Page 2 - Mind Maps and Notes

an informal letter, one can afford to be friendly, and make use of personal or
emotional tone

Difference between Formal letter and Informal letter

The formal letter is written for business or professional purposes with a specific
objective in mind. It uses simple language, which is easy to read and interpret.
On the contrary, informal letters are written to friends and relatives for personal
communication and require a casual or an emotional tone.

The size of a formal letter should be concise; that does not include irrelevant
matter. In contrast, the informal letter can be lengthier.

Formal letters are used for writing letters to business contacts, i.e. partners,
suppliers, customers, clients, etc. , college or institute, employer, professionals,
etc. As against this, we write informal letters to friends, relatives, acquaintance,
etc.

Format of Informal letter

There is no set format when writing an informal letter. But there is a general
pattern, some conventions that people usually follow. We will be looking at this
pattern and certain tips on how to write effective and attractive informal letters.
These can act as guidelines when you are drafting a letter; they are not hard and
fast rules. Let us begin.

Address

The first thing to write is your address, i.e. the address of the writer (basically, the
sender’s address). We usually write the address on the left-hand side of the page
at the very top. The address should be accurate and complete. Even when
writing to close friends or relatives the address must be written, so they can reply
back to the letter with ease. If the recipient of the letter is in another country, do
not forget to write your country as well in the address.

Date

Next just below the address we write the date. This allows the reader to have a
reference as to when the informal letter was written. He can then relate better to
the contents of the letter. The date, preferably, shold be in expanded form.

Greeting