Introduction: writing is the means of communication. We shall revisit the formal and informal letter in this lesson.
- A formal letter is refers to the business, letter or an official letter e.g. for casual leave by staff in offices or an application for a job.
The features of the formal letter
The address: this should be written at the top of a letter on the right hand corner. Remember to write the name of you state and date. Write the date in full and put a full stop after abbreviation.
8, Adesanya street,
Ile – Epo,
Oke – Ode,
Lagos.
22nd October, 2017.
The principal,
Elias International School,
Ile – Epo,
Oke – Odo,
Lagos.
- The recipients address: the recipient’s address should be written on the left hand side below the writer’s address. The example is written above.
iii. Salutation (greetings)
The name in salutation is followed by a comma. Example, Dear sir, Dear madam, Sir, Dear, Mr. Akpan, Gentlemen, etc.
- Tittle – A formal letter should have a tittle. Example:
A letter of Apology
The causes of Road Accident
The importance of Agriculture etc
- Introduction: the introduction should show what the letter is all about
- The body of the letter: Write clear and simple English. Mind your tenses. Pay attention to spelling and puntuations. Try to be specific.
vii. Conclusion: The conclusion should draw together the idea and its relationship with the major points
viii. Subscription: Subscription comes at the end of the letter. This is followed by a comma. Remember to write ‘Y’ in capital letter.
Note that: faithfully is written with small letter but not capital. Example
Yours faithfully ,
- Signature and name: put your name below Ayodele Oke the signature.
THE INFORMAL LETTER
Informal letter refers to the letters we write to our brothers, friends, parents, sons, daughters, husbands, relations, etc. informal letters are also known as private letters.
The features of the informal letter
- Writer’s address: This should be written at the top of a letter on the right hand corner. Remember to write your state and date.
3, Ayodele Cresent,
Ojuelegba,
Surulere,
Lagos.
13th August, 2017
- Salu tation: (greetings) example My dear, father, dear, mummy, my dear mother, dear Sarah, dear brother, dear Uncle Oliver, my dear sister, my darling etc.
iii. Introduction: the introduction should show what the letter is all about.
- The body of the letter: this is one of the most important aspect of a letter. Write a clear and simple English – try to avoid “pompous” language. Mind your tenses. Pay attention to spelling and punctuation. Try to develop paragraph around your main points.
- Conclusion: the conclusion should draw together the idea and its relationship with the major points.
- Subscription: this comes at the end of the letter. This is followed by a comma. Remember to write ‘Y’ in capital letter. Note that affectionately, friend, loving and sincerely are written with small letters but capital letters.
Examples: yours sincerely,
Yours ever,
Yours loving son,
Your friend,
Yours affectionately,
viii Name: put your name below the subscripted, an example.
Yours sincerely,
Ade
Assignment
Write a letter to your friend in another school, tell him/her the changes which have taken place in your school in the recent time.
READING AND COMPREHENSION
Reading to understand the writer’s purpose.
Content: comprehension is a process of reading, understanding and explaining what is written in a passage. For every comprehension exercise, there must be a passage to be read.
The purpose of comprehension exercise is to test student’s understanding of a given passage. In comprehension, the thoughts of the writer’s are presented to student for reading, understanding and explaining.
Instruction: Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions. No 1: unit four, Reference: New oxford English course for junior secondary school (upper Basic 3 Education).
See also