| A friendly letter may be informal or casual, but it | | | | suggestive but not strict. It can be altered at any |
| is still a letter. And as a general rule, letters should | | | | point in time to make the personal letter more |
| be clear, readable and organized. Otherwise, the | | | | intimate and unique. Perhaps the only restriction |
| recipient will have a hard time deciphering your | | | | imaginable is to keep the letter friendly. After all, |
| message. | | | | there are still basic writing etiquette. Even in |
| A readable letter can be scanned quickly to get | | | | informal letters, we frown on expletives and |
| the gist of the message. It has simple and direct | | | | derogatory remarks. Bad jokes are also not |
| sentences organized into several concise | | | | tolerated. |
| paragraphs. Like business letters, a friendly letter | | | | Below is a sample friendly letter. The name of |
| is also divided into seven parts: heading, salutation, | | | | each part is written in parenthesis before the |
| introduction, body, conclusion, closing and signature. | | | | significant sections of the friendly letter. |
| Some people deviate from this format, and that | | | | (Heading) |
| is okay with informal letters. | | | | 2527 CC Figueroa Street |
| The heading usually consists of three lines. The | | | | Pasay City |
| first two lines bear the complete address of the | | | | December 3, 1969 |
| recipient. The third line indicates the date the | | | | (Salutation / greeting) |
| letter was written. Salutations are opening | | | | Dear Jade, |
| greetings. The most often used salutation is | | | | (Introduction) |
| "Dear." But with informal and personal notes, | | | | How are you Jade? It's been a long time since we |
| salutations can take many forms. Sometimes | | | | got away from each other due to our studies. |
| people write "Dearest" or "Ever dearest." | | | | Indeed, I miss you so much, my friend. However, |
| The introduction gives an overview of the topic | | | | the Christmas vacation is coming so we will have |
| at hand. This section of the friendly letter is | | | | some time to see each other. |
| normally written in paragraph form. | | | | (Body) |
| The body is the bulk of the letter, consisting of | | | | In fact, I am planning to spend my Christmas |
| several paragraphs. All paragraphs should be | | | | vacation there. I am looking forward for that |
| coherent to one another, all leading to the main | | | | vacation because I am so excited to be with you |
| message of the letter. | | | | again even for just a short period of time. I am |
| The conclusion sums up the topics offered on the | | | | just excited to share with you my beautiful |
| body of the letter. | | | | experiences here. |
| Closing is often made of one or two words like, | | | | Above all, I am really yearning for your |
| "lovingly yours" or "sincerely yours." The first | | | | companionship. I am missing all the things that we |
| letter of the first word of the phrase must be | | | | shared together before I got here for my study. |
| written in capital letter. | | | | (Conclusion) |
| Signature bears the name of the letter sender. | | | | So see you soon Jade! I hope you will be looking |
| However, since this is an informal letter, a writer | | | | forward for that, too. Until then. God bless Jade |
| is allowed free verse. And the format is just | | | | and take care always! |