SSC CGL Descriptive Paper -Letter Writing (Formal Letter)

SSC CGL Descriptive Paper -Letter Writing (Formal Letter)

SSC CGL Descriptive Paper -Letter Writing (Formal Letter)

Letter Writing

Letter 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.
Whatever be the medium of carrying the message, 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 business letters (Formal letters) have to follow some rules in order to make appropriate impact.

Types of Letters

There are several types of letters – like application and appreciation, inquiries and requests,Complaint and Recommendation, Sales and Promotion, Welcome or Invitation letters.

Mainly we have to cover two types of letters for tier 2 exam.

• Formal Letters
• Informal Letters

Formal Letters

Formal Letters – They can be related to business, institution or educational purpose. The format has to be followed while writing a formal letter.

In general what you put together will have one of the following purposes:

• Make a complaint
• Make an enquiry

Formal letter writing is undoubtedly one of the most challenging types of letter format.

When putting it together, often you are addressing a person or organisation with whom you are not familiar. The quality of your content, including spelling and grammar will be strongly scrutinised. Formal letters have to follow some rules in order to make appropriate impact.

• It should be in the correct format and well presented.
• It should be relevant, short and to the point.
• It must be polite, even if you’re complaining.

Be concise and relevant

Letters should take seconds rather than minutes to read. As a result, get straight to the point and stick to it, don’t include any unnecessary or supplementary information, don’t use any flowery language or long words just for the sake of it, and don’t repeat too much information.
Check your grammar and spelling very carefully

Use the right tone of language

It’s important to use the right type of language, the right ‘register’. You should always be polite and respectful, even if complaining.

One way of doing this in English, which is common in formal letter writing, is to use ‘modal verbs’ such as would, could and should.

Instead of simply writing Please send me, you could express this more formally as I would be grateful if you could send me ... Don’t overdo it though, and make your language too formal or maybe old fashioned; don’t look through a thesaurus and put in lots of unnecessarily long words.

Make sure the letter is well presented.

Format of a Formal letter

There are certain conventions that you have to follow. According to CBSE latest guidelines for format and marking scheme for a letter:

From,

Designation of writer,

Address of company.

Date of letter.

To,

Receiver name,

Designation of receiver,

Address

Subject of the letter

Dear sir/madam,

With reference to the subject mentioned above……………………………………………………………………………..I hope that the above mentioned deal will work better for us and looking forward for your reply.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Signature

Name

Tips for writing a good letter

You must write good letters. And good letters come from careful writing as all literate people reading your letter are surprisingly talented at quickly spotting errors or gaffes in the writing of other people. Here are some common tips –

• Keep paragraphs short, preferably fewer than five lines. Vary the length of your sentences.
• And don’t be afraid to begin sentences with conjunctions (and, but, or). To emphasize a point, you can use a one – sentence paragraph.
• Think twice before using any adjectives or adverbs. Impress people with your nouns and verbs, not with decorations.
• Use a friendly, conversational tone. Also, keep it deferential.
• Show confidence but not arrogance.
• Avoid unclear phrases like “enclosed please find my resume for your perusal”. Be more creative than that.
• Avoid vague statements. Give specific statements: people will find it both refreshing and easy to understand.

Important Topics for Formal Letter

1. Write an application to the Manager, ABC Pvt. Limited for the post of Relationship Manager with reference to their advertisement in the ‘The Times of India’ of 16^th June 2015.
2. You are a UPSC aspirant; Write an Inquiry letter regarding coaching classes timing and course details to the director of a reputed institute.
3. Write a letter to the editor of The Hindustan Times to Complaint about inadequate bus services in the locality.
4. Write a letter to the Director, Municipal Corporation Mumbai East to Complaint against streetlights in our locality.
5. You are the Head of women council in your organization. Write a Formal Letter to the Head of Human Resource department requesting him to increase security for women at the workplace.
6. Write a letter to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi about the problem of open manholes in your area.
7. Write an application to the station officer to lodge an FIR for the disappearance of your brother.
8. Write a letter to the editor requesting him to publish your article in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column regarding the problem of begging & how it can be ended.
9. Write a letter to the editor of times of India about the increasing number of malaria mosquitoes in the locality and your concern.
10. Write a letter to Human Resource Department, The Times Daily applying for a part time job.