Formal Letters: Formal letters are ones which are written to authorities, offices, newspaper editors, or to ministers for any official purpose.
A specific pattern is followed to write any formal letter. A question of "writing a formal letter" is a part of every English language exam. Students need to be very careful while writing an formal letter and strictly follow the given pattern and rules. Take care of commas and placing of address to get full marks.
Pattern of informal letter for board or IGCSE EXAM is here with an example:
- Sender's address and date is written on upper left corner of page with Comma at end
- Recipient's address is written on right side
- Salutation on right side (Dear Sir/Madam ,)
- Body of letter
- Finishing note
- Sender's name on left side (Yours faithfully,)
- For IGCSE exam write "school address" or home address other than examination Hall in upper right corner
Here is a pattern of a formal letter is given
- Write a letter to Mayor of city and tell him about the bad sewerage system in the city and ask him to take action.
There are a few rules to follow while writing an formal letter in exam:
- Always keep your language respectful
- Don't use slang words
- Don't use abbreviations but write complete words
- Take care of grammatical rules and tenses
- Clearly mention the purpose of letter
- Focus on the subject and avoid to drag the body
- Clearly write your address
- Finish with greeting as "Yours faithfully"