Letter Writing

Dr. Ruby Dwivedi

 Letter Writing
 Letters are a very important means of keeping
contact with friends and relatives who are
away
 We also write letters to government officials,
corporates, different organizations and to the
media too
 Unlike the conversation on the phone, a letter
can be preserved for posterity and can be read
time and again
 It affords a deeper, better and more creative
expression of thoughts than possible on a
telephonic conversation
 The advent of e-mail has added to the
popularity and usefulness of letters
 Writing effective letters, which makes the
experience come alive is an art that everyone
can master to a great extent with practice
Letters may be broadly classified into two types:

 Informal Letters: Letters to relatives and

friends for a number of reasons

 Formal Letters: A formal letter is one, written

in formal language, in the stipulated format, for
official purpose
 These letters are written for official or professional
communication (on the other hand informal letters are
used for casual and personal communication)
 There is a manner prescribed for writing formal letter
 Letter Writing

Formal Informal

Business Applications Message Invitation

Thank You
Information Greetings Formal Informal
Notes
 Informal letters
 Since an informal letter is personal in nature it
should be written in a simple, clear, easy to
understand, natural and lively way (like the
way one friend/ relative talks to another)

 Care should be taken to write personal letters

(in examination) where there is a prescribed
word limit (150 words for the body of the
letter)
We write Personal letters to:

 Express our feelings

 Share our joys and sorrows with others
and inturn be the part of theirs
 To mark social and religious occasions
e.g. announceing birth, engagement etc
 To acknowledge, appreciate and advise
people
 FORMAT OF AN INFORMAL(PERSONAL) LETTER
(1) Heading:
(a) Sender’s address is written
hear. Never include your
name before address
(b) The Date appears directly
below the address, after
leaving some space.
Formal greeting
(3) This space is for the
Body of the letter. It
contains all the information
or news the sender wants to
convey. Look at the
convenient change of
paragraphs.
(4) In closing use such leave
taking expressions. Such
expressions are typical of an
informal and conversational
tone. Note the frequent use
of “I” and “You”
(5) Name or Signature of the
person writing the letter
Write the house number first, followed by the
street, town and pin code (if you know it)
End line
171, Model Town, Punctuation is a matter of
Karnal-132001 choice and style. It’s optional
but if used, it should be used
consistently.
19th Dec. 2021
(2) Write Salutation here.
Dear Jaggy,
Note the personal, friendly
and informal touch
Hi!
Many thanks for your letter and for the photographs. They brought back
very happy memories of our holiday. Indeed the time spent with you has
ended up being one of the best I’ve lived so far. The expedition to Use of contract words is
Rohtang, long drives in the river beds and valley in Leh, monasteries- all permitted
seem to be out of the world. India is as fascinating as or more than I had
expected.
I’m glad to know that your school is going on well. It must have been
difficult, I guess, after holidays to come back to the rut of school routine.
Anyway, that too is very important, isn’t it?
Do let me know when you’re planning to visit us. I talk so much about
you that people in my family are dying to see you. What joy it would be
to see you, to have you amongst us!
I guess I’ve got to be going. I’m getting late for my weekly piano class.
Catch you later.
Bye
Yours
Roxy
Thank You