Formal Letter and Informal Letter Format and Examples - CBSE

In my last post on Letter Writing, I discussed the reason for letter writing, how to write effective letters and also the marking schemes on letter writing in two of the major education boards of India. In this post, I will cover the formats of formal and informal letters and also provide with some examples.

If you are looking for the marking scheme of letter writing in CBSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Formal Letter Writing in CBSE Board

CBSE Board accepts the following format for Formal Letter Writing:

Formal Letters

Please take a look at the following format -

CBSE Formal Letter Writing Format

In case, you do not understand any particular element in the above format, do write to me in the comment section below.

Now let us look at an example:

This is a question for Class 8 students studying in the CBSE Board -

Question: You are Sushil Kumar, a resident of C-16 Ajay Nagar. Write a letter to the Accounts Manager of Bank of India for opening a new savings account.

CBSE Sample Formal Letter

If you are looking for the marking scheme of letter writing in CBSE Board, click here

Marking Schemes for Informal Letter Writing in CBSE Board

For Informal Letter Writing, CBSE board recommends the following format:

CBSE Informal Letter Writing Format

Informal letters are written in more personal and friendly manner as you are writing it to a friend or someone you know personally. There is more scope of creative writing in this as you can add humor or other emotions while writing the body of the letter. Here's an example of informal letter:

Question: You are Rohit who lives in South Park Apartments in South Extension Delhi. Write a letter to your friend asking him about his trip to Kerala and also invite him for your parents' anniversary party.

CBSE Sample Informal Letter

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

Letter Writing Formats recommended by ICSE and Samples

Now that you have the format and one example each of Formal and Informal Letters preferred in CBSE, it is time to practice some letter writing. Here are some questions that you can practice at home and send it to me on this email id - crayonsler.edu@gmail.com.

Formal Letters Practice Questions

1. The drains in your locality are overflowing. This is leading to a lot of discomfort of the residents. This is also a health hazard. Write a letter to the local district officer to look into the issue.
2. As the President of the Residents Welfare Association, you have decided to arrange food for the daily wage workers in your surroundings during the Covid-19 pandemic. However, for that you need to book the main playground as the area where all the food items will be accumulated. Write a letter to the concerned body of authority seeking permission.
3. The traffic in your neighborhood has increased a lot over the years. There are 2 schools and some pre-schools in your locality and it is the young students whose lives are most at stake. Write a letter to the Area MLA to look into the matter.

Informal Letters Practice Questions

1. You are Radhika who lives in Andheri Mumbai. Write a letter to your friend Mehak in Delhi about your plans for visit to Delhi in the winter vacation and ask her if she could meet you during your visit.
2. You are Abigail who has recently shifted to a new city. Write a letter to your friend back in Mumbai telling her about this new city and how you find it.
3. You are Sabaa who has a little sister studying in hostel. Her exams are about to start. Write a letter to her to wish her good luck and also how to best utilize her time for preparations.

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

Remember, the more you practice letter writing, the better you will get at this. In another post I have covered the formats of formal letter writing and informal letter writing recommended by ICSE Board. And there you can also find more practice questions. 

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