Table of Contents
Letters were one of the earliest forms of passing communication across to family and friends, and it has continued to exist since then. Letter writing is no mere ornamental accomplishment. Even today, letter writing has been thought of as a necessary skill that every individual should acquire.
What is Letter Writing?
Letter Writing has been deemed as one of the most useful forms learnt and used for various reasons. A letter is a written message that can be handwritten or printed on paper. It is usually sent to the recipient via mail or post in an envelope, although this is not a requirement as such. Any such message that is transferred via post is a letter, a written conversation between two parties.
A letter includes:
- Sender’s address
- Date
- Greeting or Salutation
- Body of the Letter
- Subscription
- Signature
Sender’s Address
The writer’s complete postal address has to be mentioned at the beginning of the letter on the left-hand side of the paper. This lets the receiver know where you wrote the letter from.
Date
The date is written just below the sender’s address, and It lets the recipient know when exactly the letter was written.
Greeting or Salutation
The Salutation depends on the relationship between the sender and the receiver.
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Body of the Letter
The message that you want to convey is stated in the body of the letter. The style, however, depends on the type of letter you are writing. The style of a friendly letter differs completely from that of a business letter or an official letter, but there are certain points that apply to both formal letters and informal letters.
Generally, when you draft the body of your letter, see to that you divide it into short paragraphs. And this depends on the subject matter. Use simple and direct language that is easy to comprehend. Put down all your points in a logical order. Mind your punctuation; incorrect punctuation will alter the meaning of the sentence completely.
Subscription
The subscription helps you end the letter in a polite and courteous manner. The subscriptions change according to the type of letter you are writing. It can be written as Yours faithfully, Yours lovingly, Yours sincerely, With love, etc.
Signature
The signature or the name of the writer should be written just before the subscription.
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Different Types of Letters
1: Which of the sentences below is grammatically correct?
There are Formal Letters and Informal Letters, but then there are also a few types of letters based on their contents, formalities, the purpose of letter writing etc. You can practice letter writing questions to get better at it. Let us have a look at the few types of letters.
- Formal Letter: These letters follow a certain pattern and formality. They are strictly kept professional in nature, and directly address the issues concerned. Any type of business letter or letter to authorities falls within this given category.
- 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 structure and decorum.
- Social Letter: A personal letter written on the occasion of a special event is known as a social letter. 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 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 letter, promotion letter, application letter etc.
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