E-LEARNING ITEM 27 FORM 3

Learning Area: English Language

Topic: Composition writing skills

Sub-topic: Appropriate register in a friendly letter (1)

Objective:

 use appropriate register in friendly letter.

Introduction

Every type of situation, letters included, calls for use of appropriate register. It is your
choice of words in your essay writing that determines your use of suitable register.

Register

 The term “register” refers to the level of correctness of your language.

 Your register is determined by quite a number of factors among which are the
following: (a) the purpose of communication in your writing.
(b) the type of essay you are writing.
(c) the relationship between you and the recipient of your letter.
(d) the age factor.
 The closer you are to the recipient of your letter in terms of relationship, the more
informal your register becomes.

Friendly Letter

 A friendly letter is also known as a social letter.

 It is a type of letter that you write to persons very close to you who include your:
mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew, cousin, grandmother,
grandfather, friend and many more who belong to this class of persons.

 A friendly letter mainly calls for informal language.

Tone in a social letter

 In a social letter tone tends to be conversational, chatty and informal.

 Tone in your social letter is created through the use of shortened versions of
words, for example you are allowed to write:” I’d” instead of “I would”. The
expression,” I’d” gives the social letter an informal and conversational tone.
  Additionally, an informal tone of your letter is created through your use of
informal language which includes idioms, proverbs, similes, metaphors,
personification, euphemism and other figures of speech.

 It is your choice of words that shapes tone in your friendly letter.

 For instance, you may use words that highlight a threat, humour, joy, longing and
lecturing.

 Tone is best describe through adjectives as indicated in the examples below:

1. Threatening tone
2. Humorous tone
3. Joyous tone
4. Longing tone
5. Lecturing tone

 It is the choice of words you use in your writing that determines the tone of your
letter.

Recipient of your friendly letter

 When you are writing a friendly letter always think about your recipient.
 A recipient is a person you are writing to.
 Your recipient determines your register.
 Obviously, when you are writing a letter to a friend, its tone can be chatty by
using colloquial expressions such as “jam session”, “hitting one between the ears
“For instance, instead of writing formally as follows, “I am listening to my
favourite songs” it would be more acceptable to write informally as follows “My
favourite jams are hitting me between the ears,”

Purpose of a friendly letter

 The purpose of a friendly letter could be to make a request, to make a

suggestion, to apologize, to go against a certain viewpoint, to complain or to
defend.
 One important thing you must seriously consider is that you should never be
impolite, arrogant or insulting in your friendly letter.

Task 1

1. What is register?
2. Which factors determine your use of appropriate register?
3. The closer you are to the recipient of your letter in terms of relationship the more
-------- your register becomes.
 4. Which six people can you write a friendly letter to?
5. Shortened versions of words like “I’m” create an -------- tone.
6. State five possible purposes of a friendly letter.

Task 2

Send out questionnaires to three fellow students in your neighbourhood who read with
other schools asking them to write on the following features of a friendly letter:
recipients/register/tone and purpose. Compare your findings with these notes. If your
friends struggle to come up with the said features draw their attention to Dzidzo
Paden/Imfundwe’ndlini for their correct answers.

Conclusion

The most important features of a friendly letter are factors that affect your register, tone,
purpose of communication and the type of recipient. In the next item we will focus on a
sample friendly letter. Do not go away now. Give it a reading.