How to write a Letter? | Formal Letter, Informal Letter and Semi-Formal Letter

People have been performing the activity of letter writing since 100's of years. From parents and relatives to business we have been performing letter writing as a medium of conversation. Although today is the world for technological communication, we have set up a letter writing technologically also. Today, we have E-mails for substituting traditional letter writing. Although the traditional way of letter writing has been extirpated slowly, the method is still going on in a better presentative manner.

Types of Letter Writing

The traditional method of letter writing was to write the address and the content in a sheet and keep it in an envelope and post it. Though the new technology has made this work easy many letters such as business letters use traditional letters. The various types of letters are as follows:

1. Formal letter - Formal letter is a letter that is inscribed to official places. It has different steps. Formal Letter constitutes of Business letters, Official letters, Social letters, and Employment letters.

a) Business letters - Business letter refers to the letters written to the business associates, claims, purchases, sales and many more.

b) Official letters - Official letter refers to the letters written to government officers, procedures, events, permission and many more.

c) Social letters - Congratulatory letters, invitation letters, thanking letters, and condolence letters are the letters which come under the category of Social letters. 

d) Employment letters - Job application letters, leave application letters and resignation letters are the letters that come under the category of Employment letters.

2) Informal Letter - Informal letter is a letter addressed to family, relatives, friends and many more. It doesn't consist of any professional restrictions in the process of letter writing. 

Tips for Letter Writing

Letter writing is a process consisting of language, presentation, and format.

1) Language - During writing a letter, you should take care of the language you exert. No matter if the letter is formal or informal as no one likes to read a letter with cuss words or absurd language. Keep the language optimistic. Always keep the letter writing process very easy and convenient so that there is no problem in understanding the letter. There should be no sense of misunderstanding in the letter writing process. In whatever language you choose to write, it is important to look into grammatical errors as it can be a medium for judging you. You should be true and honest to the recipient you wish to send the letter.

2) Presentation - Other than good content you should also look for presentation. The sheet you write on also comes under the category of presentation. The sheet should be clean and not messy. Writing mistakes should not be overlooked as it is one of the important factors for presentation. The envelope you post also matters in the presentation. Handwriting is also an important concern for the letter-writing process. The presentation also includes your way of letter writing process like the format you use.

​​​​​​​3) Format - Format is very essential for the letter-writing process. Without a precise format, the letter could look unpresentable and may the receiver would not likely read it. The most notable element of it is the subject of the letter. Usually, readers look onto the subject of the letter and if it is short and sweet it makes more of a chance for the reader to read it. In the format, the common topics for every type of letter are address, topic, and 3 paragraphs including the greetings, body of content and conclusion, and salutation. 

Conclusion

Letter writing is a way of communication very commonly used in the past. Today, we have E-mails that are a faster way of communication then letter writing but still for an official physical notice it is used widely. But, before sending it you should get it checked more than one time as it may even cause a misunderstanding ultimately causing fights between two people. It is a convenient way of communication that can't use electronic devices. There are limitations to E-mail letter writing such as language but in traditional letter writing, you find no restrictions. No matter how much the technology evolves we should never forget or abolish our past. We should keep practising the letter writing on an even large scale then it is today. We should relinquish these letter writing techniques to our future generation so that the letter-writing process never gets stopped. 

Ram Sharma
13/15, Lamington Street
Dell Village, Mumbai 400008
555-567890
ram@sharma.com

August 1, 2019

Jason Andrews
Manager
LMK Company
53 Oak Avenue,

Dell Village, Mumbai 400008

Dear Jason,

I’m writing to resign my position as a customer service representative, effective August 25, 2019.

I’ve recently decided to go back to school, and my program starts in early September. I’m tendering my resignation now so that I can be as helpful as possible to you during the transition.

I’ve truly enjoyed my time working with you and everyone else on our team at LMK. It’s rare to find a customer service role that offers as much opportunity to grow and learn and such a positive, inspiring team of people to grow and learn with.

I am particularly grateful for your guidance while I used to be considering furthering my education.

Your support has meant so much to me Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you find and train my replacement.

Thanks, and best wishes,

Ram Sharma

1) What is the importance of letter writing?

Well, the most important of writing letters is to speak but if you're also talking about handwritten letters(which is seen very rarely today), they have a special feeling to them. Handwritten letters cause you to feel special, and also the contents are palpable :) it's way more personal than a report.

​​​​​​​

2) What is a formal and informal letter?

Informal letters begin with Dear + Name of the Receiver and end with Best Wishes/Regards + Your name. Formal letters begin with Dear Sir/Madam and end with Yours Faithfully + Full Name. These are a number of the common differences that you simply must pay attention to while writing an informal or formal letter.