Writing a formal letter Guidelines for Writing a Formal Letter 1.

Your address -Your address should appear on the left-hand corner. 2. A horizontal line across the page sepa rates your address from the recipients address. 3. Address of the person to whom you are writing:The recipients address should be below your address. The postcode and name of the town should be underlined. 4. Date The date is written on the right along the same line as the last line of the recipients address. The month should be spelt out (i.e. it should be in words, not numbers). It must be written in full (do not use abbreviations such as Sept) and in capital letters. 5. Salutation/Greeting If you know the name of the recipient, then do use his surname (Mr Tan) If you do not know the name of the person to whom you are writing, then use Sir or Madam 6. Subject heading The subject heading gives the reader an idea what the letter is about. Write the subject heading directly below the salutation and it should be underlined 7. The body of the letter The body of the letter refers to the contents of your letter. It should be divided into short and clear paragraphs. All paragraphs should be numbered except for the first and last paragraphs. a. In the first paragraph, you should state the reason for writing (whether it is to inform, to complain, to invite etc). b. From the second paragraph onwards, you should include information that is deemed necessary, depending on what you are writing about. The number of paragraphs depends on what you are writing. c. In the last paragraph, state what you expect from the recipient. This is usually in the form of an action or response. It is a common practice to end a formal letter with phrases such as I look forward to hearing from you or I hope prompt action will be taken to solve this problem. A note of thanks is usually included Remember to organise the information in a clear and logical manner. Also, do not write lengthy paragraphs. 8. Ending You can end the letter by writing Yours faithfully. In practice, we usually use Yours sincerely, 9. Signature Do not forget to sign the letter and write your name below it in capital letters with in brackets.

You are the Secretary of the Residents Association in your housing estate. Write a letter to the director of the local municipal council to complain about the problems you and the other residents are facing. Your name and address -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Your recipient address 30 APRIL 2013 Sir, Poor Maintenance of Taman Jayadiri I am writing this letter on behalf of the residents of Taman Jayadiri to complain about the dismal conditions we have been putting up with for the past three months. 2. One of the main grouses of the residents concerns uncollected rubbish (point 1). Initially, rubbish was collected three times a week. However, since June this year the garbage collectors have only been coming once a week. Our litter bins are always filled to the brim and we have no choice but to leave our bags of rubbish next to the bins. The rotting waste causes a terrible stench (point 2). Worse still, stray cats and dogs scatter the rubbish (point 3) while looking for food. This is not only unpleasant but also unhealthy. 3. Most of the drains in Taman Jayadiri are clogged (point 4) with rubbish resulting in the water becoming stagnant. It is not uncommon to see plastic bags, bottles and dry leaves in these drains. There is an urgent need to clear these drains as the stagnant water is an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes (point 5). The residents are worried as there has been a sharp increase in dengue cases (point 6) in the last two months. 4. The street lights along several roads are also not working (point 7). This has caused several accidents at night (point 8), mostly involving motorcyclists as they are unable to see in the dark. Unfortunately, the dark streets have also led to another problem an increase in crime (point 9). Several residents, especially women, have fallen victim to snatch thieves. 5. The one and only playground in our area is also not well-maintained (point 10). The grass is overgrown (point 11) as it has not been cut for almost three months. Besides, the playground equipment is damaged (point 12). Many of the see-saws and swings have been spoiled by vandals. I hope the council will look into our complaints and take prompt action to solve our problems.

Thank you. Yours faithfully, Signature (You name in CAPITAL LETTER)