Upper Primary School English Quiz - Writing 03 - Write a Formal Letter (Questions)

Children today are well conversant with emails, Skype, Gmail, Hotmail, Google Talk and other such words that may look alien to more traditional people who are still communicating with the good old fashioned letter!

Communication nowadays is undertaken in several forms which include both written and oral communication. Whether a letter or an email, written communication is governed by spellings, grammar and sentences.

The written language follows definite rules so that the reader will be able to understand the communication properly. Different types of written communications have their own special rules, and none more so than the formal letter.

[readmore]Letter writing is an important activity that is vital to both personal communication and for business. While personal communication is more or less informal, business communication takes a more formal form. One of the reasons why business communication needs to be formal is the need to keep track of the correspondence so that it can be referred back to by either of the two parties communicating as and when required.

Even though the modes of communication may have changed from hard copy to soft copy through the use of emails, the format of letter writing has not changed. Formal letter writing involves some basic rules that help everyone to communicate with each other more easily.

Another reason why formal letter writing is useful is because it is used for communication between businesses. Now, the human being heading the businesses may change and formal letter writing helps the new incumbent to continue the correspondence from where his predecessor left off.

Some of the conventions to be followed in formal letter writing include:
The way a letter is to be addressed
The way a letter is to be signed off
Where the date has to be recorded
Where the address has to be placed
How the letter should begin
and
How the letter should end.

You would be well advised to learn formal letter writing as it may come in handy when you grow up and need to apply for jobs. The quiz that follows helps you to understand more about how to write formal letters.