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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.