By: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.

Informal Letter/Friendly Letter

• An informal letter is a letter you would write to a friend, a family member or an

acquaintance.

Components of a letter
1. Senders address/Writers address
• The writer address begins about halfway between the margin and the outer edge of
the paper (right-justified).
• There are no punctuation marks (comma, full stops) at the end of the lines.
• The name of the month is always written in full.
• We do not write anything like (st, nd, rd, the) after the number of the day.
Example:
P. O. Box 6180
Nkurenkuru
22 February 2022

Or

Tuguva C. S
P. O. Box 6180
Nkurenkuru
22 February 2022

2. Salutations (Opening salutations)

• This is the opening greetings.
• Left-justify
• There is no comma/inverted comma after the salutation.
• Leave a line between the date and the salutation.

Example:
Friends: Dear John
Relation: My dear Father (Mother, Uncle John, Son)

3. Body (Divided into paragraphs)

• This is your actual letter content (Introduction, Body – with paragraphs, conclusion).
• Leave a line between the salutations and paragraph.
• Leave a line between one paragraph and another.

4. Ending/Signature (Closing Salutation)

Examiner: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.)

 By: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.)

• This is where you say goodbye.

• Leave a line between the last paragraph and the ending.
• There are no punctuation marks at the end of the line.

Example:
Your loving son (daughter)
Marthin

Or

Your friend
Joshua

Look at this example of an informal letter: Solid Foundation English 2nd Language, Grade
9, Page 18 learners textbook

Examiner: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.)

 By: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.)

Activity
Write one of the following letters:
a) Your bother (sister) is in hospital in Nkurenkuru (Kahenge etc.). Write and tell
him (her) some news from home. Try to cheer him (her) up.

b) You are in hospital with a broken leg. Write to a friend, who has sent you some
books, telling him (her) how you broke your leg.

Tips when writing a letter:

• Make sure your letter is written in the correct format.
• Be sure of the purpose of your letter – ask yourself: why am I writing this letter?
• Use different types of sentences and vary your sentence lengths.
• Have a clear paragraphs with topic sentences (main clause) and supporting
sentences (Surbordinating clause).
• Your language must be clear and your register should be polite.
• Make sure your sentences and paragraphs follow a logical order. Use conjunctions
such as firstly, then, afterwards etc. to help you.

Examiner: Mr. A. Nsamba (Tuguva C. S.)