Formal Letter

• A formal letter is addressed to a public servant or a head of

an institution or company so it must be in a formal tone.
• The sender’s address must contain House no, Society, Area
City.
• Date can only be written in either of the following ways 28
March 2022 or March 28 2022
• Always write the current date i.e if your exam is on 28 March
2022 same date must be written in the letter.
• The spelling must be correct or else you may lose ½ marks.
• Receiver’s address must contain three things
• The post of the person to whom it is addressed
• The office Institution or company
• and the name of the city.
 Formal Letter
• Salutation must be as any one of the following:
• Sir
• Dear Sir
• Madam
• Dear Madam
• Opening Paragraph must always be brief and must inform the reader
about the subject matter
• Some openings
• Complaint Letter
• I would like to draw your attention to the grave matter of
………………….
• Leave letter or Permission letter
• I, Anisha Desai, student of X B request you to grant me leave
for………..
• I, Anisha Desai, student of X B request you grant permission to the
students of class X to………..
• Letter to Editor
• Through your highly esteemed daily, I would
like to voice my concern on ....
• Second paragraph must contain the subject
matter in detail
• If it is a complaint letter, letter to the editor it
must contain four points in detail
• Two problems faced by you and your
classmates, members/people of society or
area
• Closing paragraph
• Two suggestions to solve the issues
 Formal Letter Format
• Format- 3marks
Content- 2 marks (The reason of letter included in main body)
Expression- 5 marks (The impression created in whole letter)
• Sender’s Address
• Date
• Receiver’s Address
• Salutation
• Introductory Paragraph
• Main body
• Closing Paragraph
• Subscription
• Your full name
 Dos and Don’ts of letter writing

• Remember to use formal language and avoid any typographical

errors.
• Specify necessary details like time, date venue etc.
• Be to the point and straight forward.
• Write the letter with a polite tone but avoid being overtly personal.
• Keep the letter short and concise and with specific details.
• Do not write long introductions and unnecessary statement.
• Check for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
• Avoid usage of slangs or messaging language as that does not
indicate professionalism.
• Cut useless words, needless information, and stale phrases.
• Close the letter by thanking the person for their time and
consideration.
 Formal Letter

• Subscription
• Yours faithfully ‘Y’ of ‘Yours’ is in upper case.
• ‘s’ of ‘Yours’ is not apostrophe ‘s’.
• ‘ f ‘ of faithfully is in lower case
• First name and last name (full name normally
not in block)
 Errors to be avoided
• Do not miss any points in the sender’s address and
receiver’s address
• Date must never be written in numerical only 28-
03- 2022 or 28/03/2022
• Always write the full spelling of the month i.e.
February not Feb
• Spelling of months must not be incorrect.
• Do not write ‘Respected Sir’ for Salutation
• Do not use casual language in formal letter
• Do not write the entire letter in one paragraph
• Do not give inappropriate reasons solutions and
suggestion
• All the points must be logical and appropriate.
 Errors to be avoided
• Do not write the subscription as follows
• Yours sincerely cannot be accepted in a formal
letter
• Yours truly May or may not be accepted as per
the rules of the board
• Yours lovingly or Your loving friend cannot be
accepted in a formal letter.
• Do not write only the first name
• Do not sign or write initials only.
 Specimen answer
• Write a letter to the Police Commissioner of your city drawing his / her
attention to the menace of hawkers outside your school. Tell him / her
what dangers they pose and offer solutions for their rehabilitation.

Flat 236, Block C,

Hill Crest View Apartments,
Salem Street,
Coonoor-26.

23rd February, 2018.

The Police Commissioner,

Police Commissioner’s Office,
6, Cavalry Road,
Coonoor-3
Dear Sir,
I write to draw your attention to the menace of hawkers outside St. Paul’s School in
Nehru Nagar of our town. I am the Secretary, Swach Bharat Club, St. Paul’s School.
The hawkers sell open food and cheap toys. A number of our school students
cluster around them and the lane in front of our school is blocked, dirty and
congested.
I would request you to look into this problem and have the hawkers move into the
field behind our school. This would ensure that they are not deprived of their
livelihood and the area in front of our school is kept clean and congestion fee.
The hawkers must also be warned about the importance of necessary hygiene and
the sale of clean food. This will ensure that students do not fall sick after eating
food sold by the hawkers.
I trust that you will consider my suggestion and take the necessary steps as
outlined in my letter to you to deal with the menace of hawkers outside the school.

Thanking you,
Yours faithfully, / Yours truly,
Santosh Haldar