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1. An Introduction to Letter Writing
Professional, business, permission and request letter writing guide in English
Editorial Staff • April 13, 2019  3 minutes read
A
letter is a written communication between two persons. It takes the place of
conversation so it should be as simple and straightforward as day to day
conversation is. We should remember, however, that conversation of an
educated person is up to the mark. So the language should be impressive,
clear and grammatical. People today are very busy and seldom have time to read or
write long, letters. So no attempt should be made to go into unnecessary details or to
write conventional sentences about the weather, health and general well-being of the
person addressed. A letter should be to the point.
Read: How do you start writing a short story in simple four Steps?
Introduction
Letters are prose-compositions. They should not unnecessarily be used as a vehicle to
express poetic thoughts and sentiments. The language of a letter should be clear and
correct but not flowery or superfine, because in that case the personal touch of
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2. conversation is lost, and a letter begins to give us a feeling of superficiality. It looks
more like a pose, or an exercise in fine composition than a true expression of one’s
feelings.
A letter should be sincere. Any attempt to indulge in mental acrobatics, or to show by a
process of superficial reasoning that you can prove the impossible or say clever things
which look nice so long as one does not think about them, will leave a bad taste.
The most important point to be remembered is that a letter should be reasonable. The
matter in the letter should be handled carefully. When you are writing to a friend who is
suffering from a fatal disease, it will be highly improper to write
You are suffering from such a serious disease. Only a few of
those who suffer from it leave their beds. Let us hope it will be
different in your case
It may be true, but it is not prudent. You should, in a case like this, encourage the
patient, give a feeling that he will recover very soon. To do this you should tell him all
those things that you will do when he regains health. The other thing that you can do in
such a case is to tell him some interesting facts, a few anecdotes, a joke or two, so that
he may have some diversion or pleasure in his hour of suffering.
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Conventions of Letter Writing
Letters are generally divided into two classes:
1. Social letters
2. Business letters
Social letters include all kinds of friendly letters, invitations, requests made to friends
and their replies to them. We shall first deal with this kind of letters.
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3. 
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1: How to begin a social letter
In all such letters, the address of the writer should be written in the upper right-hand
corner of the paper. The form in which it should be written is very rigid, and should
always be followed very strictly, especially in putting the punctuation marks. The date
on which the letter is written should be placed under the address. A few examples are
given for the benefit of the students.
Katchery Road,
Sialkot City.
July 10, 2002.
Ismat Mansions,
4, Talat Road,
Akhtarabad.
2nd August, 2002.
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In the case of very close friends, the address can be ignored and mere name of
the city is enough because they know who you are,
The following points should be noted:
All letters with which the words begin in the address are capitals.
An address should be written in the following form.
Katchery Road,
Sialkot City.
July 10, 2002.
Punctuation marks should be noted very carefully.
The date must be given in either of the two forms given above. All other forms
should be avoided. A date given in any of the following forms is not correct.
11/16/2002 18-2-2002.
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Salutation
The next important point is the Salutation. it differs with age, relationship and the
degree of friendship. We consider them one by one.
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4. 
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Relatives who are older than the writer are addressed as follows:
My dear Father,
My dear Mother,
My dear Brother,
My dear Uncle,
My dear Cousin,
My dear sister,
In the case of relatives who are younger than the writer one can use the name of
the person addressed:
My dear Salima, My dear Akhtar,
When they are of nearly the same age, it will be better to use their full name:
My dear lsmat Mahmood,
Friendship has its degrees. Some friends are very intimate, Some are not so. The
situation will, in this case, depend upon the degree of closeness. A very close
friend can be addressed as:
My dear Ahmad, or My dear Bhola,
But in the case of friends with whom our relations are only recently formed the
salutation should include full name:
My dear Ahmad Ali,
A person may be just an acquaintance with whom friendship has not yet
developed or whom you have met only once or twice. In such a case it will be
more appropriate to use Mr., Miss or Mrs. before his or her name:
My dear Mrs. Akhtar Mahmood,
My dear Mr. Masood Ahmad,
But the acquaintance may be such that you do not want it to ripen into
friendship, or you want to keep the man at a distance, so that relations may be
purely formal. in that case the words ‘My dear’ should be replaced by ‘Dear’
Dear Mr. Abdul Qayyum,
Dear Miss Waheeda Qureshi,
Body of the letter
The letter should not begin in a business tone.
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5. 
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Received your letter dated 4th August. Thanks for the same
is not an attractive beginning for a letter to a friend. It should carry some warmth and
enthusiasm which one feels for a friend.
Subscription
These are the words under which we sign our name. it depends on the relation in which
the writer stands to the addressee. Here are some of the subscriptions:
Relative older than the person writing:
Yours affectionately, Yours very affectionately,
Your most affectionate……..
(write on the dotted line the relationship you have with the person concerned),
Relatives younger than the person writing:
Yours affectionately,
Friends: Yours very sincerely,
Acquaintances, or where people have not to be encouraged to become informal:
Yours sincerely,Under the subscription you write your name. In the case of older
relatives, it is proper to put down only that part of the name by which one is
usually called in the close family circle.In the case of younger relatives the full
name should be written. This does not include surname or caste. You should
never write:Chaudhri Allah Ditta,
It should only be: Allah Ditta,With close friends one may give only the first name
or the name by which he is usually addressed by his friends but not so in the
case of mere acquaintances. In the latter case the full name should be given.
Read also: How do you start writing a short story in simple four Steps?
2: How to Write Business Letters
Business letters are different from social letters. Here the personal touch is not very
important. Moreover, we have to hide our feelings, whatever they may be. It is good to
show warmth towards the other party, though without being sentimental. We have to
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6. 
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be brief and clear in this busy world, where no one can spare time for matters not
related to the business. The form of this kind of letters is different from that of Social
letters.
No items.
Address. On the upper right corner, the name of the firm which is writing the letter is
given and under it the name of the firm to whom the letter is addressed.
Messrs Ahmad & Co.,
Beadon Road,
Karachi.
Messrs Asghar & Co.,
Ferozepur Road.
Lahore.
Salutation
The usual salutation when a letter is written by one firm to another, or by a client
to a firm, is:
Dear Sirs,
When a firm writes to a client it is:
Dear Sir,
In the Government offices an officer writing to his superior always uses the word:
Sir,
In case of a memorandum, there is no salutation and no address. The subject is
dealt with right away and the name of the party, to whom it is addressed, is
written opposite the signature.
In a demi-official (semi-official) letter (D.O.) an officer addresses another by
name and the subscription is “Yours sincerely.” This type of letter is closer a
personal letter.
Some Salutation and Subscription
Address Salutation Subscription
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7. PARENTS
GRAND-PARENTS
My dear Father,
dear Mother,My dear Grandfather,
My dear Grandmother,
Your loving son,
Yours affectionately,
Your loving grandson,
Yours very affectionately
RELATIVES (elders)
Sister
Brother
Uncle
Aunty
My dear Sister,
My dear Brother,
My dear Uncle,
My dear Aunt,
Yours affectionately,
OR
Your loving rother,
Your loving nephew, etc
RELATIVES
(youngsters)Brother
Sister
Daughter
Cousin
Nephew
Niece
Brother-in-Law
Sister-in-Law
My dear Nazir,
My dear Rubina,
My dear Akhtar,
My dear Roohi,
Yours affectionately,
FRIENDS
My dear Tufail,
Dear Bashir,
Yours sincerely,
Yours most sincerely,
Yours very sincerely,
ACQUAITANCES dear Mr. Asif Bashir,
Yours sincerely,
Yours very truly,
STRANGERS
Sir,
dear Sir,
Yours truly,
TEACHERS,
PROFESSORS,
Sir,
Madam,
Yours most obedient pupil,
Yours respectfully,
Yours obediently,
BUSINESS
LETTERS
dear Sir,
dear Sirs,
Yours faithfully,
Yours truly,
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8. Gentlemen,
 You can getYou can get PDF CopyPDF Copy of this article for offline purposes by using aboveof this article for offline purposes by using above
PDF DownloadPDF Download option.option.
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