How to write a letter

How to write a letter

The official letters are written concisely with a well define objective. There is a set of rules that need to be followed while writing a “formal letter”. Some of them are given below.

1)     How formal the letter should be depends on the person you are writing to. To write an official letter whom you have professional relationship with, formal English language should be used else semi formal may be used.

2)     Choose the mode of sending the letter i.e. whether it needs to be sent via email or post. The current trend is to send letter by email.

3)     Use blue or black ink to write a letter.

4)     Always use the letterhead of the organization while writing a business letter. In case the letter head is not available, then don’t forget to write your address, contact number and email address. The informal letters should have the return address written on the top right corner or on the cover letter if you are sending it by post.

5)     The letter should have a date. It is advisable to write the month in letters instead of numbers. E.g. instead of writing 01-09-2013, write ‘01 September 2013’

6)     Write the full name, address and contact number of the recipient in separate rows. Do this only with the business letters to be sent by post. It is not required while sending the letter through Email.

7)     Give a line space after it and write the subject of the letter (for formal letters only).

8)     Give a line space and then begin the letter with the salutation. Choose the salutation as per your relationship with the recipient e.g you can start like Dear Sir, Dear Madam etc.  Write “To Whom It May Concern” if you do not know the recipient.

9)     Then leave a line space and write the body of the letter. Remember that in formal letters the content should be concise. It should be according to the purpose you are writing for.

10)  Add the Valediction at the end like “Sincerely Yours”, “Yours Faithfully” etc.

11)  Sign the letter after putting valediction. After signing, write your name below it. There is no need to sign an informal letter. You can only mention your name.

12)  Proofread the letter before sending it. Recall your objective of writing the letter and read out the content. Ensure that the content of the letter should be in accordance to the objective of writing it.