The friendly letter is an informal form of communication used for writing a friend, a relative, an acquaintance.  The friendly letter is one of the expressive forms of writing, that brings families and friends closer together and enriches relationships.  There is a rival to the friendly letter that has almost made the traditional letter writing obsolete, and this is the electronic mail, better known as the e-mail.

 

The email holds many of the traditional structures of a traditional paper letter; however, getting the mail to the recipient takes a much shorter time.   In an instant the email can be received by the recipient, and read compared to the traditional letter, which will take days, sometimes weeks to arrive it's recipient.  Email writing still allows the writer to express his or herself, while sticking to standard sentence structures, and proper grammar and spelling, just like a traditional letter requires.

 

To add to the rivals of the traditional letter is IM, or Instant Messaging. Instant messaging is a form of writing via mobiles devices, also called texting.  While this form is a great way for exchanging quick ideas, it does not have the permanence that a formal letter or email produces, since there is no hard copy of the text messages, and does not follow standard writing rules for sentence structure, grammar and spelling.  Of the three main forms of communication, the traditional letter and email are superior to instant messaging, because they allow full expressions and follow standard writing practices.

 

Here is a friendly letter format:

 

Your Address:

• This goes at the top right-hand corner but does not include your name:

L.P. # 30,

Picton Road,

Sangre Grande

 

The Date:

• Place the date on the third line, below your address:

L.P. # 30

Picton Road

Sangre Grande

      

 

November 27th, 2012

 

The Greeting:

• Also known as the salutation.  This is placed on the second line, left-hand corner.  A comma follows the greeting:

 

Dear Abigail,

Here are some more friendly greetings:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Body:

• Here you state your reasons for writing.  Unlike the formal letter, in an informal letter you can use slang, contractions such as isn't etc. But always keep your sentences straight to the point. Begin on the second line after the greeting:

Hello Abigail,

  How are things with you?   I haven’t had the time to buy the book  you told me about last month.  However, my friend Christen had a copy of the book and brought it to my house yesterday, and so I started reading it. 

Here are some more friendly ways to start:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Closing:

• At the end of the letter, you signal to the reader that you are about to close:

I wish I had gotten it sooner like you said, its really  an awesome book, wow!   Well, I look forward to the sleepover next month, but we’ll talk soon.    P.S. Don’t forget to bring your lip gloss Abb, I love that color!  

Here are some more friendly ways to close:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complimentary Close:

• The complimentary close signs off your letter in a friendly way.  Place this on the third line, below the body of the letter.  Capitalize only the first letter of the first word, then place a comma after it:

 

Your friend,

Tasha

Here are some more ways to close the friendly letter: