Letter Writing made easy for you.
Is
Letter Writing Difficult for You?
I can’t write letters. I am not confident in writing letters. Do you run away from writing letters? Do you think that you can’t write official letters / applications?
You are good at writing anything to your friends but when you have to write an application, you have to take support of your friends. When you start writing a letter, do you feel that you are not sure where a particular piece of information should be written? Or do you feel bankrupt of words in some situations? Should I write yours sincerely or yours obediently? Is it ‘yours’ or ‘your’s’? You have poor level of confidence because many of your questions are unanswered.
Don’t worry. I am here to answer all your questions.
Actually, you must know the basics of letter writing
The Art of Letter Writing
Basics of Letter Writing
You
know letter writing is very common among people. Students have to write letters
in their language studies and language learning. However, people do not take
the job of letter writing very seriously. They have a casual approach towards
letter writing. The advent of cell phone which facilitates Email and messaging
has increased this casualness towards letter writing. People write letters as
they wish without a thought for its format and appropriateness of the language.
People are not aware of where to use formal language and where to use informal
language.
But
I advise you to take this job seriously and first of all know the basics of
letter writing.
There
are two basic things about the letters that you must know:-
1. Format- (Which piece of information
to be written where)
2. Language:- ( What language I have to use with which
person)
1. Format- The first thing is that the letters have to be written
in a proper format otherwise there shall be no difference between a paragraph
and a letter. All kinds of letters have a distinct format.
2. Language:- Another thing is language. You can’t use same type of language
with all the people you are writing letter. You have to decide your language
with the person before you according to your relation with him/her. We can use informal
language if we are writing an informal letter i.e. the letter to our friends,
relatives and family members. Similarly, formal language must be used in formal
or official letters.
The
elements of courtesy for the beginning and ending of the letters too differ
from each other.
Your
language depends upon whether you have informal relation with the person or
formal relations.
The category of the letter decides this fact.
Informal Letter
All the
letters that we write to the people with whom we have informal relationship
e.g. our friends and relatives (father, mother, uncle, aunt, sister, brother
etc.) are called informal letters.
Formal Letter
All the
letters that we write to the people with whom we have formal relationship e.g.
the head of an institution/ a government organization/business organization etc
come under the category of formal letters.
These are
the letters that we address to the Principal of a school, the head of a
government office, or the head of an office belonging to business organization
or an office bearer. All the business letters are formal letters.
Formats of letters
Lay out of an Informal Letter
Block Style
1 . Return Address
2. Date
3.
Salutation ( Dear friend, Dear Father etc.)
4.
Main Body of the letter
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5. Complimentary Close
(Yours
affectionately
Yours
truly etc)
6. Signature
(Your
name).
Sample Letter
Lay out of an Informal Letter
Complete Block Style
1 . Return Address
2. Date
3. Salutation ( Dear friend, Dear Father etc.)
4. Main Body of the letter
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5. Complimentary Close
(Yours affectionately
Yours truly etc)
6. Signature
(Your name).
Sample Letter Complete Block Style
Lay out of an Application to the Principal
1.
Inside Address
The Principal
XYZ School/College
Address ................
2.
Salutation
(Respected Sir)
3.
Subject Line:
4.
Main Body
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
5. Complimentary Close
(Yours
faithfully
or
Yours
obediently)
6. Signature
(Your
name)
7.
Place
8.
Date
1.Inside Address-Inside Address is the address of the receiver of the letter/application.
Write at place no.1:-
The Principal
The Address of the School/College
( You can write “To The Principal” also however ‘To’ is not necessary because this place is meant for the receiver of the application. But remember that “P” must be capital when you write “The Principal”.)
Write the address of the school or college under “The Principal”.
2. Salutation-Write “Respected Sir” Or “Sir” at place no 2.
3. Subject- It should be as brief as possible.
4.Main Body-You may start the main body of application in the following manner:-
I beg to say that.............
Or
I beg to state that................
Or
Sir,
Most respectfully I beg to say that.................
Or
You may come directly on the point
5. Complimentary Close- You may write “Yours faithfully” or “Yours obediently” for complimentary close of the application at place no 6.
6. Signature- Put down your signature under complimentary close and then write your name.
7+ 8- Besides this, on the left margin, you should write the date (Always spell the name of the month) and the name of the place from where you are writing the letter/application.
Lay out of an application to the Collector or The
Head of any institution / government institution
1 . Return Address
2. Date
3.
Inside Address
The Collector/ The Manager
XYZ Department / Organisation,
Address ................
4.
Salutation ( Respected Sir / Dear Sir / Sir etc.)
5.
Subject Line:
6.
Main Body of the letter
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
7. Complimentary Close
(Yours
faithfully
Yours
truly etc)
8. Signature
(Your name)
Business Letter
Lay Out for a Business Letter
A business letter has more elements than an informal letter or any other formal letter therefore it needs greater attention. You can see the following figure to check all the important elements of a business letter.
Elements of structure
1. Letterhead
This is the top side of the letter. It is an already printed parted of the letter popularly known as letterhead or heading. It contains the name and address of the organization along with phone numbers, fax numbers, e-mail address, and website.. (Place no 1 in the figure)
2. Date
The date is printed two spaces below the last line of the letterhead. You can write the date at place no 2 as shown in the figure. like
23July, 2008
OR
July23, 2008
3. Reference
It is a unique identity of a letter. Every out going letter is assigned with a unique number and put in records for future. The Receipt and Dispatch Department of an organization keeps the record of all the incoming and outgoing letters. Every entry is maintained on the basis of this number.
Place no.3 (two spaces below the date / last line of the letterhead).
4. Personal Notation
(Place no 4 in the figure) If the letter is a confidential, and it has to be read only by a particular person, the word Personal or Confidential is used at this place and on the envelop also.
5. Inside Address
(Place no 5 in the figure)
The inside address is the receiver’s address. It is the name / designation of the person and / or the address of the organization to whom the letter is being written.
e.g.
The Chief Accounts Officer
Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd
Lajpat Nagar
New Delhi-110011
The Personal Manager
Prism Cement Ltd
Mankahari Satna (MP)
Or
Sri R K Shukla
Ultratech Cement Ltd.
Sarojini Nagar Jaipur-550045
6. Attention Line
To ensure prompt attention especially in very big organizations a line of attention is added after the inside address:-
Attention: The Purchase Manager
Or
Attention: for Mr. Sudesh Gautam
Or
For the kind attention of Mr. Sudesh Gautam
(See place no 6 in the figure)
7. Salutation
Salutation is the respectful beginning of the letter. It is like greeting a person when you meet him.
(See place No 7 in the figure).
Most common salutation for business correspondence is ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Madam’ or ‘Dear Sirs’ or ‘Dear Madams’
8. Subject
(Place no 8 in the figure)
This line simply indicates what the letter is about therefore it should not exceed more than one line.
9. Main Body
(Place no 9 in the figure)
It is the main message. It is always better to disclose your purpose of writing at the very first line. Keep the language simple. Then You can mention the detail and end with what action n you require from the reader.
10. Complimentary Close
(Place no 10 in the figure)
Complimentary close is a polite way of ending the letter or taking leave courteously. The most common complimentary closes are ‘Yours faithfully’ and ‘Yours truly’ etc.
11. Signature
(Place no 11 in the figure)
The person who writes/replies the letter has to sign here. It is placed below the complimentary close.
12. Identification Marks
(Place no 12 in the figure)
It is like a secret code denoting the persons involved in preparing the letter. If the assistant is Mr. Ravi Varma and The typist is Kusum Singh the identification may be written as:-
RV-KS
This mark is very necessary because it assigns responsibility and it is possible to trace who committed the mistake in the letter.
13. Mailing Notation
(Place no 13 in the figure). This notation states the method of mailing: whether the letter is sent registered, airmail, special delivery…etc, it is typed directly below the identification line or enclosure notation. It serves as a record to indicate that the letter was sent by other than regular mail.
14. Enclosure
(Place no 14 in the figure)
If any document is attached with the letter, it is mentioned here as follows:-
Encl-2
Or
Enclosures-2
Or
Encls -1. A copy of agreement (
2. A cheque of Rs 400000 No. 346877 SBI
Or
Enclosures - 1. A copy of agreement (
2. A cheque of Rs 400000 No. 346877 SBI
15. CC: (Carbon Copy or Courtesy Copy)
(Place no 15 in the figure)
If you are sending one or more copies of your letter to other office bearers/Heads of Departments, you need to mention all of them here as follows:-
Copy to 1. The Chief Minister of MP
2. The Minister for Railways
3. The Minister for Industries
16. Postscript
Postscript is used to write forgotten material after the letter has been finalized or finally printed. It may be hand written also. But a good letter should not have a postscript because it does not reflect a good picture of the letter writer.
Question 1. -- Write a letter inviting quotation.
Answer:-
Question 2. -- Write a letter sending quotation.
Answer:-
Question 3. -- Write a letter placing the order.
Answer:-
Question 4. -- Write a letter of complaint.
Answer:
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