How to Write an Effective Letter and Application
Introduction:
Application is a kind of letter. It is called as an institutional letter. The students of the primary level have hardly heard about an application. So this topic of writing a letter should be introduced to the students by creating the appropriate situation in the classroom. It can be done by making a conversation between the students and the teacher. Then teach them to write an effective letter.
Meaning: Letter and Application means a written or a printed message in a prescribed format, sent by one person to another.
The word ‘LETTER’ is an abbreviated form of:
L – Let’s
E- Effectively
T Talk
T-To
E- Effective (bodies and)
R- Relatives
Comparison with Phone:
Letter can be preserved and read whenever required. It affords a deeper, better and more creative expression of thought than conversation on a phone.
Parts of the Letter: A letter has mainly five parts:
1. Heading
2. Subject or Attention line
3. Salutation or Greeting
4. Body of the letter.
5. Ending
Heading includes three sub parts:
(i) Sender’s address: It is written on the top in the left hand side of the page.
Note: There is no need of the sender’s address in the application written to the head of an institute by any person of the institution.
(ii) Date:- It is written below the sender’s address after leaving space. It is the date of the day on which the letter is being written.
There are different ways of date writing as -5,6,2007 or 5-6-2007 or 5/6/2007. These are not the good ways because it may be understood as 5 June 2007 (British style) or may 6, 2007 (American style)
The best way of date writing is 5 June 2007. (The word date is not written)
(iii) Addressee’s (Receiver’s) Address: It is written below the date after leaving the space.
Note: There is no need of the punctuation marks in the heading part except to distinguish between the numbers.
2. Subject:-
It is required to write in the formal Letters only. Primary class syllabus consists only Application writing and Personal Letter Writing so there is no need of subject.
3. Salutation:-
It is written below the receiver’s address. The form of the greeting depends upon the relation of the receiver. e.g. Dear Rinku,Dear/Respected father/mother Sir/Madam etc. as the case may be.
4. The body of the Letter:
It is the major part of the letter. It is started to write below the salutation after leaving the space but without any shift. It should be written in direct and straight way according to the subject. Small and simple sentences are used to develop the body of the letter.
5 Ending – It consists of two parts:
(i) Complementary close: It should be on the left hand side of the page after leaving the space. The close should be according to the salutation. e.g. Yours affectionately (For blood related persons)
Yours sincerely (For close friends, persons).
Yours faithfully/ truly (For known but not close).
Yours faithfully/respectfully (For Govt. officers)
Yours obediently (For educational institutions).
(ii) Signature:
The writer should sign below the complementary close. Here the students should be advised to write their full name, roll no. and the class in the applications written to the head teacher.
Note: No punctuation marks are put after heading, salutation and ending parts of the letter. It should be cared that all of three parts should be similar in the punctuation form. e.g. either punctuated or un-punctuated.
