Informal Letter Features and Format
This post is especially for those students who want to know what are Informal letters, Format of Informal Letters and Features of Informal Letter. People of different areas format informal letter differently. After reading this post you can practice by writing informal letters in your own words. For examples of Informal letters visit this post.
What are Informal Letters?
History of the letter is very old. According to Wikipedia, letters have existed from the time of ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer, through Rome, Greece and China, up to the present time. There are several types of letters but today we will discuss Informal Letters. Before moving to the Features of Informal letter let me tell you what are informal letters in fact? Informal letters are a kind of non-professional letters which you write to your friends, family members, classmates and teachers etc. Formal letters are professional letters and in them, the writer needs to use careful words and sentences. But on the other hand, Informal letters are non-official so the language is not sticky like formal letters.
You may also like how to write an Informal Letter?
What are the main features of informal letter?
A classical Informal Letter has the following main features.
- Letter writer’s address
- Date
- Opening Salutation
- The body of the letter (the reason for writing a letter)
- Closing Sentences
- Signature
Example of Informal Letter to Understand
Letter Writer’s Address
This part of the letter is very important. The writer should place the return address on the top of the letter and justify it to the right. See the example image. See in the Image (F/A).
Date
Right after your address, you will write the date when you are writing this letter. You can use any date format according to your region. See (F/B) in the image.
Opening Salutation
Because this is an informal letter, you are free to choose the words for opening salutations. This portion of an informal letter depends on how close you are to the receiver. Usually, this sections starts with:
- Dear Aamir
- My Dear Aamir
- Dear Friend,
- Dear Mother/Father
- Dear Sister/Brother
See (F/C) in the Image above.
The body of the Informal Letter
This section of the letter consists of 3 parts which are mentioned below.
- Opening or Greetings
- The main body (the reason for writing a letter)
- signing off (closing)
You will start the letter with greetings as you can say, How are you? How is life going on? I hope everybody is healthy and good at home etc. The main body could be long or short depends on the purpose of writing the letter. Closing is a section where you will say goodbye to the receiver of the letter. You can close the letter with these sentences, I am looking forward to seeing you soon, I can’t wait for your reply, See you soon, Pay my regards to all at home, with best regards/wishes. See (F/D & E) in the image.
Signature Block
We are talking about an informal letter and a receiver is a person, you know very well. You can sign just your first name and justify it to the left side. With your signatures, you can use these words, Your affectionate, Best regards, Yours sincerely etc. For understanding, you can see (F/F) in the image above.
The format of Informal Letter
Some Easy and Simple Examples of Informal Letter are available here.
