Letter Writing

Before the advent of modern technology made communication so easy, the act of letter writing was considered an important requirement. So, letter-writing has always been impactful in living beings as socially responsible creatures as nowadays, email letters are much prevalent in this growing world.

Types of letter writing:

• Personal Letter: Relatives, friends, and a letter regarding personal and social activities.
• Formal Letter: Unfamiliar person, application, a letter to the editor.
• Business Letter: One businessman to another.
• Informal Letter: These are personal letters. They need not follow any set pattern or adhere to any formalities. They contain personal information or are a written conversation. Informal letters are generally written to friends, acquaintances, relatives, etc.
• Business Letter: This letter is written among business correspondents, generally contains commercial information such as quotations, orders, complaints, claims,
  letters for collections, etc. Such letters are always strictly formal and follow a structure and pattern of formalities.
• Official Letter: This type of letter is written to inform offices, branches, subordinates of official information. It usually relays official information like rules, regulations, procedures, events, or any other such information. Official letters are also formal in nature and follow certain structures and
  decorum.
• Social Letter: A personal letter written on the occasion of a special event is known as a social letter. The congratulatory letter, condolence letter, invitation letter, etc are all social letters.
• Circular Letter: A letter that announces information to a large number of people is a circular letter. The same letter is circulated to a large group of people to correspond to some important information like a change of address, change in management, the retirement of a partner, etc.
• Employment Letters: Any letters with respect to the employment process, like joining letters, promotion letters, application letters, etc.

Prerequisites in letter writing:

• Parts of Letter Address:(small to bigger, left side Budhhanagar 10, Shankhamool, Kathmandu Nepal
• Date: (left side) 20th November/ Nov 20th 2006/ Nov 20, 2006/ 20/11/2006/ 20.11.2006
• Salutation: Whom you write Eg. My dear father, Dear father
• Body: Minimum into 3 paragraphs
• Paragraph: Why, how, within a couple of sentence paragraph: Details of your letter paragraph: sum up: once again emphasize your main views
• A valediction: Farewell word

Example:

Yours obediently Signature: Name of the writer

Envelop: To

How to make a good letter?

• Write a letter according to a given format.
• Use simple words and short sentences.
• Sentences must be grammatically correct.
• No spelling mistake.
• A proper way of presentation.
• While writing a letter, one has to think he/she is not writing in the exam hall but to the concerned person.
• The writer has to write his/her clear views.
• An unnecessary thing that is not concerned with the letter must not be written.
• Use polite words and never accuse others.

How to write valediction:

Love, With Love, Yours Ever Loving, Your Loving Son, Yours Lovingly, Yours Sincerely, Sincerely Yours,

Your Sincere Friend.

Letter Writing Tips

Now that we have learned the basics of communicating via letters and the types of letters as well, let us focus on some tips for actual letter writing.

1. Identify the type of letter

• This obviously is the first step of the letter-writing process.
• You must be able to identify the type of letter you are to be writing.
• This will be dictated by the person the letter is addressed to and the information that will be conveyed through the letter.
• Suppose you were writing to the principal of your college to ask for leave, this would be a formal letter (Types of formal letters with samples). But say you were writing to your old college professor catching up after a long time. Then this would be a personal (informal) letter.

2. Make sure you open and close the letter correctly

• Opening a letter in the correct manner is of utmost importance.
• Formal letters open with a particular structure and greeting that is formal
• in nature. Informal letters can be addressed to the person’s name or any informal greeting as the writer wishes.

3. Establish the main intent of the letter

• Once you start writing, make sure to get to the point as soon as possible.
• Especially in formal letters, it is important to immediately make clear the purpose of the letter.

4. Be careful of the language

• A letter is always supposed to be polite and considerate. Even if it is a complaint letter, the point must be made in a careful and courteous manner.
• So it is necessary to use polite expressions and civil language in all types of letters.

5. Length of the letter

• And the other important factor to be considered is the length of the letter you are writing.
• It should be kept in mind that formal letters are generally to the point, precise, and short.
• Lengthy formal letters tend to not have the desired effect on the reader.
• The length of an informal letter is determined by the message in the letter and the relation to the recipient.