Course Title: English-III (BSN3-INS) (KMU)

Topic: Letters of request (Letter Writing)

Prepared & Delivered by: Faisal Habib Afridi
____________________________________________________________________________

Formal Letter Layout

Your Address

Date

Recipient’s address

Dear_________

Topic Sentence: What is the letter about

Main body of letter

Yours faithfully/sincerely

Signature
Rules for Writing Formal Letters of Requests in English

In English, there are a number of conventions that should be used

when writing formal, business or letters of request. Furthermore, try
to write as simply and as clearly as possible, and not to make the
letter longer than necessary. Remember not to use informal
language like contractions.
Addresses:
1) Your Address
The return address (your address) should be written in the
top left corner the letter (avoid putting commas or full stops at the
end of lines).
Date:
Write date after your address. Write the month as a
word---- 10th June 2022.
2) The Address of the person you are writing to
The address should be written on the left, starting below your
address.
Salutation or greeting:
1) Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to
use Dear Sir or Madam. It is always advisable to try to find out a
name (a comma is needed).
2) Dear Mr. Javed,
If you know the name, use the title (Mr. Mrs. Miss/Ms. Dr.,
etc.) and the surname only. If you are writing to a woman and do
not know if she uses Mrs. Or Miss, you can use Ms, which is used
for both married and single women. (Note the comma after Mr.
Javed).

Body of The letter

The main point is written in the body of the letter. To have the
desired effect on the recipient, a letter should be in the proper
format, to the point and relevant, and grammatically correct.
The semi-block format of the letter has all the text aligned towards
the left margin and has paragraphs indented.

Ending a letter:
1) Yours faithfully,
If you do not know the name of the recipient, begin your
letter with ‘Dear Sir/Madam,’ and end the letter with ‘Yours
faithfully.
2) Yours sincerely,
If you begin your letter with ‘Dear Mr. Javed’, end the letter
with ‘Yours sincerely’.
3) Your signature
Sign your name, and then print it underneath the
signature. If you think the person you are writing to might not know
whether you are a man or a woman, put your title (chairman or
chairperson) in brackets after your name.