Letter Writing | SSC CGL Tier 3 | CHSL Tier 2

Letter Writing

The key to the success of the era of globalization is communication. And correspondence (letters) is perhaps the most important component of communication. Even in the age of modern technological innovations like e-mail, internet and long distance connectivity, letters still carry the maximum load of personal and business communication. 

The message has to be properly written to convey the required meaning and complete sense.

One has liberty to write personal letters (Informal letters) as one wants, but it is important to write it well as the saying goes, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well”. 

But business letters (formal letters) have to follow some rules in order to make an appropriate impact. 

A formal letter need not and should not be elaborate or time-consuming. A few minutes spent thinking and following the steps can help you to write a better letter. 

What is the importance of letter writing?

Letter writing is an important and effective tool. Letter writing helps you to put something concrete in hand that helps you iron out a position or reinforce something you may have talked about. 

Constructing the right structure for your Letter:

• In the introductory (first) paragraph of the formal letter, introduce yourself and state the reason for writing the letter. 
• On the other hand, you don’t need to introduce yourself in an informal letter. Just stating the reason for writing the letter would suffice. 
• Besides the introduction and conclusion, we need to add about 2-3 paragraphs of body. 
• Convey information in a planned way. Start with the most crucial information (the central message of the letter). Then gradually add more data to back your contentions. Keep the least relevant information for the concluding paragraphs of the letter. This will also help you stick to the word limit while simultaneously ensuring that you add all necessary points to the letter.
• In the end write, ‘Thank you’ or ‘We/I await/look forward to your reply’.

There are mainly five points that have to be taken into consideration while writing a letter:

• Heading
• The Salutation or courteous greetings
• Subject
• The Body of the letter - communication or the message
• The Subscription - courteous leave taking, or conclusion
• The Signature Name of the writer

HEADING 

The heading of a letter basically consists of two parts :- 

• address of the writer followed by

• the date on which the letter was written by him.

Heading can be written on the left side (it keeps on changing with time-presently we follow the convention of writing heading in the left corner) corner of the first page of the letter. 

Examples of a Heading are:

• 63, Vinay Colony 

Delhi-160032 

June 12, 2010 

• Mahatma Gandhi Hall 

Prayagraj

12th June, 2010 

SALUTATION 

The Salutation in the letter will depend upon the depth of relationship of the writer with the person to whom the letter is being written, thus it varies from letter to letter. 

Salutation is written at the left hand of the page, at a lower level the heading. The first and last word of the salutation are always started in Capital Letters (of the alphabet). Examples of the salutation are: 

In Formal Letters

• To

Officials/Principal/Headmaster/Teachers

Sir/Madam

 In Business Letters:

• To Businessmen

Dear Sir/Sirs 

In Informal Letters:

• To Blood Relations

My dear father/mother/Kavita/Ramesh

• To Friends

Dear Rajesh

My dear Ajay

SUBJECT:

The next is the line of the subject.We use one, so that the reader immediately knows what your letter is about. The subject line should be clearly distinguishable from the body of the letter: 

• Use "Subject:" 
• Then write the subject.The subject can be written in bold letters. 

Example- Subject: Poor law and order situation  

BODY:

The body itself is considered as the life of the letter and the style in which it is written will depend upon the kind of letter one wishes to write. Like, the style of the letter to be written will be entirely different from the style of the letter to be written to an official and so on. But few points that one has to keep in mind irrespective of the style while writing the body of the letter are- 

• Divide the letter into various paragraphs to mark changes of subject-matter etc. Use simple and direct language in short sentences. 

SUBSCRIPTION:

A letter must not end abruptly as this would look rude. So certain forms of polite leave taking are prescribed that should be written after the last words of the letter on the left hand side corner of the lines after the body. It should start with a capital letter. Some examples of the subscription of the letter of various kinds are:

• To Blood Relations: Yours affectionately 
• To Friends: Yours sincerely
• To Principal/Headquarter/Teacher etc: Yours obediently 
• To Officials/Businessmen: Yours faithfully 
• To Strangers: Yours truly 

Note: Never use an apostrophe with “yours” in the subscription (your’s is incorrect). 

SIGNATURE 

The signature of the writer of the letter should be below the subscription. In a letter to the stranger, the signature should be clearly written so that he could know whom to address in reply.

SIGNATURES:

• The address is to be written on the envelope or the postcard very clearly (preferably with pin code).

Read the next article to know Types Of Letter or join SSC Descriptive Course

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