Personal letters.

In the friendly letter format, your address, date, the closing, signature, and printed name are all indented to the right half of the page. Also the first line of each paragraph is indented.

 Your Address 1 All that is needed is your street address on the first line and the city, state and zip on the second line. (Not needed if the letter is printed on paper with a letterhead already on it.) Date 2 Put the date on which the letter was written in the format Month Day Year e.g. August 30, 2003. Skip a line between the date and the salutation.

 Salutation 3 Usually starts out with Dear so and so, or Hi so and so. Note: There is a comma after the end of the salutation.
Body 4 The body is where you write the content of the letter; the paragraphs should be single spaced with a skipped line between each paragraph. Skip 2 lines between the end of the body and the closing.

 Closing 5 Let's the reader know that you are finished with your letter; usually ends with Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Thank you, and so on. Note that there is a comma after the end of the closing and only the first word in the closing is capitalized. Signature 6 Your signature will go in this section, usually signed in black or blue ink with a pen. Skip a line after your signature and the P.S.

 P.S. 7 If you want to add anything additional to the letter you write a P.S. (post script) and the message after that. You can also add a P.P.S after that and a P.P.P.S. after that and so on.

12 Useful Tips for Writing Personal Letter

A personal letter is a graphic counterpart of speech. So in writing a personal letter one should not pretend to be learned and use unnecessary scholastic expression. It should be written in clear and simple language, colloquial expressions and in a style purely conversational. A letter written in simple, lucid and flawless English makes pleasant reading.

To make personal letter fascinating and lively one should include intimate and trivial details in his writing. He should speak as if with the pen to the person to whom it is addressed.

 Personal letters should be neither methodical nor orderly like an essay or article. Such letters destroy the distances between the sender and the recipient and bring them closer to each other.
Letters should be written in a neat and legible hand. They should also be free from spelling and punctuation mistakes as well as grammatical errors. A personal letter should never be written in a hurry. Here the writer should take time to express himself and to create a favorable impression. He should also try to succeed in winning the object of writing.

 A letter must have a heading that contains the full address of the writer and the date of writing the letter. In personal letters the address of the sender is given at the top right hand corner with the date just below it. A salutation is a complimentary address to a person to whom the letter is written. A letter must begin with the salutation. It is written at the left hand corner of the first page, a little lower than the heading. The salutation depends upon the degree of intimacy between the sender and the recipient. The body of the personal letter should be split up into paragraphs each of which deals with one point. This break-up is very much helpful to the reader. The writer should carefully avoid jumbling up the subject matters in one paragraph.

 The opening sentence of the body of the letter should be such as it pleases the reader, draws his attention and rouses his interest in going through the rest of the letter. Hence it should be written with care.

A letter should not end abruptly, only with the signature of the sender. That would look rude. Hence different forms of subscription or courteous leave-taking should be used.
A letter without signature is quite absurd and useless. Hence before the letter is dispatched it should be signed just below the subscription.