LETTER WRITING

Letter Writing

a. Informal letters are private or personal letters. They are letters we write to people who are very familiar to us such as our parents, friends, classmates etc.

FEATURES OF AN INFORMAL LETTER

1. Writer’s address and date

2. Salutation e.g. Dear Efe,

3. Introduction

4. Body of the letter

5. Conclusion

6. Subscript, Your friend,

b. Semi-formal letters are letters we write to people who are not totally strange to us but are not close enough to us to deserve personal letters. E.g our teachers, family doctor, priest etc. The semi-formal letter is more related to the informal letter than to the formal letter.

FEATURES OF A SEMI-FORMAL LETTER

1. Writer’s address and date

2. Salutation e.g. Dear Mr. Eze, Dear Mrs Jones,

3. Introduction

4. Body of the letter

5. Conclusion

6. Subscript, e.g. Yours sincerely,

c. Formal letters are also called official or business letters. They are written to people in their official positions. They are people we do not know personally, e.g. Local government chairmen, commissioners, etc.

FEATURES OF A FORMAL LETTER

1. Writer’s address and date

2. Receiver’s address 

3. Salutation e.g. Dear Sir, Dear Madam

4. Heading or topic or title e.g. Application for the Post of a Teacher; Invitation to a Religious Seminar etc

5. Body of the letter

6. Conclusion (usually very short)

7. Subscript e.g. Yours faithfully,

      (Signature)

              Writer’s full name.

Evaluation: 

a. Write a letter to your elder brother who is schooling at home, telling him your problems in school and asking him to help contact your parents.

b. Write a letter to the director of your school, telling him why you cannot resume with your mates on your resumption day.