Before emails were created, we have been writing letters, even to this day where electronics and gadgets can now connect to the Internet and get you to talk to people who are far away. A letter is like a fashion trend that never goes out of style.
Letters are written for various reasons. When you apply for a job, a scholarship, or for graduate school, you write an application letter. If you want to confess your love to somebody but too shy to do so, no problem. Our sample love letters can help you your special someone know how you feel. So go ahead and browse through this article.
Sample Resignation Letters
Official Resignation Letter
Current Position Resignation Letter
Sample Appointment Letters
Employee Appointment Letter
Research Intern Appointment Letter
Sample Cover Letters
Cover Letter Format for Job Application
Cover Letter Example
Sample Job Application Letters
Bank Job Application Letter
Sample Joining Letters
Job Joining Letter
What Is the Difference between a Formal and Informal Letter?
A formal letter is written for formal or business transactions or concerns. It is a letter used for formal communication, especially if you do not know the person you are writing to. It is an official letter that uses a specific format that is usually for business and with a formal purpose. Examples of formal letters are letters of inquiry, letters of request, and recommendation letters. An informal letter, on the other hand, are letters that you write to your family, friends, relatives, and acquaintances. Informal letters are also personal letters that contain a lot of information to communicate things to your friends, or if there is something you can’t say personally.
Types of Formal Letters
- Recommendation letters are used when writing about someone for character reference, employment, or for academic applications. Recommendation letters are written by people who know the person they are recommending. It usually contains details about a person’s skills, characteristics, abilities, and qualifications. You may also check medical school recommendation letter samples if you know someone going into medical school.
- Order letters are used when a business or customer orders goods or services to a certain company. Details about the service or goods should be included, like model number, name and brand of the product, and the desired number of product.
- Letters of complaint are written to complain about a certain product, service, person, or company. Most complaints are because of faulty products and bad or unsatisfactory service. This type of letter can also be used as a complaint that is filed in court for criminal cases. You may also check the letter of complaint samples.
- Letters of inquiry asks the recipient about a certain subject. This letter should be written clearly. The writer should list all the questions they want answers to. A letter of inquiry can also be used by students or parents to ask certain information from their schools or the school they are planning to attend.
- You send a follow-up letter after you have the initial letter sent. This is to check updates or any response from the first letter you have sent. This may also be a sales letter and a thank-you letter sent by businessmen and applicants alike.
- Sales letters are written by businesses to sell something to another company or business. This formal letter is like a sales pitch. This type of letter encourages the readers to take action so it has a strong call to action.
- We write acknowledgment letters to let the other party know that we have received their letter or we have received a particular item that they have sent.
- Application letters can be written for employment purposes, academic purposes, or for personal purposes. Job seekers write application letters to the company they are applying for. People who wish to study medicine or want to get their master’s degree write academic application letters. Application letters may also be written if one wishes to apply for a loan.
- Employees write a letter of resignation if they want to leave the company or employer that they are with. This serves as a notification for leaving. The letter should include the reason for leaving and the effective date of the resignation.
Sample Promotion Letter
Site Promotion Letter
Sample Letters of Agreement
Side Letter of Agreement
Offer Letter of Agreement
Appreciation Letters
Employee Appreciation Letter
Appreciation Letter for Donation
Sample Love Letters
Love Letter to Him
Marketing Letters
Client Marketing Letter
Marketing Director Cover Letter
Relieving Letters
Format of Relieving Letter
Employee Relieving Letter
Undertaking Letters
Undertaking Letter Format
Developer Undertaking Letter
Letters of Partnership
Letter of Intent for Partnership
Sample Request Letter for Partnership
Sample Quotation Letters
Quotation Request Letter
Sample Business Letters
Business Proposal Letter
Parts of a Letter
Letters may look like just a group of words or a block of paragraphs, but they have parts too. We will identify and discuss the essential parts that make up a letter.
- The heading of the letter is placed at the upper left-hand side of the letter. It includes the date, the name, address, and the contact details of the receiver. This is how it should be written in a formal letter. This way the receiver will know that the letter is addressed to them and not to anybody else.
- Letters should always have a greeting or salutation as an opening. It may be something general like, “To Whom It May Concern,” or a personalized greeting like, “Dear Mrs. Philips” or “Dear Albert.” Casual greetings are usually used when writing letters to friends or family. However, it is important to have a formal greeting when writing business letters.
- The body of the letter comprises the biggest part. It is here that you write about the purpose of writing your letter. If you are applying for a job, you introduce yourself and provide details on why you should be hired. If you are writing to inquire about a certain school scholarship, then you write here the reason why. The body contains the main information that you want the receiver of the letter to know.
Since the body is the meat of the letter, there are certain things to remember when you are writing it.
• No matter what type of letter you are writing, even if it is for a friend, you should always be courteous. If you practice bad language and such in writing letters, you may put that habit on other types of letters you write. Who knows what it can bring.
• Your letter should be simple. You are writing to tell someone something. If you used too complicated words or thoughts, your reader might end up confused. A misunderstanding might occur and we don’t want that.
• Be natural. Write as if you are talking to the person you are sending the letter to. You will be amazed on how easy it is to write a letter if you do it this way.
• An interesting letter is worth reading. Writing to people close to you might be easy, but making an application letter or recommendation letter interesting is like a task. But again, keeping it short and interesting will surely get you the win.
• It is good if you put different topics in different paragraphs. This way the reader will easily understand that this topic is different from the other. It is important that your message is easy to read and is coherent. Otherwise you will leave your reader hanging.
• The trick to a neat letter is to review it. Your family and friends might not mind the spelling and grammar slips, but they are very important when writing application, sales, and recommendation letters. So review your letter and save yourself from shame.
- The closing part of your letter is the ending where you say, “Sincerely yours.”
- Lastly, the signature. You should put your name and signature at the bottom of the letter.
We also have complaint letter examples and sample business complaint letters available for download.
Sample Experience Letters
Work Experience Letter
Request for Experience Letter
Sample Introduction Letters
Company Introduction Letter
Sample Letters of Intent
Business Letter of Intent
Sample Management Letters
Management Representation Letter
Sample Letters of Inquiry
Pre-Grant Letter of Inquiry
Sample Acknowledgement Letters
Fund Acknowledgement Letter
Contribution Acknowledgement Letter
Sample Demand Letters
Final Demand Letter
Demand for Payment Letter
Declaration Letters
Customs Declaration Letter
Courier Declaration Letter
Leave Letter Samples
Leave Request Cover Letter
Company Leave Letter
Nomination Letters
Cardholder Nomination Letter
Parent Nomination Letter
How Is a Letter Sent from the Sender to the Receiver?
Before the emergence of the Internet and social media, writing to someone from far away would take time. Before emails became popular, where type and send usually does the trick, we used to write our letters on pieces of plain or decorated papers and lovely envelopes. There are some people who still do. I, for one, still like to send snail mail, as we call it. But does the new generation still know what it is and how it works? Sure they know the name, but how about how it works? This is a little something about that for those of you who don’t know.
- The complete address of both the sender and receiver should be written clearly and legibly on the envelope. The sender’s address is written in case it needs to be returned to the sender. And by complete address, it means the address with the street name, city, zip code, province, and country. Putting the zip code will make it easy for the postman to find the address.
- The receiver’s address should be written at the center of the envelope. If you put it somewhere else, the postman may get confused and have your letter returned.
- The sender needs to buy a postage stamp and stick to the upper right side of the envelope. The stamp price and design will depend on where the letter will be sent.
- The sender then drops the letter to the post box. From here it will be sorted based on their destination.
- The national postal service will then have it sent to its destination. Once it gets to the destination place, it is again sorted by area before it is finally sent to the receiver.
There is actually no telling how long it would take for these letters to reach their destination. They say 3–4 days or 2 weeks. Based on my experience they usually take forever, but I still do get them. Now ain’t that interesting. If you still want more, you can check our sample business introduction letters.
Letters of Credit
Irrevocable Letter of Credit
Letter of Credit Application
Sample Letters of Application
Cover Letter of Application
Sample Letters of Recommendation
Sample Letter of Recommendation
Sample Complaint Letters
Formal Complaint Letter
Sample Donation Letters
Sample Employment Letters
Termination of Employment Letter
Employment Verification Letter
Sample Notice Letters
Formal Notice Letter
Notice Period Letter
Invitation Letters
Participant Invitation Letter
Invitation Letter for Interview
Conformation Letter Samples
Conformation Letter for Job Offer
Speaker Conformation Letter
Guarantee Letters
Model Guarantee Letter
Guarantee Letter for Visa Application
Letter Writing Style or Format
It is important to determine what type of style or format you are going to use before writing our letter. This is because not all types of letters are written the same. An informal letter can be written however you want it to be, but a formal letter needs to follow a certain style in order to look businesslike and effective. The three letter writing styles, namely block, modified block and semi-block, are discussed here. You an also check sample letter templates in word.
- Block format letters are mainly used when writing business letters. In this format, the contents of the letters are aligned to the left and the sentences have single spacing. The paragraphs here have double line spacing. This format makes the letter look neat and professional.
- A semi-block format is similar to the block format, but the paragraphs are indented.
- In a modified block format, the date and the signature lines start at the horizontal center of the letter.
Sample Order Letters
Suspension Order Letter
Letters of Support
Subcontractor Letter of Support
Letter of Financial Support
Sample Offer Letters
Employment Offer Letter
General Offer Letter
Sample Proposal Letters
Event Proposal Letter
Sample Request Letters
Payment Request Letter
Donation Request Letter
Sample Thank You Letters
Thank You for Donation Letter
Sample Termination Letters
Employee Termination Letter
Contract Termination Letter
Sample Apology Letters
Apology Request Letter
Formal Apology Letter
Sample Transfer Letters
Internal Transfer Cover Letter
Dismissal Letters
Dismissal Letter for Performance
Dismissal Letter to patient
Authorization Letters
Visitor Authorization Letter
Formal Letters
Formal Notification Letter
Sample Formal Letter
Grievance Letter Samples
Formal Grievance Letter
Complaint/Grievance Resolution Letter
Motivation Letters
Motivation Letter for Scholarship
MBA Motivation Letter
Permission Letters
General Permission Letter
Site Permission Letter
Transmittal Letters
Application Transmittal Letter
Cost Proposal Transmittal Letter
Advantages of a Letter
- They are particularly used in businesses and official communications. You can also check formal business letter examples and business proposal letter examples.
- Letters can be read right away. It doesn’t need any devices like cell phones or tablets to be able to receive and read it. Come to think about it, not everybody has a smart phone.
- Advertisements sent through mail can reach and be read by a lot of people in a certain area. If it was sent through email, they would go directly to the spam folder. And even I wouldn’t want to open and read it.
- One great thing about letters is they are difficult to falsify, like the signatures in documents.
- Letters are hard copy or physical copy of something that one can use as proof of a transaction or an agreement.
- Letters can also serve as one’s personal record about a certain communication, especially about business or legal matters.
- How would you feel if you receive an email from your favorite singer? You would feel happy and excited. How about receiving a letter that is handwritten by your favorite singer? You would be more than just happy, you would be elated. This earns you a memorabilia and bragging rights!
- You can attach a lot of other paper stuff in a letter or small objects inside the envelope. You can also attach printed pictures or sticker pictures. That would be neat.
- You don’t get viruses and malware if you receive a letter. So there is no scare in opening and reading that letter as soon as you get it.
- If you write letters often, there is no doubt that you will be able to master the art of good writing in the long run. I personally think that people who are good at writing letters are awesome!
- Writing letters can be more therapeutic and exciting than writing emails. Therapeutic in a sense that you think first about what you write before you write it. Which means you can avoid writing harsh things to the receiver. It is exciting in a sense that you have to wait for a couple of days before you get a reply for your letter. That is just sweet.
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