Letter Writing Styles

By: Jeff Durham - Updated: 6 Sep 2018 | *Discuss

 

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If you have ever written a letter of complaint to a company and then read it back to yourself, you'll have probably been surprised at how the letter comes across when you read it out loud to yourself.

You'll probably be thinking, "I'd never say that", "I wouldn't use that word down the pub with my mates or you might even find yourself thinking, "Hey, don't I sound posh!"

The fact of the matter is that in letter writing, particularly with regard to writing formal business letters to individuals within companies, you're unlikely to know the person you're writing to and even less likely to have met them or spoken to them previously. Therefore, in a similar fashion as to the way you might act when you meet someone in a formal setting for the first time in terms of, perhaps, modifying your behaviour and speech, so this is necessary when you're writing a formal letter.

Informal Letter Writing Style

You might use slang terms, colloquial expressions that are familiar to people born and bred in the same locations. You might even use expletives to get your points across that are acceptable between you as the writer and the recipient of the letter. You could also use terms of endearment that only the two of you (i.e. writer and reader) would use. All in all, you'll probably want to keep the style of your letter as close to the style of the kind of conversation you might have with the recipient of the letter if you were meeting face-to-face and this works fine as you both know each other's personalities well.

Formal Letter Writing Style

Usually, with these kinds of letters, you're aiming to put some kind of point across and you may wish to suggest to the recipient how the content of your letter makes you feel, in terms of any emotional feelings you might have as a result of the content of your letter. However, you have to temper or 'tone down' your emotions, whether positive or negative, and stick to the facts as much as possible, whilst subliminally letting them know how you feel, if it's appropriate.

Here's an example:

You may want to thank a new employer for giving you the job.

The correct way to respond

With this style of letter, you've adopted the correct formal approach, acknowledged the offer, understand what it entails and have expressed your feelings about it appropriately.

The Improper Way to Respond

You can see from both responses that the formal style is written in a professional manner befitting the situation and, although the informal style gives you more information as to the nature of the sender's personality, it is hardly an appropriate response.

Therefore, when writing a formal letter, stick to the facts as much as possible and put any emotional feelings into a controlled, formal context in terms of the style and manner of the letter.

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