Writing an informal ESL email to a friend

You still have to cover every point in the prompt and keep your grammar accurate. This guide shows you how.

Why informal does not mean careless

Your reader is a friend or family member, so you can sound relaxed. Markers still want clear structure and accurate English. The skill is being friendly and correct at the same time.

Cambridge’s ESL 0510 page describes writing for different purposes, audiences and registers. An informal email is the clearest test of audience. Our formal and informal email guide covers the choice between the two.

A simple plan

1. Underline the points. Mark every question or bullet in the prompt. These are your content marks.
2. Open warmly. “Hi Sam,” or “Dear Aunt Lina,” then one friendly line, such as thanking them for their last message.
3. Give each point its own short paragraph. Say something specific, not just “it was fun”.
4. Close naturally. Ask a question or mention a future plan, then sign off with “Best wishes” or “Love”.
5. Check your English. Look at tenses, articles and spelling before you stop.

Making the tone friendly

Use contractions like “I’m” and “we’re”. Ask questions and add small personal details. Words like “really”, “a bit” and “so” help the voice sound human.

Here is our own short example, written for practice. The prompt asks you to tell a friend about a school trip, say what you liked and invite them to join the next one.

Hi Sam,

Thanks for your message! Last Friday our class visited the science museum, and it was brilliant. I loved the space room because we could try on a real astronaut helmet.

There is another trip next month to the zoo. Would you like to come with us? It would be great to have you there.

Write back soon, Mei

Every point is covered, the tone is friendly and the grammar is correct. There is no slang.

Common mistakes

• Missing one of the bullet points.
• Using text-message spelling.
• Writing very long sentences that lose control of grammar.
• Mixing tenses when describing a past event.
• Forgetting a greeting or sign-off.

Practise it

Write the same short email twice, once to a friend and once to a teacher. Notice what changes in the greeting, the words and the ending. Then check your draft with our proofreading guide.

Try the ESL email practice tasks and compare your answer with the model response.

Where students usually get stuck

Many ESL students write a warm email but forget one bullet point, or let their tenses slip when they describe a past event. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers mark your email against the prompt, tick each point and fix the tense habit that keeps returning.

This is part of English as a Second Language tuition. To try it, book a paid one-hour trial and bring one email you have written.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to try the skill on a task of your own. Our English as a Second Language tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.