Define Letter Writing and Its Types.

Ans.

Letter writing is considered an art. If we are well versed in this art, we may influence the people whom we write letters. A good letter may alter the whole course of your life. It may help you in getting a good job, a good friend, a good life partner. It may open the door of success to you or it may spoil your life. So letters play an important role in our lives and we should be very careful in our correspondence with other people.

How should we influence people with our letters ?

In order to influence people with our letters, we should avoid literary jargon. ‘I beg to ‘say’. ‘Most respectfully’, ‘With due respect’ etc. have become literary jargons and they do not create any impression on the reader. These words might have influenced people when they were first used. But now no one pays any attention to these words. So start a letter in a striking manner that may differentiate you from the other writers. A modern American novelist always got rejection slips from publishers. Once he was successful in getting an opportunity of having a face to face discourse with the publisher of a big publishing house. The novelist started talking and kept on saying whatever came to his mouth and the publisher listened to him carefully. When the novelist finished his tale of woe, the publisher said that he would publish everything he wrote, provided he wrote as interestingly and naturally as he spoke.

So we should write letters in a style as if two persons are talking face to face. But this requires practice and command over the language. We should have a clear idea of what we want to say and say it directly in an easy and elegant style. Our language and ideas should not be ambiguous. Only relevant things should be stated in the letter. Letters should not be lengthy beyond the proper limit.

TYPES OF LETTERS

Letters are of two types:

1. Formal Letters: In it we include business letters, letters of application, letters to the Editor, Applications to the Principal or letters of complaint related to personal or public interest.

2. Informal Letters: These letters are generally written to friends, relatives, teachers, pupils etc. Such letters bear messages related to well being, invitation, congratulation, condolences, recommendation, introduction etc.

PARTS OF A LETTER

1. The heading: (i) address, (ii) date. 2. The salutation, 3. The body of the letter, 4. The subscription. 5. The signature.

1. Address: It is written at the top towards the right side. The date is written below it:

181, Sadar Bazar,

Agra.

7th June, 2021

2. Salutation: It is written on the left side of the page. The writer addresses the addressee with words showing affection, respect, compliment based on his intimacy. The initial and last words begin with capital letters. A comma (,) is always put at the end of it.

(1) We may use the following words in our personal or informal letters written to elderly people:

My dear Mother,

My dear Father,

My dear Sister, (elder sister)

My dear Brother. (elder brother)

My dear Uncle,

My dear Aunt,

(ii) In Personal letters written to relatives younger than we are

Dear Shanno,

My dear Dheeraj,

Dear Rajesh,

My dear Rehan,

(iii) In Business letters

Dear Sirs,

Dear Sir,

(iv) In Official or Formal letters

Letters to the Editor, Letters of Application etc.

Sir,

Madam,

3. Body of a letter: It consists of the most important part of the letter. It is the body of the letter. It contains the main message that the writer wants to convey to the addressee. It should be written in simple and lucid, but the language should be impressive. It should not be ambiguous.

4. The Subscription: It comes at the end of a letter. Its various forms are as follows:

(a) To a friend Sincerely yours or

Yours sincerely or

Yours truly

(b) To father, mother, uncle etc. Your loving son or

Your loving nephew

(c) To other relatives Your affectionate or

Yours affectionately

(d) To an official Yours faithfully or

Yours truly

(e) To the Principal Yours obediently,

5. Signature: The letter should be signed legibly just below the subscription.