An example of how to set out a formal letter

123 Old Road

Newtown
London
SW1 3AA

21st July 2012

Mr Bob Jones

Heathfield Primary School

98 Bartholomew Road

Cambridge

CB3 1GH

Dear Mr Jones,

I am writing to tell you about my experiences at my new school Queens Park

Community School. Secondary school is very different to primary

school. .......................................................................................

................................................................................................................................
.............................................................................

(Second paragraph - indent the first

line).......................................................................................

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(Third paragraph - indent the first

line) ...........................................................................................
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(Fourth paragraph - indent the first

line) ........................................................................................

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Yours sincerely,

(signature in pen)

Tom Smith

Now Ill break the letter down into the main elements, working from the
top to the bottom.

Your Address
Your address, also known as the return address, comes first.
Your return address should be right-justified.

The Date
Directly beneath your return address comes the date on which the letter was
written:15th May 2008
In the UK, the day comes before the month, and it is fine to put st, nd or

th after the days date, eg. 15th 1st or 2nd.

You can position the date on the right or on the left of your letter.

Recipients name and address

Beneath the date, you should put the recipients name and address, just as it
would appear on the envelope.
The recipients name and address should be positioned on the left-hand side.

The Greeting
After the recipient's address, you should leave a lines space then put Dear
Mr Jones or Dear Sir/Madam if it is a formal letter or Dear Bob if it is an
informal letter.
Follow this with a comma.
The greeting should be left-aligned.

The Text of your Letter

The main body of your letter should have:

Single-spacing between lines

An indent before each new paragraph if it is a non-business letter, for

business letters you leave a blank line but don't include an indent before each
new paragraph.

Each new paragraph should start at the left hand side.

The Closing and signature

After the body of text, your letter should end with an appropriate closing
phrase such as Yours sincerely and a comma. If you don't know the

person's name so have used "Dear Sir" or "Dear Madam" then you should
write "Yours faithfully".

Leave several blank lines after the closing (so you can sign the letter after
printing it), then type your name.
The closing and your name and signature should all be on the left hand side.