Hello Friends... 

Sure, we all are doing well... Be careful, we must stay fit and shouldn't fall ill getting our studies affected. We shall eat and drink healthy, exercise regularly, and won't avoid our domestic and social responsibilities. And whatever time we get for ourselves at the end of the day, we must study hard for most of the time, so that we learn to think... and learn. We simply cannot afford to stop thinking, for we are learners, and we are the chosen ones who got the scope to learn... 

Let's learn to think first...

How to Write a Formal Letter

Well, many may tend to believe the fact that writing personal letters is apparently a lost art today. [Though, I think differently. You might click here only to read the first few sections to get my argument on this. And if you are interested to learn about writing personal letters, you are always free to continue with the discussion.] However, I can assure you that writing formal official/business letters is not so. On the contrary, it is on the rise as are the official/business transactions round the globe. We constantly need to request services (like we write to our local civic bodies to repair and replace the faulty street lamps in our localities), or lodge a complain (as we write to the customer care section when we are not satisfied with the service we have purchased), or exchange information (like we do as we report to our superiors about the projects we undertake under their supervision) or assign duties to others. There can be, and are actually many more situations when we need to write formal letters. 

How are these different from the personal letters we choose to write? Well, formal letters may be written to people whom we have neither known earlier, nor intend to develop a relationship with; and even when we write to people whom we know quite well (like our superiors or colleagues), we don't get engaged in buddy-talk but discuss business affairs seriously. Hence we choose to stay formal throughout dealing away with unnecessary small talks (that are so important in case of personal letters) because we don't want to engage our precious business time otherwise. Do you understand how important such communications are? So, we simply can't avoid but learn how to write such letters, for in most of the cases, though they have pre-set forms/formats, often we come across a situation where we need to draft a letter all by ourselves.

[Haven't you ever realised that these forms that we fill up at different offices for different purpose are nothing but pre-designed formal letters meant to serve our most common requirements? Back in the late 80s and early 90s, we had to write formal applications on our own to get a savings account opened in the suburban banks in most places in India. It was not a very common need of the suburban citizens by then. Hence, the banks never designed these pre-designed application forms back then. But now, you certainly don't have to write a letter on your own. You just fill up a pre-set formal letter/form.]

The Format

Let's start with the format, shall we?

The Elements

What are the elements that constitute a formal letter? Well, constitutionally a formal letter is not much different from a personal letter. That is to say, it too constitutes of the sender's address and the date, the recipient's address, a reference to the subject of the letter [this is the only special constitutional feature unique to formal official or business letters], the salutation, the body of the letter, the closure followed by the signature of the person writing the letter. And, if we have other documents to refer to in the letter for the convenience of dealing with the topic of discussion, we attach them with the letter and refer to them in the list of enclosures at the very end of the letter.

Sender's Address 

It is the address of the person who is writing the letter. But, what is an address?

It's basically a direction to reach a particular place. And there is a convention to write an address. We need to remember that we begin from the exact location and go on giving directions as long as it is needed for someone to reach that place.

Hence, most commonly we begin with the number or name of the building where we live. It is expected to be along a lane or a street, and hence we refer to it next. Then comes the colony or the locality. If your locality is along a road or avenue you refer to it. The particular locality is served by a particular post office. We refer to the post office and then to the district. If we need to direct further we refer to the state, and to the country, if required. So a typical address may include the following information:

• Number/name of the building or premises
• Street/lane or some other landmark
• Colony or locality
• Road
• Post office along with the postal code (PIN)
• District
• State or province
• Country

Do we need to refer to each and every bit of information that we have listed above? Not necessarily. We do have our buildings numbered in urban spaces but not in the rural areas. There the population being sparse, people know each other more than they do in urban pockets. They need not know the number of a particular building to reach a particular person. However in urban settings it's a must to know the number of the building to reach a particular person. So I do hope you get it clear that we write our addresses according to the requirements.

How to Write an Address?

It is customary to refer to a single piece of information in a single line. If you feel that you can easily fit two pieces of information in a single line, it is always expected that you separate them with a comma. Presently most of us prefer not to use a comma at the end of a line while writing addresses. It is always better to attend the perspective of aesthetics as far as possible. So we should align the lines while writing addresses in a particular order or sequence rather than writing them haphazardly.

Where to Write Sender's Address?

A person writing the letter may choose to write his or her own address at the very beginning either at the left hand topmost corner of the page, or at the right hand top most corner of the page, or at the very end below his/her signature at either the left hand bottom or the right hand bottom of the page.

Hands on

My own address following the above discussion may be written like this:

Anirban Bhattacharjee

G-B, Ahana Apartment

66, DumDum Road

P.O. Motijheel-700074

Kolkata

West Bengal

India

Why don't you try to write down your own address? Feel free to ask me about it if you face a problem.

We should must remember that unlike in personal letters, it is customary to write our own names when we write our addresses while writing formal letters. Personal letters are written to near and dear ones who obviously know our names. But its different when it comes to writing formal letters, isn't it?

Who do you think requires this address when you write a letter? The recipient of the letter, of course. Don't you expect a reply, or a response to what you have said? How do you think s/he might reach you back without your address? Hence, this is also known as the Return Address.

And Date

And referring to dates is certainly very important. It helps others to understand the context of our letters in a better way. And don't you think it might also help us to track how long the concerned department has taken to address the issue?

Where to Write the Date?

Again, people follow different conventions to write the date. One may write it just below the sender's address, or after the address of the recipient, or even after signing off the letter. But in no way, you can afford to miss it.

Recipient's Address

Here, we refer to the name [optional, for we may not know the person always by name] and the  designation/post/authority of the person whom we are writing to, the institution and the address of the institution.

Where Do We Write It?

Mostly, people are found to follow the convention of writing the recipient's address below the Sender's Address [and Date] along the left hand margin of the page.

Subject of the Letter

This, as we have learned earlier, is a unique constitutional element of formal letters. And this is what actually strikes the essential note of difference between a personal letter and a formal letter.

Is it that we don't deal with any real issue/topic/subject in personal letters? Of course we do, but we consider every aspect of our communication important there. Hence we don't point out to any particular issue as the prime, or the ultimate one.

On the contrary, in formal letters, we announce the subject before we actually begin so that the letter reaches the concerned official as fast as possible. If you have to write a complaint against the poor condition of drainage in your locality, you are expected to write to the Chairman of your Municipality, right? But surely you don't expect the Chairman to address your issue in person, right? You only expect him/her to forward your letter to the concerned official/department so that your issue gets addressed.

Doesn't it also reflect the fact that other 'social aspects' of communications [phatic communications] stand actually less important to the subject of the letter in formal letters? Don't we feel whatever phatic communication we do have in such letters is basically formal politeness and nothing more?

Salutation

Ways of greeting others differ from culture to culture and therefore it is different in different languages. In English we have different ways to greet others both formally as well as informally. We may use expressions like 'My dear' or 'Dear' to greet a person irrespective of the relation, age, and gender in both formal and informal contexts.

Why don't you study some formal letters on your own and make a list of the expressions used to greet the addressee?

Body of the Letter

As it comes to the body of the letter, one has to write what he or she requires to say. It depends upon the context, and you will understand it with time as you study more and more letters. What we just need to remember is very simple. We initiate the discussion directly without beating around the bush being utmost civil and polite in manner. We also need to make our argument precise and clear, and hence we can use different paragraphs to discuss different points instead of jumbling them up all together.

Closure And Signing off

We are expected to be utmost polite and civil even if we are actually lodging a complaint against when we write formal letters. Hence, we must end such letters respectfully enough. There are a number of set expressions that are most commonly used for the closure of formal letters like 'Thanks and regards', 'Warm regards', 'All the best' etc. Why don't you study on your own and list up a few more?

The ways we sign off our letters can vary widely again. You may study different letters written by different people to note down the ways you would prefer to sign off your own letters. However, I may help you at the beginning by pointing out that we may sign off our letters, be it formal or informal, to anybody- irrespective of our relation, age, and gender by saying 'Yours truly' or 'Yours sincerely'.

Where do we sign off? Again, some prefer to sign off along the right hand margin of the page while others sign along the left hand margin. How would you like to sign off?

Enclosures

This part seems to be of utmost importance as it refers to each and every referred documents in the respective order of their attachments.

A Bit of Research

Let us click the following links to get to study different formal letters written for different purpose by different people before you finalise the format you would like to follow to write formal letters.-

Source: https://www.apg-wi.com/letter-requesting-disaster-relief/pdf_a2c34486-49d4-11e6-93ec-4b68ce313c48.html

Source: https://www.allbusinesstemplates.com/template/DNSVL/sample-donation-request-letter-for-school/

Source: https://images.app.goo.gl/h69vtpFBt54qDJ3q8

Source: https://mobile.twitter.com/hrcsrilanka/status/1091555386765656064?lang=hi

Allignment

I do now feel that you all have noticed how people arrange the elements of their letters often slightly differently from others in terms of both place and order. Well, if you ask me, I always prefer the Block Format, for it's easier to remember and compose. You just arrange every element along the left hand margin of the page here. Isn't that simple enough? If you want to learn a bit more about the other formats like the Modified Block Format or the Semi Block Format, you have to click here.

Order

What about the order of arranging the elements? Again, we do have a variety of conventions. You might adopt the one popular in your society, or you might follow the commonest way of ordering the elements and begin with the Sender's/Return Address, followed by the Date, the Recipient's Address, the Subject, the Salutation, the Body of the Letter, the Closure and Signature respectively finally followed by the Enclosures, if any. That's how I compose my letters, and you are free to use any acceptable version.

The Required Vocabulary

Now as you have studied a few official letters, you might feel confident to write letters on similar subjects. But what about writing letters dealing with other issues? You may not feel so confident for you may lack the needed vocabulary. How do we settle the problem?

Simple. We just need to google and go through some letters dealing with the issues that are our concern as well. That's how we come to learn various useful words, phrases and expressions that are required to talk formally about the domain. You might consult your friends and teachers as well. At least, you can consult me as I am available.

Hands on

Here, we will be studying a letter written to the editor of some daily/newspaper to complain about some civic issues. We certainly need to remember that such letters are written as complaints against some authority being unresponsive and inactive to our requests for long, or against somebody we cannot reach ordinarily. Say for instance, if you are bothered by a high inflation rate (regular rise/hike of price), and you don't know whom to request to address the situation, you voice your opinion through some newspaper to reach the ears that you need to reach. Again, if your local civic body is not paying enough attention to the issues you are raising from time to time, you might feel the need to address somebody who might be powerful enough to make your local civic body work. Now, the editor of a newspaper enjoys the power to reach a large number of readers everyday. If you can convince the editor that your local civic body has really been lousy enough, s/he might publish your letter of complaint in her/his daily to let others know about the lousiness of your local civic body. That might trigger a social pressure. It might catch the attention of the higher civic authorities as well. Do you now understand how actually these letters to the editors work? The editor is not going to, or is not in a position to address your grievance directly in any way. But s/he can trigger a social pressure upon the inactive authority and might cause a redressal to the situation.

Have you noticed how Mr Ghosh has approached the editor seeking a redressal? Do you really think he actually expects the editor to make arrangements for regular disposal of garbage in person? How do you think the editor might help Mr Ghosh and the other residents of the locality?

Do you now feel prepared to write some on your own? Here you have two situations where you might feel to write to some editor of daily newspapers. Why don't you go through them to find out if you feel confident enough to write?-

Don't ever hesitate to contact me if you need me in this regard. You might even choose to write a formal letter down there in the comment box below asking me for further information/ clarification...

All the best...