Letter Writing: Formal Letter

Letter writing is the art of communicating by writing one’s request, feelings, idea, opinions and so on to someone, as if the person were physically present.

Formal letter

Another name for formal letters is official letter. They are letters we write to people in their official positions. Even when we know them personally, the rule demands that we still write them impersonal or official letters.
Formal letter can be in form of applications for admission or employment requests for casual leave by staff in offices, official queries and replies to them, letters to local government Chairmen, Commissioners or Minister of Education requesting for changes in the school system and other such topics.

Features of a Formal Letter

Writer’s Address: This should be written at the top right hand corner of the page like this:
Federal Government College
P.M.B. 1075,
Owerri,
Imo State
15th July, 2002.
Receiver’s Address

This is written on the line following the date on the left hand side of the page. Other names for the receiver are:

1 the recipient
2 The addressee e.g.

The Director,
Adebisi Associated Enterprises,
P.M.B. 10016,
Akure.

3. Salutation: The salutation is the greeting which comes after the receiver’s address: Dear Sir,or Dear Madam,.
   There are some people who are greeted in special ways like this:
   The Governor of a state Your Excellency
   An Ambassador
   Your Excellency
   A traditional ruler Your Highness/Your Majesty
   A pastor Dear Reverend
   A judge Your Lordship
4. Heading or Topic or Title
   This comes directly after the salutation but not on the same line. E.g. Complaints about the lack of facilities in my area.

5. Body of the letter: Here, you go straight to what the question states you should do. There should be no room for exchange of pleasantries or personal matters, slangs, colloquialism, abbreviations and contracted words like won’t, I’m, You know, Yea, Whats up, US, NAFDAC are not are allowed.

Subscript (Complimentary close)
The most correct way of ending a formal letter is Yours faithfully, at the right hand corner of the page immediately after the letter. It’s followed by the writer’s signature and full names written under the signature:
Yours faithfully,
(Signature)
EzeChima

NOTE- Capital letter “Y” and small letter “f” while your signature must come before your name.

Evaluation: Write a letter to the chairman of your local government complaining to him about the lack of facilities in your area.
Reading Assignment: Page 203 of Effective English.

B: Speech Work: Contrasting /Ѳ/ and /ð/, /t/ and /d/
Content: Consonant sounds /Ѳ/ and /ð/
Consonant sounds /t/ and /d/

/Ѳ/ voiceless Dental fricative: This sound is purely English. It’s made by placing the tip of the tongue behind the upper front teeth. The sound has just one spelling.
‘Th’- think, thank, thin, thumb, tatch, anthem, author, path, oath, wealth, faith etc
/ð/ Voiced Dental Fricative/ð/
The sound is made the same way the sound /Ѳ/ is produced but for the condition of the glottis. /ð/ also has one spelling.
‘Th’—than, breath, wreathe, father, those, they etc
/Ѳ/ /ð/
Thank Than
Think This
Thin The
Anthem Father
Author Gather
Path Bathe

/t/ Voiceless Alveolar Plosive /t/
Due to the buildup of air, the tongue suddenly gives way and the sound /t/ is produced.
Spelling variants and word examples are:
‘T’- two, ten, tremble, extract
‘Th’-Thomas, thyme, Thames
‘Tt’-attack, attention, attend, attract, matter, better, bottle.
‘D’- smashed, slapped, kicked, pushed, passed, gnashed, misses, scooped etc.

/d/ the difference in the production of /t/ and /d/ is that /t/ is aspirated as an initial sound while/d/ is not. The glottis is in the vibrating mode when /d/ is made.
Spelling variants and word examples are:
/d/ — do, den, expand, produce, bed etc.
/dd/- daddy, muddy, sudden, paddle, padding, ladder, middle.

Contrast
/t/ /d/
Slapped Wanted
Kicked Expected
Missed Misled
Ten Den
Two Do
Latter Ladder
Battle Paddle

Evaluation:
Write three more examples for each of the sounds taught.

Reading Assignment: Page 3 and 4 of Standard Speech 10 Book of Diction in English Course.

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT- A: Transcribe the following words- tight, tithe, loathe, loath, bathe, bath, through, though, thought, mathematics, thames, thomas, them, thigh, thyme, thing, path

C: Structure: Participles; Present/Past

Content: Present Participle
Past Particle
Present Participle: This is the Present Perfect Tense.
The present perfect tense is derived by adding either has/have to words like written,done,spelt. ‘has’ is used for singular verb while ‘have’ is used for plural verb.
E.g. He has done it.
They have ground the pepper.
We havethe song.

The Past Perfect Tense: This is derived by adding ‘had’ to word like written, done, spelt etc. Had is used for past while has/have are used for present verb e.g.

1. He had done the work before I came in.
2. They had ground the pepper.
3. We had learnt the song before we sang it.

Evaluation:learnt, flown, sung, rung- Use each of the participles in four sentences.

Reading Assignment: Countdown WASSCE/SSCE/NECO, JME

Weekend Assignment: Countdown by Evans page 363 Passage A.