An informal letter describing a house for rent

We start our letter with Dear + our friend's first name.

Introduction

First paragraph = opening remarks and the reason for writing our letter.

Main body

Second paragraph = location of the house and details of the rent.

Third paragraph = exterior of the house (what is made of, graden, etc).

Fourth paragraph = interior of the house (e.g. floors, rooms, furniture, special features, etc).

We start each main-body paragraph with a topic sentence i.e. a sentence which introduces or summarises the paragraph.

Conclusion

Last paragraph = closing remarks, we sign off using Yours, Best wishes, etc + our first name.

Example

Dear Peter,

How are you? Hope everything's OK. I'm writing to let you know that I think I've found the perfect summer cottage for you.

It's in a really nice location. It's a quite area, but the best thing about it is that it is less than a kilometre from the sea. Also, the rent for the cottage is only 150€ a week.

The house is really charming outside. It's an old brick farm building which has been converted into a holiday cottage. It's got a patio and is surrounded by a beautiful garden.

Inside, the house is nice and comfortable. It has two floors.On the ground floor there is a cosy living room and a kitchen with all the modern equipment you would expect as well as a dining room and a WC. Upstairs there are two small bedrooms and a bathroom. The house is fully furnished so you don't need to worry about that.

Let me know if you like the sound of it. I can easily talk to the owner, Mr Smith, for you. I hope I'll see you here soon. I'll tell you all of my news then.

Yours,
Laura.

Idiom of the day (15)

A chip off the old block.

De tal palo tal astilla.

Vocabulary (5) - young people in society

co-educational classes/schools

segregated classes/schools

single sex classes/schools

literacy

strict/lax discipline

teacher-led

activity-centred

rate learning

learning by doing

primary school (UK)

elementary school (US)

junior/senior high school (UK)

secondary school (UK)

A-levels

university

college

degree

Idiom of the day (14)

To catch somebody red-handed.

Coger a alguien con las manos en la masa.

Example: They caught me red-handed.

The future seen from the past

You can use the following phrases to talk about an event or action that was expected to happen in the past, but didn't.

                           going to

          was/were + supposed to + verb

                           due to

           on the verge of +ing

We were going to go to the cinema last night, but in the end we couldn't be bothered.

They were supposed to be going away on holiday this week, but James got the flu.

The phrase on the verge of is used to suggest that the action or event was inminent.

They were on the verge of cracking the code, but the other team got there first.

You can used to be to + infinitive to explain that a formal arrangement had been made.

The Prince was to visit the town in mid-May.

You can often use the modal auxiliary verb would to talk about the future in the past, especially in conjunction with phrases such as we had imagined, they had expected, he had thought.

We had expected that they would bring some warm clothes, considering the climate.