What is Letter writing?

Writing a Letter means not just conveying a piece of information, but a tactile expression of your thoughts and emotions. It is a clear reflection of a person’s words and feelings, carefully designed and inscribed on paper.

Now In the modern era of digital communication, writing letters to your loved one has become a rarity. But still, there is something undeniably special about receiving a letter from someone special.

Define letter:

              We can define letters in multiple ways, here are some of the simple definitions;

Definition 1:

A letter is a written message that is sent to a specific person or group of people, usually on paper, for the purpose of communication.

Definition 2:

A letter is a form of written communication that can express thoughts, feelings, and ideas, or convey information and requests.

There are several types of letters, including:

What is Formal letter: 

These are letters written for official or professional purposes, such as job applications, business correspondence, and complaints. They follow a specific format and use formal language.

While writing a formal letter you have to be conscious about to whom you are writing, one should be careful while writing the salutations of the letter and addressing, as the name suggests there should be a formality in addressing in this type of letter because a reader is an official person and the point mentioned in the letter belongs to your interest, not the reader hence there should be a formality in this type of letter. Formal letters use semi block format.

In a formal letter, one should be careful about the selection of words and it should be to the point and short, not to exaggerate but should be concise so that the reader read and get it. Formal letters are generally precise and to the point.

Types of formal letters

There are 10 types of formal letter which are;

Cover letter
Business letter
Resignation letter
Recommendation letter
Complaint letter
Inquiry letter
Acknowledgment letter
Thank-you letter
Application letter
Offer letter

What is Informal letter:

 These are letters written for personal or informal purposes, such as writing to a friend or family member. They do not follow a specific format and can use casual language.

In contrast to the formal letter here formality or epic language is not necessary but you can write as you want, it can be a detailed letter and the salutations and addressing can be informal.

Types of informal letters

There are 5 types of informal letters:

Personal letters
Friendly letters
Letter to a pen pal
Letters of apology
Letters of congratulations.

What is Business letter:

 These are letters written for commercial purposes, such as sales letters, purchase orders, and invoices. They follow a specific format and use formal language.

These letters should be enticing and convincible so that the particular purpose can be achieved, one should be careful in the selection of words and structure of sentences so that it can be understandable and simple and the point be clear. All business letters have one thing in common I,e all business letters have the sender’s name and address, as well as the date, in common.

How many parts of business letters

There are four parts of a business letter:

=> Letterhead (or header)
=> Date
=> Inside Address
=> Salutation

What is Cover letter:

 These are letters that accompany a resume or CV when applying for a job. They provide an introduction to the applicant and explain how the person’s qualifications align with the job requirements.

In this type of letter one presents arguments for the skills and qualifications mentioned in the resume and CV so that the receiver of these documents be convinced that the qualifications and skills present in the resume and CV are true, and you can say that the cover letter support and back your skills and qualifications mentioned in the resume and CV. This type of letter is mostly written when applying for online jobs on platforms like Reddit, Fiverr, and Upwork cover letter.

What is Complaint letter: 

Complaint letters are written to express dissatisfaction with a product or service. They typically include details about the problem, the customer’s expectations, and a request for resolution.

As the name clarifies that the complaint letters are written by customers or clients when they experience something under their expectations, so that the shortcomings may be amended by the owner, in the modern age of information and technology products and services are being sold online and the platform that is presenting the products and services is having a particular site for the complaint of the customers and when they get any complain they react at the same time.

Thank you letter: 

These are letters written to express gratitude or appreciation for something.

In this type of letter, one presents his/her happiness or satisfaction towards any person or any institute, etc for being credited with words or something, in this modern age it has become a common part of our norms, you can see it everywhere whether in online platforms or offline.

Recommendation letter: 

These are letters written by a person to recommend another person for a job, school, or another opportunity such as recommendation letters for scholarships.

When a person’s skills, qualifications, and credibility are judged by special panels he/she is recommended for being assigned to a particular position, and the letter written for this purpose is what we call a recommendation letter.

Resignation letter: 

These are letters written by an employee to inform an employer of their decision to leave the company.

This type of letter can be written for the public or private office, company, or institute to let them know that you are leaving the position you were holding for the best interest of the concerned authority and yourself. So it is a kind of formal letter and should follow a special pattern. Examples of resignation letters are;

[Your Name] Resignation Letter
Notice of Resignation
Resignation Letter – [Your Name]
[Your Name], [Position], Resignation Notice
[Your Name], [Date], Resignation from [Company Name]

Apology letters:

 These are letters written to apologize for something.

Points to be kept in mind while writing apology letters, that genre of the letter is written by someone when he/she admits his/her mistake, to someone whom you did something wrong or told something undue, the purpose of this letter is forgiveness from the person you did or told something wrong.

Persuasive letters:

 These are letters written to persuade someone to take a particular action or to change their opinion.

In the modern age of information and technology, everyone is having logic, before taking an action like purchasing something or booking a service his/her sense should be challenged by using extraordinary words that should be enticing enough to draw the attention of the people.

In a persuasive letter that is specially written for the purpose of sale, one should write a letter for a targeted class of people and should hit the pain points of the targeted audience so that they will be persuaded to take the necessary action, the persuasive letter should challenge both the logic and emotion of the customers so that they will take immediate action. In this epoch, almost every business uses a persuasive letter to get maximum sales. This type of letter follows a special pattern that is abbreviated as AIDA(attention interest desire and action) most persuasive letters follow this pattern so that the attention of the selected people can be grabbed, here you use words very carefully and creates a Sense of urgency so that immediate action can be taken.

How to write Friendly letters:

 These are letters written to friends or family members to keep in touch or to share news or information.

As mentioned earlier, this letter is a subcategory of an informal letter it doesn’t follow a special pattern, here you speak about yourself and ask about the well-being and circumstances of your friends or relatives.

Condolence letter: 

These are letters written to express sympathy or condolences to someone who has experienced a loss.

condolence letter has also become common, it is mostly written to express Sampath on the death of someone’s relative and you share the same feelings as the person to whom you are writing for.

Farewell letters:

 These are letters written to say goodbye to or by someone leaving a company, organization, or personal relationship.

The farewell letter is written to or by someone who is departing a certain institute, company, etc, here you express your experiences with the company and be grateful for being helpful and kind to you and pray for the people you were with. For example:

touching farewell letter to colleagues

farewell letter to an employee who is leaving

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