Writing
Dear Sir or Madam, Yours faithfully, and the pairings that must match. General Training only. With a practice exercise.
IELTS letter openings and endings are marked, and getting the pairing wrong is one of the easiest marks to lose in Task 1. Dear Sir or Madam ends Yours faithfully. A name ends Yours sincerely. Those two rules cover most letters.
The first line matters as much. A letter that takes three sentences to reach its purpose loses time and reads as poorly organised, which is assessed under Coherence and Cohesion.
The pairings
Six pairings, and the ones that go wrong.
Use when you do not know the reader's name. The traditional rule, and the one examiners expect in a formal letter.
Use when you know the name. Sincerely with a name, faithfully without: that is the whole rule.
This is the informal pairing, used when you are writing to a friend. All the best, see you soon and take care are all correct as well. Ending a letter to a friend with Yours faithfully is a clear register error.
The commonest pairing mistake, and it is immediately visible to an examiner.
Dear Mr Patel, not Dear Mr Ravi Patel and not Dear Mr Ravi. Title plus surname.
Yours faithfully, then your name underneath. Presentation is not heavily marked but sloppiness is noticed.
Method
Six things the first two sentences should do.
I am writing to complain about, to enquire about, to apologise for. First sentence, every time.
One clause is enough: I am a resident of Mill Street, or I attended your course in March. Only when the reader would not otherwise know.
I hope you are well belongs in an informal letter and nowhere else. In a formal letter it delays the purpose.
A formal opening followed by casual sentences is the drift examiners see most often. Set the tone and hold it.
I look forward to your response, or I would be grateful if you could confirm. A letter that stops without an outcome feels unfinished.
One sentence plus the sign-off. Long closings repeat what the letter already said.
Practice
Choose the correct option in each case.
Sincerely with a name, faithfully without.
If you opened with Dear Sir or Madam, you did not know the name, so you close Yours faithfully.
If you opened Dear Mrs Chen, you knew the name, so you close Yours sincerely.
1You open Dear Sir or Madam. How do you close?
Yours faithfully. No name in the greeting means faithfully in the close. Pairing it with sincerely is the commonest error in Task 1.
2You open Dear Ms Alvarez. How do you close?
Yours sincerely. You used the name, so sincerely is correct.
3You are writing to a close friend. Which close is right?
Best wishes. All the best and see you soon also work. A formal sign-off to a friend is a register error just as much as the reverse.
4Which is the better first line of a formal complaint?
B. Purpose in the first sentence, with a specific detail. A and C are informal openings and D delays the point.
5Which greeting is correctly written?
Dear Mr Patel. Title plus surname. A adds the first name unnecessarily, B uses the title with a first name, and D drops the title.
Almost everyone does at first, and it is one of the few things in IELTS writing with a rule simple enough to fix permanently in one sitting.
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Openings and endings are rule-based. Everything between them is judged.
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Yours faithfully after Dear Sir or Madam, when you do not know the name. Yours sincerely when you used the person's name in the greeting.
Write it out as Dear Sir or Madam. The slash version is fine in practice but the full form is safer in a handwritten script.
Best wishes, all the best, see you soon or take care. A formal sign-off to a friend is a register error.
No. IELTS Task 1 letters do not require addresses or dates, and adding them wastes words that do not count towards your total.
One sentence saying what you want to happen, such as I look forward to your reply, followed by the sign-off on its own line.
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