Letter Writing Skill

Shahbaz Ahmad Khan, PGT English

Kendriya Vidyalaya NO.2 Bailey Road
Patna
Writing an Informal Letter
MARKING SCHEME

Expression
Content
2 marks
3 marks
Format
1 marks
 Informal or Personal letter

Your Street
Your town
Sender’s address
Your County
Postcode

June 25th 2019 Date

Dear Salutation
 Informal or Personal letter

Your Street
Your town
Your County
Postcode

June 25th 2019 Who is the letter to?

Dear Raushan
And don’t forget the comma afterwards!
 Informal or Personal letter
(Modern)

Your Primary School,

Your Street
Your town
Your County
Postcode
June 25th 2019

Dear Raushan

You’re writing to a friend or relative so you can be chatty

and friendly in your opening paragraph.
 Informal or Personal letter

Dear Raushan ,

Hi, how are you doing? I know that you’ve just moved up
a year at school. What’s your new teacher like?

In your first paragraph you could tell your friend or

relative some exciting news…
In your second paragraph you could tell your friend or
relative how you’re feeling…
In your third paragraph you could tell your friend or
relative a secret…
 Informal or Personal letter

Because you know them well,

say goodbye in a friendly way…

Love
Thinking
Best
Lots
Take from
wishes
ofcare
love
of you At the end of your letter, don’t
forget to sign off.

Raj Finally, Write your name.

 Relationship Subscription
with Receiver Salutation
My Dear Father/Mother Yours affectionately
Blood Relation Older son/daughter/ Love from….
than Sender My Dear Brother/ Sister/ cousin Affectionately yours
brother/sister
Dearest Uncle/Aunt Yours loving nephew/ niece/
cousin
Dear Grandfather/Grandmother Your loving grandson /
granddaughter
My Dear____________________ Yours affectionately ________
Blood Relation Younger Dear________________________ Yours ever________________
than Sender (Name of the receiver) Yours loving______________
(Relationship and first name of Receiver)

Friends My Dear____________________ Yours truly

Dear________________________ Truly yours
(First Name of the receiver)
Acquaintances Dear Mr. /Mrs. /Ms/Miss_______ Yours sincerely/ truly
(Surname of the receiver)
Strangers Dear Sir/Madam Yours faithfully/ truly
 Sample Letter

House no. 04
Raman Tola
Mahasamund, CG
India-490445

June 25th 2019

Dear Raushan,
Hi, how are you doing? I know that you’ve just moved up a year at
school. What’s your new teacher like? I bet he’s really cool. Does he
teach you how to write letters? Ours does. Today, my teacher taught us
how to set a personal letter out correctly.
I’m in the top group for Literacy which is great. My two best friends in
class are in the group too so we have a lot of fun. I’ve just started to use a
fountain pen to write with, so my handwriting’s getting really neat. I
have to be very careful not to smudge my work; do you have fountain
pens at school?
We’ve been swimming nearly every day since New Year. Our school has
an outdoor pool which is fantastic. It’s a bit cold to start with, but you
soon warm up. I’ve learned to swim breaststroke now, but I still need to
work on my frog’s legs!
Well, I’m running out of room, so I’d better say goodbye for now. I hope
your new class is good fun and you’re learning lots!
Best wishes,

Raj
Common phrases
used in informal letters
Just a quick note to say…
I just wanted to say…
I thought I’d drop you a line to say…
(It was) lovely to get your letter.
Thank you / thanks so much for your letter.
Give my love to Peter.
Say hi / hello to Peter from me.
Common phrases
used in informal letters

It would be nice to meet up in the

summer.
We’d love to see you again soon.
Thanks once again for the delicious
lunch.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Hope to see you before long.
How to write a formal letter

 Writing a letter can be easy if

you follow a few simple rules.

 Take your time and think

carefully about WHO you are
writing to.
PURPOSES OF FORMAL LETTERS
To register
To ask for/give complaints about
To apply for a job
information inadequate goods
& services

To place To solicit new

To make inquiries orders/send customers for
appropriate replies your business

To seek redressal
of grievances
LETTER WRITING RULES

WRITE AS
SIMPLY AND AS
CLEARLY AS
POSSIBLE

DO NOT MAKE
THE LETTER
LONGER THAN
THE
NECESSARY.
REMEMBER NOT
TO USE INFORMAL
LANGUAGE LIKE
CONTRACTIONS.
 POINTS TO REMEMBER
Your
Address Subject &
& Date on Sir with one
the left space gap
b/w the two
Thank You &
Yours
faithfully/
The address of sincerely/
the person you truly
are writing to
with designation Content at
least in three
paragraphs
FORMAT OF FORMAL LETTER
221 B Baker Street
New Delhi

1st May 2020

The Editor
The Hindu
New Delhi

Subject:___________________________________________________regarding.

Sir
Para 1

Para 2

Para 3

Thank You

Yours faithfully
Signature
NAME
A Concerned Citizen/ An affected person
 Why am I
writing?

Further What are the

improvements facts?
Formal
letter to
__________

What exactly do
I want done? What are the
consequences?
By when?
 Starting off…..

Sender’s address (Not Name)( where they can

expect a reply of the letter)

Date: 15 April, 2019

Receiver’s Designation and Office Address

Dear Sir or Madam ( or their names -Jim,

Anne,Mr.Jones, Miss.Peters, etc..)
1st paragraph….

Why are you writing to them...”I am

writing to you to because…..”
Explain who YOU are….
Be polite! “I hope you don’t mind me
writing to you but I had tell you about..”
Be strong (If it is a letter of complaint)
eg. “I must inform you that I am not happy with….”
 Types of
Letter Opening Statement
Letter of I am writing to enquire about…
Enquiry I will/shall be grateful if you could send me the
following details…

Making a I would be grateful if…

request I wonder if you could help me…
I am writing to ask you for a favour…
I am interested in applying for the post of…
Job With reference to your advertisement in …..
Application dated ……..regarding the post of…..
Letter of I am writing to apologise for…
apology I regret the inconvenience caused due to…
 Types of
Letter Opening Statement
Letter of With reference to our order no….dated…, I
complaint would like to complain about…
This is to inform you that we are not satisfied
with the consignment sent by you…
I must insist…
Expressing I reply to your letter dated…regarding…I would
Opinion like to express my views on the matter.
I was delighted/shocked horrified/ disgusted to
learn that…
Giving This is to just let you know…
Information
Giving It would be a good idea to…
Advice Have you thought about…
2nd paragraph…..
This is the MAIN section of your letter

 You can have more  Use connectives

than one paragraph (firstly, secondly,
 If it is a persuasive next,…)
letter, then take 1 or 2  State each point, then
points of persuasion back it up eg. I believe
Italy will win the World
for each paragraph
Cup because they have
 Don’t make one extreme talent and have
enormous paragraph- greater fitness.
it looks boring!
2nd paragraph….cont.

 Offer your own  Use facts to back up

opinion on things. eg. your arguments eg. In
I firmly believe that a recent school
custard is the finest survey, 60% students
food because it is drop out of the school
smooth yet refined before they pass 12th
 Use any planning Board.
sheet you have to tick
off each point you are
making.
Last paragraph…..

 This is a concluding
paragraph eg. To sum
up, I would say that…
 Give an overall view
of the letter. eg. What
I am trying to say to
you is that I would
dearly love you to
come and stay with us.
 Signing off…..

 If you know them personally -

Yours sincerely
 If you don’t know them - Yours
faithfully
 If you are writing to your teacher
/principal – Yours Obediently/
faithfully
 Some other useful phrases

I am writing to tell you about

You will be interested to know that
In addition,
I should also like to point out,
This was brought about because
I suggest
I propose
It was expected that
Some other useful phrases

Having discussed this with … we came to

the conclusion that…
It is my opinion that
Furthermore
There are a number of problems
In conclusion
I would like to confirm
This is not acceptable
 Some other useful phrases
 Thank you for your letter of 22 January concerning…
 I am writing to inquire about…
 I am writing to inform you that…
 I am pleased to inform you that…
 regret to inform you that…
 I hope this information has been of use.
 Please give my regards to Peter Hogan.
 Thank you for all you have done.
 I look forward to hearing from you soon.
 Success Criteria
for a Formal Letter
While working remember to …..
 Deliver the necessary message or enquiry
 State clear what the sender would like the
recipient to do
 Standard English
 Formal tone and formal language
 Use formal connectives
 Leave a line between paragraphs
 Use and appropriate sign-off line
Writing a Letter of Complaint
 When would we write
a letter of complaint ?
* When we are unhappy with something:
– a product (something we have bought)
– a service (something we have experienced-
like a waitress being rude in a café).
What do we need to do?

 State the reason why we are writing:

– I am writing to complain…..
Give the reasons why we are complaining,
supported by evidence:
– I was shocked by the rudeness of your staff.
The waitress ignored me in your café on
Friday while I was waiting at the counter.
Remember to use
Persuasive techniques!!
 Powerful vocabulary: disgusted, outraged, appalling,
devastating,
 Questions: How would you feel if this had happened to
you? Can you imagine how I felt?
 Flattery: I am sure that in your position as Senior
Manager, you will deal with this promptly.
 Bribery: I was hoping to purchase another TV from you,
and should this be solved quickly, intend to do so in the
next few weeks.
 Warn: I advise you to retrain your staff as it would not
look very good if you started to lose customers due to
poor service.
 Remember to use
Persuasive techniques!!
State what you would like to happen.
– I would appreciate you speaking to the member of staff
concerned about their attitude to customers.
– I would hope that in future products are checked before being
sold to make sure they work properly.
Sum up your feelings, and sign off the
letter appropriately:
– Once again, let me say how disappointed I am and how I hope
you will deal with this problem quickly.
Yours Sincerely
Mrs Davies
Structure reminders
Appropriate letter format Dear Mr/Mrs…
Why I am writing I am writing to complain
Reasons for my complaint Broken TV, cut my hand on the
glass,
Evidence It does not turn on, and there was broken glass
in the box when I opened it..
Persuasive techniques I am disgusted, Can you imagine
how painful it was cutting my hand?
What I want to happen now I demand an immediate
refund
Sum up my feelings I hope you appreciate how horrified I am
Appropriate ending Yours Sincerely,