Subject: English

Topic: Formal Letter Writing

Grade: VIII

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 LETTER WRITING

INFORMAL FORMAL
To whom? To Whom?
To friends or relatives Acquaintances
What Purpose? Heads/Managers of Organizations
*to communicate information What Purpose?
*to share feelings *to make a complaint
*convey good wishes *to place an order
*express gratitude *to make an enquiry
*express sympathy

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 Formal Letter Writing

Since you are not familiar with the person, you will have to follow a few
conventions of formal letter writing.

The writing should be…

simple and clear

relevant

free of any grammatical or spelling errors

polite, even if you’re complaining

well presented and in the correct format

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 Sample Formal Letter

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 Sender’s Address
This is to be written so that the person you are writing to will be able to reply to you.

The Date
This is written beneath your address and should be written in its full format.
Example: 2 February 2015

The Recipient’s Name, Title and Address

This comes below the date.

The Salutation
Use ‘Dear Sir/ Madam’ if you do not know the name of the recipient. If you do know the
name, use the title ‘Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, Dr’ followed by the surname.
When you write to a woman
you may use Ms., which is used for both married and single women. It is followed by a
comma (,).
e.g. Dear Mr/ Mrs / Miss / Ms / Dr Smith

The Subject
Quickly identifies the purpose of the letter, immediately draws attention to the topic of the
letter.
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 The Content
The first paragraph should be short, stating the purpose of the letter i.e. to enquire
about, complain about or request for something, etc.
The middle paragraph/s of the letter should contain the relevant information you
wish to convey. The information should be essential to the matter, and presented in
a clear and organized manner.
The last paragraph should state what action you would expect the recipient to take
i.e. to grant leave, to refund money, to send you information, etc.

The Subscription or Sign off

If you do not know the name of the person, conclude with ‘Yours faithfully,’ . If you
know the name of the person, conclude with ‘Yours sincerely’.

Sender’s name
Sign your name, then print it underneath the signature.

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 Exercise

You are a resident of New Delhi. Last month you bought a video camera with
a warranty of two years. Now, you discover that there is something wrong
with this camera.
Write a letter to the dealer complaining about this problem. Also, request
him to replace it.

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