Dear Reader, We are posting Formal Letter Format and also presenting tips for witting a letter in exam. which will be help full for SBI PO Exam 2015.
The key to the success of the era of globalization is communication. And correspondence (letters) is perhaps the most important component of communication. Even in the age of modern technological innovations like e-mail, internet and long distance connectivity, letters still carry the maximum load of personal and business communication.
Whatever be the medium of carrying the message, the message has to be properly written to convey the required meaning and complete sense. One has liberty to write personal letters as one wants, but business or formal letters have to follow some norms in order to make appropriate impact.
What is the importance of letter writing ?Letter writing is an important and effective tool. Letter writing helps you put something
concrete in hand on cumpuer that helps you iron out a position or reinforce something you may have talked about.
There are several types of letters – like application and appreciation, enquiries and requests, Complaint and Recommendation, Sales and Promotion, Welcome or Invitation letters. Mainly we have to study two types of letters. But we are talking about Formal Letter Format.
Formal Letters – They can be related to business, institution or educational purpose. The
format has to be followed while writing a formal letter.
Tips For write a letter:-
You must write good letters. And good letters come from careful writing as all literate people
reading your letter are surprisingly talented at quickly spotting errors or gaffes in the writing of other people. Here are some common tips –
- Keep paragraphs short, preferably fewer than five lines. Vary the length of your sentences.
- And don’t be afraid to begin sentences with conjunctions (and, but, or). To emphasize a point, you can use a one – sentence paragraph.
- Think twice before using any adjectives or adverbs. Impress people with your nouns and verbs, not with decorations.
- Use a friendly, conversational tone. Also, keep it deferential.
- Show confidence but not arrogance.
- Avoid unclear phrases like “enclosed please find my resume for your perusal”. Be more creative than that.
- Avoid vague statements. Give specific statements : people will find it both refreshing and easy to understand.
There are mainly five points that have to be taken care of while writing a letter. These are-
(a) Heading
(b) The Salutation or courteous greetings
(c) Subject
(d) The Body of the letter – communication or the message
(e) The Subscription – courteous leave taking, or conclusion
(f) The Signature Name of the writer
(a) HEADING
Heading of a letter basically consists of Two Parts :-
(i) address of the writer followed by
(ii) the date on which the letter was written by him.
Heading can be written on the Right or Left (keep on changing with time-presently we follow the
convention of writing heading in the left corner) corner of the first page of the letter.
Examples of a Heading are
63, Vinay Colony
Delhi-160032
June 12, 2010
(b) SALUTATION
The Salutation in the letter will depend upon the depth of relationship of the Writer with the person
to whom the letter is being written, thus it varies from letter to letter.
Salutation is written at the left hand of the page, at a lower level the Heading. The first and last
word of the salutation are always started in Capital Letters (of alphabet).
Examples of the salutation are:
Formal Letters
1. To officials/Principal/Headmaster/Teachers
Sir,
Madam,
2. To Businessmen:-
Dear Sir,
Dear Sirs,
(c) Subject:
After the salutation comes the subject line where you have to mention the purpose of the letter in short. Make sure that the subject line is in upper-case characters and is aligned either to the left or to the center.
(d) BODY
The body itself is considered as the life of the letter and the style in which it is written will depend
upon the kind of letter one wishes to write. Like, the style of the letter to be written will be entirely
different from the style of the letter to be written to an official and so on. But few points that one
has to keep in mind irrespective of the style while writing the body of the letter are-
Divide the letter into various paragraphs to mark changes of subject-matter etc.
Use simple and direct language in short sentences. It will make the message clear and to the
point. ˆ Always try to be complete. For this, think out what you want to say before beginning to write a letter; and put down all the point in logical manner.
(e) SUBSCRIPTION
The subscription of the letter i.e. the end should be according to the sharing of the letter. A letter
must not end abruptly as this would look rude. So certain forms of polite leave taking are prescribed
that should be written after the last words of the letter on the left hand side corner of the lines after
the body. It should start with a capital letter and end with a comma. Some examples of the
subscription of the letter of various kinds are:-
1. To Principal/Headquarter/Teacher etc: Yours obediently
2. To Officials/Businessmen: Yours faithfully,
3. To Strangers : Yours truly
Note : Never use apostrophe (‘) with ‘yours’ in the subscription (your’s is incorrect).
(f) SIGNATURE
The signature of the writer of the letter should be below the subscription. In a letter to the stranger,
the signature should be clearly written so that he could know whom to address in reply.
Formal Letter Format:- With Example
Write a leave letter to your Branch Manager. Hiba, Canara Bank, R. K. Puram Branch
New Delhi-22
6 November, 2008.
Branch Manager,
Canara Bank, R. K. Puram Branch
New Delhi-22.
Sir,
As my mother is admitted in a hospital at Agra for an operation, I have to be with her. Hence, it
would not be possible for me to attend office for two weeks. Kindly grant me special permission
to take 15 days leave.
Thank you,
Yours Truly,
Malv
