficiency (CPE) practice for every paper: Reading and Use of English, Writing, L