Letter Writing Tips: Parts of a Personal Letter

A personal letter is ruled by the same laws of writing which control other compositions. It should be clear and organized well. It should be brief but interesting, but not so short as to create an impression of abruptness or rudeness.

Mechanical Construction of a Letter
As everyone can get the chance to write letters, the proper format should be learned and followed. The mechanical construction of a social letter includes five parts.
The Heading
The Salutation
The Body
The Complimentary Close
The Signature

A personal letter is ruled by the same laws of writing which control other compositions. It should be clear and organized well. It should be brief but interesting, but not so short as to create an impression of abruptness or rudeness.

Mechanical Construction of a Letter
As everyone can get the chance to write letters, the proper format should be learned and followed. The mechanical construction of a social letter includes five parts.
The Heading
The Salutation
The Body
The Complimentary Close
The Signature

The Heading
The heading contains the street address, city and state of the sender and the date.
52 Woodside Drive, Orchard Road, Quezon City February 18, 2015 — Some writers forget to include their address, making it difficult on occasions for the receiver to communicate with the sender.


The Salutation
Dear Mr. Morgan, Dear Miss Daisy, Dear Frodo, My dear Lois, Gina, dear

The Body
The body contains the message. Pause a few moments prior to writing to clearly think out just what you wish to say.

Some people freeze up at the thought of writing a letter and end up writing only the most contrived expressions. If you write as you talk, it becomes much easier. Formerly it was considered ill-mannered to write or talk about ourselves and our activities. We were taught to be impersonal. But modern taste has changed this. People have realized that writing letters on a too impersonal tone make them boring. Remember that reader of your letter is interested in you and your activities as a person. Gossip has no place in social letters. News about common friends, about births, deaths, achievements and little disappointments, can be interesting to the person to whom you write. These are the things you'd tell your friend on a visit. Don't bore the recipient with written talk of the weather (unless of course, it was a catastrophe that got into the world news) when your friend wants to learn about how you are doing and what you are busy about these days.

The Complimentary Close
The informal social letter may close, based on the level of intimacy in the relationship, with:
Sincerely yours, Gratefully yours, Affectionately yours, Devotedly yours, Lovingly yours, Fondly yours, etc.

The Signature
The signature should be handwritten and never typed. The handwritten signature bestows warmth that the typewritten signature lacks.

An unmarried woman signs: Regina Stein
In a business letter, to avoid being mistaken for a widow: (Miss) Regina Stein
If she is a married woman and the recipient might be in doubt as to her marital status: (Mrs. Gregory) Regina Stein
A woman should not sign her given name only in a letter to a man unless he is her fiancé or a relative or an old family friend.
A divorced woman, if she retains her husband's name, signs with her given name and her own surname followed by her husband's name as, for example: Barbara Stanton Eldridge.


Let us know how you like this article. Like it and Rate it below.
23.17K 2
2
4 stars - by 2 user(s)

Related Articles

Each and every day, we make many grammatical mistakes which more than often gets overlooked. It's high time that we should buckle up and avoid making these mistakes..

The executive summary can often be more important than the paper itself, so make sure that it is drafted even better than the paper. One should follow a 'straight to the point approach' and ensure coherence.

This is the complete guide for people who are willing to start Blogging in 2018. I have guided everyone willing to start blogging with all the big-small knowledge that they need to start a successful blog in 2018.

Post Your Comment