Definition word letter writing

Letter writing is the exchange of written or printed messages.

Distinctions are commonly drawn between personal letters (sent between family members, friends, or acquaintances) and business letters (formal exchanges with businesses or government organizations).

Letter writing occurs in many forms and formats, including notes, letters, and postcards. Sometimes referred to as hard copy or snail mail, letter writing is often distinguished from forms of computer-mediated communication (CMC), such as email and texting.

In his book Yours Ever: People and Their Letters (2009), Thomas Mallon identifies some of the subgenres of the letter, including the Christmas card, the chain letter, the mash note, the bread-and-butter letter, the ransom note, the begging letter, the dunning letter, the letter of recommendation, the unsent letter, the Valentine, and the war-zone dispatch.

Observations

«The test, I think, of a good letter is a very simple one. If one seems to hear the person talking as one reads the letter, it is a good letter.»
(A.C. Benson, «Letter-Writing.» Along the Road, 1913)

«‘The art of beautiful letter writing has declined’ with our supposed advances, [Alvin Harlow] lamented—a cry we have been hearing ever more often in the eighty years since his book appeared. Those of us with a strong inclination toward the past must remember that, to its early writers, the handwritten or even chiseled letter must itself have seemed a marvel of modernity, and surely, even in Queen Atossa’s time, there were those who complained that letter writing—by its nature a ‘virtual’ activity—was cutting down on all the face time that civilized Persians had previously enjoyed.»
(Thomas Mallon, Yours Ever: People and Their Letters. Random House, 2009)

Literary Correspondence

«The age of the literary correspondence is dying, slowly but surely electrocuted by the superconductors of high modernity. This expiration was locked into a certainty about 20 years ago; and although William Trevor and V.S. Naipaul, say, may yet reward us, it already sounds fogeyish to reiterate that, no, we won’t be seeing, and we won’t be wanting to see, the selected faxes and emails, the selected texts and tweets of their successors.»
(Martin Amis, «Philip Larkin’s Women.» The Guardian, October 23, 2010)

Historical Records

«So much of what we know of the world stems from private letters. Our principal eyewitness account of Vesuvius derives from a letter from Pliny the Younger to the Roman historian Tacitus. Our knowledge of the Roman world has been hugely enriched by the discovery in the early 1970s of inky messages on oak and birch discovered not far from Hadrian’s Wall in Britain. The letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn and of Napoleon to Josephine show infatuation, weakness and anger—useful additions to rounded character portraits. The list carries on to the present day, with recently collected correspondence by Paul Cezanne, P.G. Wodehouse and Christopher Isherwood adding nuance to influential lives.»
(Simon Garfield, «The Lost Art of Letter-Writing.» The Wall Street Journal, November 16-17, 2013)

The Future of Letter Writing

Jail Mail

«In prisons across the country, with their artificial pre-Internet worlds where magazines are one of the few connections to the outside and handwritten correspondence is the primary form of communication, the art of the pen-to-paper letter to the editor is thriving. Magazine editors see so much of it that they have even coined a term for these letters: jail mail.»
(Jeremy W. Peters, «The Handwritten Letter, an Art All but Lost, Thrives in Prison.» The New York Times, Jan. 7, 2011)

Electronic Letter-Writing

«When I sift through my past week’s electronic in-box, I find easily half a dozen messages that qualify as letters in every traditional sense. They are coherently structured, written with care and design. They enlighten, they illuminate, they endear. They even follow the old epistolary ritual of signing off (not ‘yours ever,’ but some venerable variant: ‘yours’ . . . ‘cheers’ . . . ‘all best’ . . . ‘xo’). . . .

«[T]hese messages would probably never have come my way if the senders had been obliged to take out pen and paper. Indeed, it is the very facility of electronic communication that makes the Luddite soul tremble. . . .

«Even in the age of tweets and pokes and blasts, the impulse to bring order to our thoughts and lives persists, and at the risk of sounding like a technojingoist, one might argue that technology facilitates this impulse as much as it impedes it.»​
(Louis Bayard, «Personal Compositions.» The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2010)

Letter writing is a significant channel of correspondence between two individuals or groups who lives in different geography. Earlier, when the phone and email were not invented, the lone method for correspondence between individuals was through letters.  The main objective of letter writing is to share news, information and greetings.

A letter is a composed message that can be manually written or imprinted on paper and writing a letter is an expertise or skill that is to be leaned or developed. It includes proper structuring of the letter, writing the key purpose precisely and maintaining a correct format of letter while curating it. Generally, there are two types of  letters i.e. formal and informal. A formal letter is composed or written for any official and business communication and informal letter are all those personal letters which are being used to communicate with friends and family. 

LETTER WRITING

‘Letter writing’ is an art. It is nowadays an essential part of life — personal as well as professional. It is one of the important arts of civilized life. It is an art that every educated man should develop. We have to write many letters in our day-to-day life. Hence, it is desirable to know what makes these letters attractive and impactful. The value of a good letter is great, both in business and in personal correspondence. A good letter never fails to impress. A badly written letter may even lead to misunderstanding.

A letter is a substitute for the conversation. It is nothing but speaking with a pen. It should, therefore, be as simple in form and natural in style as if the writer were actually speaking to the addressee.

The objective of a letter writer is to convey a message to the person at the receiving end, there being no personal contact. It is, therefore, natural that language should be simple, clear and concise.

The style of a letter should be adapted to the person and the subject concerned. To superiors, it should be respectful; to juniors, courteous to friends, familiar to relations, affectionate to children, simple and playful. On important subjects, it should be logical and impressive; lighter subjects, easy and flowing; tender and sympathetic for condolence lively and joyous for congratulations. In business letters, politeness and tact are very important while in personal letters, sincerity is the highest virtue.

It is, therefore, essential to learn not only the technique but also the art of writing letters through constant practice

Some Important Point to Focus In Letter Writing :

1. Write as you speak. Your letter should be in the nature of a conversation.

2. Adopt a familiar style for those who are intimate, but write in a formal

3. Use a suitable beginning before you start with the actual letter.

4. Write what you have to say-clearly, briefly and precisely.

5. Be courteous and tactful. Avoid offending.

6. Avoid boring remarks. Better do away with hackneyed phrases

7. Never fail to date your letter

8. A student should write in a simple and clear language. The style of a letter depends on the nature of  its Contents. Private letters should be in the conversational style: business letters, short, concise and to the point and official letters, formal and dignified.

9. Correct spellings are equally desirable even in the most familiar forms of correspondence. A letter should be legible, grammatically correct and rightly spelt.

10. Avoid bad punctuation which is often the cause of obscurity

Kinds of Letters

There are generally two kinds of letters:

1. Personal/ Private/ Informal Letters

2. Official/ Formal Letters

1. Personal Letters: These letters are written to friends and relatives. These letters include notes of invitation, letters of congratulation, condolence, recommendation, introduction, request, etc.
2. Official Letters: They are written to officials of government and similar public bodies. Letters of complaint and information to officials, applications for jobs and other similar letters come under this category
3. Note : Business Letters are also treated as official letters.

Types of Letter Writing:

Letter writing can be distinguished on the basis of their content, formalities, purpose, etc.  Hence, types of letter writing are broadly classified into two types: formal letter writing and informal letter writing.

1. What is Formal Letter Writing?

Formal letter writing is used to write letters to business houses, customers, government officials, school/college authorities, editors, colleagues, strangers and acquaintances. As the term itself indicates, a formal letter is written in a formal style i.e. its language and tone is formal, impersonal or objective but pleasant. Therefore, it precludes any informal expressions, greetings or contracted forms of words. The language is straight forward and to the point. Though at times a formal letter may be strongly worded, it is never rude or impolite.

Types of Formal Letter Writing:

Following are the few types of Formal Letters:

1. Business letter: These letters can be written to an employer of the same company, by an employer to his employee, to the suppliers or other business partners, and to the customers.
2. Application letter: These letters are written to apply for a position within an organisation or an institution. Application Letters can be written for many purposes like, job application letters to apply for jobs, college application letters for admissions and leave application letters to apply for leaves etc.
3. Recommendation Letter: Such letters are required by the employer/authority to know more about the employee/applicant from a different perspective. Recommendation letters are written by the people who are in a good relationship with the employee/applicant to get an all round view of the person.
4. Inquiry Letter: This letters are used to ask direct and detailed questions usually bullet-listed to derive/request information from the recipient.
5. Resignation Letter: These letters are written by an employee who wishes to leave his or her job. This letter is sent to the immediate superior of the employee you wish to resign.
6. Invitation Letter: Such letters are written to invite and urge the receivers to attend a party or a meeting organized by the sender.
7. Order Letter: Such letters are sent by a consumer and received by a supplier in order to ask the supplier for a certain amount of products.
8. Sales Letter: These letters are intended to get the reader to purchase an advertised product. Usually persuasive statements are used to attract the attention of the prospective buyer and to increase sales.
9. Dismissal Letter: There are issued when a company wishes to inform one of its employees that they no longer require their services, so they must leave their position.
10. Transfer Letter: These are issued by an organization or company to inform one of its employees that they will be transferred from one department or headquarter to another.
11. Apology Letter: It is issued when the sender wishes to apologize for any action that has brought negative consequences for the receiver.
12. Congratulation Letter: These letters can be written for different reasons like, promotion letters for a promotion at work, for winning a prize at school, for participating in a competition.

What is Informal Letter Writing?

Informal letter writing is used to write letters to relatives and friends. Since such letters are personal in nature. They should be written in a simple, clear, easy to understand, natural and lively style just as one talks to a friend/relative.

Types of Informal Letter Writing:

Following are the few types of Formal Letters:

1. Personal Letter: In such letters, you share and express your feelings with your friend, relative or your spouse. For example: letter to propose someone.
2. Letter inquiring about the health: One may inquire about the well-being of a friend or relativeby writing a letter to them.
3. Letter of invitation: One may write a letter to a friend or relative to invite him/her to a party, wedding or any informal function. For example, party invitation letter or birthday invitation letter etc.
4. Letter to inform about the sudden demise of someone: These letters are written  to inform about an unexpected passing away of a family member, friend or relative which has left behind a devastated family.
5. Letter to congratulate: Such letters are written to congratulate someone on his/her accomplishments, anniversary, birthday, success in career, etc.
6. Letter to seek help: These letters are written to ask for help from a relative, friend or any acquaintance.
7. Letter sent along with a personalized gift: Such letters are written to show love or gratitude and are sent along with an attached gift for a friend, relative or spouse.
8. Letter written to plan a weekend or vacation with friends: These letters are written to friend(s) for planning a vacation or weekend out.
9. Letter written to apologize for a mistake: Such Letters are written to a friend, relative or acquaintance to apologizing for a mistake made or a misunderstanding that would have sprung up between the sender and the receiver of the letter.

Letter Writing Format and its Importance:

A letter writing format is the most essential part in writing a letter. It makes the letter look well organized and enables it to express the meaning more explicitly to the recipient. It is, therefore, a substantial part that the sender should never compromise with. The entire structuring of a letter depends upon its format. Following are the letter writing formats for both Formal and Informal letter writing:

Formal Letter Writing Format                                                                                        

A sample of letter writing format for formal letter is given below:

Informal Letter Writing Format:

A sample format for informal letter writing is given below:

Letter Writing Terms:

Letter Writing Tips:

Let’s check some letter writing tips. It will help you to draft a letter accordingly:

• Keep it short and to the point: Letters involving business (personal or corporate) should be concise, factual, and focused. Try to never exceed one page or you will be in risk of losing your reader.
• Focus on the recipient’s needs: While writing the letter, focus on the information requirements of your audience, the intended addressee.
• Use simple and appropriate language: Your letter should use simple straightforward language, for clarity and precision. Use short sentences and don’t let paragraphs exceed three or four sentences.
• Focus on the opening and closing of a letter: Opening a letter in the correct manner is of utmost importance. Formal letters open with a particular structure and greeting that is formal in nature. Informal letters can be addressed to the person’s name or any informal greeting as the writer wishes. Even when closing the letter, it must be kept in mind what type of letter is being written. Formal letters end respectfully and impersonally, whereas informal letters may end with a more personal touch.
• Divide your letter into short sections and use lots of informative headings. Headings will help you keep your sections short, especially if your headings are very specific. 
• Lastly, it is always essential to check your spellings and grammar. Reread and revise before finally delivering it.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word ‘letter.’ Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.