Writing a Friendly Letter

I.       Heading

The first part of writing a letter is to include the Heading. When writing a letter, the person whom is writing should include their address and the date in the top right hand corner of the page.  It is not always required to have your address but it is required to have the date.   The writers address is there so if the reader wants to reply with a letter he or she would know where to send it.

A.    Written in the upper right hand corner

1.    Address

2.    Date

B.    Information of the person writing the letter

II.     Greeting

Step 2 in writing a friendly letter adding a greeting or also known as a salutation. The greeting is located under the heading but in the left side column. The Greeting is simply addressing to whom the reader is.  Start the greeting by using "Dear", the reader's name, followed by a comma.  The word "Dear" should always start with a capitol letter.

A.    'Dear'

B.    Person's Name

C.    Comma

III.    Body

The Third step in writing a letter is to include the body. The body is the information that is put into the letter. It is a series of paragraphs containing what the writer is going to say to the reader. The first line of the body should always be indented, with the first letter of the word capitalized.

A.    Main Text

B.    Indent New Paragraph

IV.    Closing

Located underneath the body, in line with the heading in the right column is the closing. The closing should always be capitalized, followed by a comma. Some examples are Sincerely, Truly yours, etc. The closing is the leading to the signature.

A.    Capitalized Expression

B.    Comma

V.     Signature

The signature is directly underneath the closure. It is a handwritten signature of the writer.  The signature is there to let the reader know who wrote the letter. The signature is a very important to writing a letter.

A.    Directly Below Closing

B.    Handwritten Signature