Formal and Informal Letter Writing

Often my students ask me, ‘Ma’am, why do we have to write letters, we can send emails and WhatsApp messages’ It is one of those challenging questions to which no matter how convincing I try to sound, my students have to come up with a counter response or question outsmarting my answers because you know you cannot really win any argument with Gen-Z.

Even though we are living in a digital age that makes handwritten letters and messages so old-fashioned, yet letter writing still has a very substantial role to play in many different ways and that is the reason that various education boards in India are still including it in their course curriculum.

Check out the Marking Scheme of Letter Writing in CBSE and ICSE Boards

Formal and Informal Letters

Why Should We Learn Letter Writing?

1. To start with, letter writing forms the base of any kind of mail communication (whether hand-written or email). We use the same format even in emails to an extent. So for example, when they are learning how to write the subject of the letter (which should ideally be 4 -5 words long), it will prove useful when these kids write emails in future. They will know how to write meaningful and precise subjects to their emails.
2. Letter writing enhances communication skills and mailing etiquette. They infuse a sense of discipline while differentiating between formal and informal letter writing. It also encourages good manners that a person ought to know while beginning or ending a conversation with someone.
3. Letter writing serves an important tool in learning creative writing. Whether you are asking someone to take any action based on your letter or narrating any incident or event, letters help bring out the writer in you.
4. Hand writing is another component of hand-written letters that gets improved. If reading a letter becomes a challenge then that can be annoying to the reader and has the potential to create a bad impression of the writer. For example, I have a student who forgets to strike off the head of the letter ‘t’ and that ends up looking like an ‘l’. This leads to a lot of confusion as took becomes look and take becomes lake... So one day when he tried to write ‘she took the pain’... instead it read as ‘she look the pain’. And though it ended up on a hilarious note in the class, yet if he were to write that in a real letter to someone, it could have ended up in a mess.

How to Write Effective Impressive Letters

Letter Writing

1. Whether formal or informal, the first thing that one needs is the purpose of writing the letter. Sometimes the purpose of informal letters can be written just to stay in touch or ask about well being of the other person. But when we are thinking in terms of school education, the students are usually given a situation, so that becomes the purpose of the letter. So it is very important to understand the purpose of the letter and frame the body of the letter accordingly.
2. The format is yet another critical component of letter writing. Both informal and formal letters have a particular format and one needs to maintain that in order to make the correct impression.
3. In order to make sense, one has to have a coherent flow of sentences. You need to write in a logical and systematic sequence if you don’t want to confuse the reader.
4. The correct choice of words and a decent vocabulary is important to get your message across with clarity. So it is better if you brush up on your knowledge of words once in a while.
5. In formal letters, it is important that you don't beat about the bush and come straight to the point. 
6. It is also important to be precise yet not miss out on important information required by the reader, especially if the reader is asked to take any action based on the letter.

If you are looking for CBSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Formal and Informal Letter Writing Formats recommended by CBSE and samples

If you are looking for ICSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and samples

Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Marking Scheme in Letter Writing

Letter writing carry big marks and it is considered as a very important question in any English exam. Note that it is easy to score full marks in letter writing.

CBSE Board class 10 exam letter writing question carries 8 marks and comes with a choice, while the ICSE Board letter writing carries 10 marks.

Marking Scheme of Letter Writing in CBSE Class 10 English Exam:

• Format – 1 mark
• Content – 4 marks
• Expression – 3 marks (grammatical accuracy, appropriate words, spellings, coherence & relevance of ideas and style, logical arguments)

In case of content, if you can present your ideas with creativity using relevant language and reasoning, you can achieve full marks.

Marking Scheme of Letter Writing in ICSE Class 10 English Exam:

• Format – 3 marks
• Content – 2 marks
• Expression – 5 marks

Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com

Now that you know why do we need to learn letter writing, how to make your letters more eye-catching and marks-fetching, and the marking scheme of the two most important national education boards, it’s time to use this lockdown period to improve upon your letter writing. In my next post I will share the formats of both formal and informal letters and also provide some examples along with worksheets.

Meanwhile, post your doubts, suggestions and queries in the comment section below and I will try to answer them.

If you are looking for CBSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Formal and Informal Letter Writing Formats recommended by CBSE and samples

If you are looking for ICSE Board Letter Writing Formats and Example, click here

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and samples

Ask for Worksheets for more questions on Letter Writing.at crayonsler.edu@gmail.com