>> From the Library of
Congress in Washington DC.
>> Anya Creightney: Hi,
I'm Anya Creightney,
and this is the Letters About
Literature video series.
Today, we will be talking
about the format of a letter.
Letter writing is one of the
oldest communication systems
and it is one we
still use regularly.
Today, we're going to be
reviewing the parts of a letter
and how they can be
formatted depending
on who the sender
and reader are.
As we know so far, there
are five parts of a letter.
The heading, the
greeting, the body,
The closing, and the signature.
For Letters About
Literature's purposes,
the heading is the area where
you date your completed letter.
In the greeting, give a
salutation to the person
to whom you are writing,
also known as the addressee.
This part is a little tricky,
because the salutation
largely depends
on your relationship
with the addressee.
For example, you should
not be overly affectionate
with someone you barely know.
That would be like saying I
love you to a total stranger.
So, it's advisable to
analyze your relationship
with the addressee before you
use words that are inadequate.
An example of a greeting you can
use when you are not familiar
with the person you are
writing to, is "Dear sir"
Or you can also use
"Mr.", "Mrs."
Or "Miss" if you know
the name of the person
to whom you are writing.
For more informal letters,
such as those you send
to your friends and family
members, You could use words
like "Hi", "Hello",
and "Greetings".
Now that you have the
greeting all ready,
let's work on the
body of the letter.
The body of the text
is where the majority
of the information is written.
This is where you will express
how the book you read changed
the way you saw yourself
and the world around you.
Remember to divide your
message in paragraphs,
depending on topic, And try
to group similar information
in the same paragraph.
Following the body, there
is the closing statement.
Just as with the greeting,
you must be careful
about the words you
choose to end your letters.
Some closing statements
that are safe to use
when the person is
not a close friend are
"Sincerely" or "Warm regards".
If you are familiar with the
person you are writing to,
appropriate closing
statements are "With love",
"With thanks", and
"see you soon".
These statements carry a
more affectionate message
to the person you
are writing to.
After the closing statement,
remember to sign the letter
and write your name in
block letters below.
Writing your name underneath
your signature ensures the
reader will know
exactly who you are
because sometimes
signatures are not so clear.
Well, this will be all for
this lesson on letter format.
I hope you learned something.
If you have any questions
or doubts,
feel free to ask your
teachers and librarians.
I am sure they are more
than willing to help.
For more information,
visit www.read.gov/letters.
>> This has been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at loc dot gov.