LETTER WRITING

Priya, Academic content writer , Edumarz

“A good letter is a master key that opens locked doors. It opens markets. It opens the way for your goods or your services. It tells the story of the real character of your firm.”

Herbert Casson

Format of an Official/ Formal Letter (Written to officers, authorities, seniors, etc.)

Sender’s address: Address of the person who is sending the letter.
Date: Leave one line after the address and write the date on which the letter is written.
Name and address of the receiver: Leave one line after the date and write the name and address of the receiver to which the letter is being written.
Subject: This is the most important part of the letter as it tells the reader what the letter is about. This points out the main agenda/ purpose of writing the letter.
Salutation: In a formal letter salutations can be like ‘Dear/ Respected Sir/ Madam.’
Body: This contains the subject matter of the letter. Whatever you want to write in the letter you can write here in paragraphs.
Complimentary close: Usually a formal letter is ended with ‘Yours faithfully’ or ‘Yours sincerely’ etc.
Signature: Sender’s name/ signature has to be at the end of the letter.

Sender’s address…………………

……………………………………

Date………………………………

Name and address of the receiver.

…………………………………..

Subject………………………….

Salutation……………………….

Body……………………………….

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Thanking you

Complimentary close………………

Signature……………………………

Format of an Informal/ Personal letter (written to friends, family, relatives, etc.)

Sender’s address: Address of the writer.
Date: Leave a line and write the date on which the letter is being written.
Greeting: Leave a line and since the letter is being written to someone you know, the greeting can be like ‘Dear father’, ‘Dear friend’ or ‘Dear(name)’ etc.
Body: You can write whatever you want to say to the reader here. The letter should be casual and should carry a friendly tone.
Signature: There is no hard and fast rule to sign off informal letters, you can sign off as you want like with ‘Lots of love, ‘Best wishes’ or ‘Kind regards’ etc and end it with your name.