The Letter That Got Me Through Immigration — Formal Writing
The Letter That Got Me Through Immigration
When I moved to France, I wrote letters. Formal letters. To the prefecture, to employers, to banks. In French and in English. I learned fast: formal writing is a code. There are rules about how to open, how to state your purpose, and how to close. Breaking the code is half the work. The other half is clarity.
Formal letter / email structure:
1. Salutation: Dear Sir/Madam, Dear Mr Smith, To Whom It May Concern
2. Opening: I am writing to… / I would like to… / With reference to…
3. Body: one paragraph per point, formal register, no contractions
4. Closing: I look forward to hearing from you. / Please do not hesitate to…
5. Sign-off: Yours faithfully (Dear Sir/Madam) or Yours sincerely (Dear + name)
❌ “Hey, just wanted to check if you got my stuff.”
✅ “I am writing to confirm whether you have received my documents.”
❌ “Can’t make it, sorry.”
✅ “I regret to inform you that I will be unable to attend.”
Formal writing decisions
1. You don’t know the name of the person. How do you sign off? Yours faithfully (when you opened with ‘Dear Sir/Madam’)
2. Convert: ‘I want to complain about my order.’ ‘I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with my recent order.’
3. Can you use contractions in formal letters? No — ‘I’m’ → ‘I am’, ‘don’t’ → ‘do not’. Contractions are informal register.
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