How to write a Friendly Letter

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How to write a Friendly Letter

How to Write a Friendly Letter?

Friendly Letter Writing is a type of Informal Letter Writing and this is the reason why writing a friendly letter becomes relatively easy. But that doesn’t mean you can or should take friendly letters for granted. A basic structure, inclusive of the five parts is essential and it won’t hurt your fingers either. In certain letters you can be as informal as you want to be but writing to someone with whom you are not as friendly as with others, you have to follow certain basic essentials of an informal letter. You can be innovative but not at the cost of these essentials. Examples of friendly letters will also give you an even better idea on friendly letter writing.

Friendly Letter Format

Friendly Letter Writing Tips

 

Friendly Letter Writing Tips

  • Drafting – Drafting allows you to make a rough work of the original one. Though mistakes can be ignored by friends but in certain less formal letters you have to ensure no mistakes on part of grammar rules, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure or word limit. Depending upon your relationship with the recipient you can take some liberties for using abbreviated forms for certain words or you can use certain short forms of words like luv instead of love, gud instead of good and so on. In fact you can draft unique usage of words in an unconventional manner but to an extent that they are eventually understood.
  • Lengthy or Short – Most of the letters are advised to be written in short and to the point. But when writing friendly letters emotions matter rather than the length of the letter. Depending on your relationship with the recipient a friendly letter can be short or long. For example – If your friendship with the person is not intimate enough you will tend to write a brief letter. Where there is no such delimitation you are free to write whatever you want to say.
  • Be Creative – The informal nature of the friendly letter allows you to be creative. You can use fancy fonts in various colours. You can vary fonts in each paragraph. You can use coloured paper or paper which has printed backgrounds. Use any theme based on your friend’s favourite items – any favourite actor, superhero etc. You can decorate the letter in various ways to make it more appealing. Use any background from your PC and print on the page and then take the printout. There are stickers which can also be used on the letter paper.
  • Indention – Indenting paragraphs is mostly an official practice but it is a good thing if you indent your paragraphs. Indentation indicates the beginning of a new paragraph. It makes the letter appear in a proper structure. Your address, date, the closing, signature, and printed name should be all indented, the extent of the indent is as per your choice as long as the heading and closing are aligned ensuring a proper presentation. First line of each paragraph should be indented as should the each paragraph. Indent the beginning of each paragraph without leaving a space between paragraphs. If you choose not to indent leave a space between paragraphs.
  • Printed or Handwritten - Friendly letters can either be printed or hand-written. Use your best handwriting so your friend can read your letter. And even if your best is not good enough, you can type your letter on a computer. Handwritten letter shows more effort than a typed one. To cover that effort in a typed letter, you can use decorations as mentioned in the above paragraph. It is entirely up to you.
  • Post Script – Abbreviated as P.S. , it is used at the end of the letter. In fact it cannot be placed anywhere else as its usage is mean to be such. Post Script is used when you forget to mention something in the letter and you want to add that something. Write P.S. and convey whatever you have missed out. You can also use P.S. to point out something to lay emphasis on it. You can also use it to show affection, connection, mischief, nostalgia etc. A post script can pep up your letter so that it is remembered for a long time. Towards this effect P.P.S., P.P.P.S and numerous P.S.’s can be added .
  • Conventional or E-mail - The choice is yours, a conventional mail will take more time to reach. An electronic mail is faster and requires less effort and no paper. If sending the letter by ordinary mail, write your name and address in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. In the center of the envelope, write your friend's name and address. Put a stamp in the upper right hand corner and drop it in your mailbox. When sending the letter through E-mail, type or paste the text from your word processor on your Internet e-mail service, run spell check, and then press the send button.
  • Closing the Letter – Start the letter with Gratitude and end it with the same. It is a not only a professional courtesy but also a personal one. At the end of your last paragraph is written, a complimentary close of the likes of ‘Sincerely’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Truly’ is essential. Close the letter by restating your appreciation and gratitude. Use a comma after the end of the closing and only the first word in the closing is capitalized. The last paragraph concludes your letter. Sum up the main idea in this paragraph, thank the recipient for their time, wish the recipient well, and/or ask any questions.
  • Proofreading – Being an informal writing one can say why to check? We make mistakes and we assume that we don’t need to recheck because the recipient is our buddy and wouldn’t mind it. It is true but too many mistakes may spoil the mood and it is possible that your friend may misunderstand certain words leading to incorrect perception. Your friend may reciprocate your carelessness by sending you the same in his reply. So it is a good practice to proofread your letter. Check for - awkward phrases, grammatical errors, incomplete sentences and spelling mistakes. Fix them with appropriate punctuation and remove dull or lifeless sentences. Read it aloud to yourself to figure out mistakes which are missed out in writing.

Friendly Letter Format

Friendly Letter HeaderDate
(can be positioned left, right or centre, before or at the start)


Your Name

Your Address (as required)

 

 

Dear Recipient (Salutation)Friendly Letter Body

First Paragraph – Introductory lines

Second Paragraph – Details of the topic - best wishes, congratulations, apologies, anecdotes, experiences etc.

Subscription – Thanking you, yours sincerely etc.

 

Friendly Letter Closing

 

Your Signature / Your Name (as required)

P.S.  stands for Post Script (as required)