After Reading >> Writing Practice

I. How to Write Thank-you Letters

1. In relatively formal acknowledgements, a two- or three-line note is perfectly acceptable. In relatively informal acknowledgements, the type sent to people with whom you are more familiar, a longer note or letter is always appreciated, but one or two paragraphs will be enough.

2. In a formal thank-you letter, thanks should be expressed in the first line. In an informal thank-you letter, it’s fine to start more indirectly, but your thanks should be mentioned within the opening paragraph.

3. Assuming you are writing a letter that communicates other information besides thanks, be sure to express your thanks first, then proceed with the rest of the letter.

4. A thank-you letter that properly reflects the tone of the occasion is always in good taste. For instance, in response to a formal gathering, a formal tone is appropriate for thanking someone with whom you were not previously acquainted. (You can retain a properly formal tone by using the surnames of the hosts in the greeting, by specifying the date of the event, etc.)

II. Examples

Example 1

Dear Lisa,

I want to thank you again for the nice time at your home last Wednesday evening. It was very kind of you to invite my friend and me for dinner. Everything was delicious, especially the lemon pie. You certainly are a good cook! We also enjoyed meeting with your two daughters and chatting with them.

As you know, I am going to return to China next week. If you are ever in Nanjing, please look me up. I’m looking forward to seeing you in my hometown sometime.  

Love,

Liu Ming

Example 2

Dear God,

Now that I am no longer young, I have friends whose mothers have passed away. I have heard these sons and daughters say they never fully appreciated their mothers until it was too late to tell them.

I am blessed with the dear mother who is still alive. I appreciate her more each day. My mother does not change, but I do. As I grow older and wiser, I realize what an extraordinary person she is. How sad that I am unable to speak these words in her presence, but they flow easily from my pen.

How does a daughter begin to thank her mother for life itself? For the love, patience and just plain hard work that go into raising a child? For running after a toddler, for understanding a moody teenager, for tolerating a college student who knows everything? For waiting for the day when a daughter realizes how wise her mother really is? How does a grown woman thank a mother for continuing to be a mother? For being ready with advice (when asked) or remaining silent when it is most appreciated? For not saying, “I told you so,” when she could have uttered these words dozens of times? For being essentially herself — loving, thoughtful, patient, and forgiving?

I don’t know how I, dear God, expect to ask you to bless her as richly as she deserves and to help me live up to the example she has set. I pray that I will look as good in the eyes of my children as my mother looks in mine.

A daughter

III. Homework

Write three thank-you letters respectively to his father, his grammar school principal and his grandmother in the name of Alex Haley.

Sample Letters：

Letter to father

Dear Dad,

It’s Thanksgiving and of course my thoughts are turning home to you. Looking out over the ocean I find myself thinking how much I owe to you. Yet I have never got round to telling you just how thankful I feel towards you for all you have done for me. There are so many things, I don’t know where to start and would never get to the end once I began. But if I had to pick just one thing it would perhaps be the love of books and reading I learnt  from you. Those after-dinner quizzes at the table about the books we had just read and the new words we had picked up, I can see them in my mind’s eye as if they were yesterday. Not many are as lucky in their father as I am. So, simply, thank you.

Your loving son,

Alex

Letter to grandmother

Dear Grandma,

Here I am, on board ship, and a thousand miles away from your wonderful cooking on Thanksgiving! Standing here at the rail, looking out at the sunset, I’ve been turning the meaning of Thanksgiving around in my mind and came up with the idea that it is just the time to be giving thanks to those we owe them to. And who better to start with than you? How could I have grown up without your help? You always found just the right way of showing me with those wonderful stories of yours the importance of telling the truth, of sharing and forgiving, of being considerate to others. Quite simply, you sprinkled my life with stardust. Thank you.

Love,

Alex

Letter to grammar school principal

Dear Rev. Nelson,

I am writing this on board ship. It is Thanksgiving. My thoughts have been turning to all those who have done so much for me in the past and how I have never taken the time to thank them properly. Naturally, you were among the first to come to mind. You were, quite simply, the very best teacher a child could wish for. You gave us so many different gifts, but, if I were forced to choose one, then it would be your morning prayers at assembly at the start of each day. Whatever positive things I have done since can often be traced to the impression left by those prayers. For that guidance and all the other things I was lucky enough to learn from you, I shall always be in your debt.

Your affectionate student,

Alex Haley