Descriptive Section for SBI PO: Letter Writing

These questions generally require you to address a specific person, situation and purpose. Few examples include:

Writing a letter to Bank Manager asking for Closure of account (formal)

Writing a letter to your brother about saving money (informal)

Format:

§ The letter should have the writer’s information (address etc.) and the date. This informs the recipient of the letter when and where the letter was drafted by you. Also this gives a reference to the reader in case he plans to reply to your letter. The commonly accepted position of the heading is at the top-left or right corner.

§ The address should be in short lines at the corner, each line beginning exactly from under the previous line. Each line should end with a comma and the last line with a full-stop. It is essential to mention the date at the end. E.g.: 6^th June, 2014.In a formal letter, below the writer’s address, you are supposed to write the recipient’s address.

Example:

To,

Mr. XYZ,

Sr. Manager at SBI,

XYZ Branch,

City – (pincode).

§ This should be followed by a subject line. It is absolutely imperative to write a subject in formal letters only.

§ An initial greeting or Salutation to the receiver of the letter: This contains the greeting to the reader. For e.g., if it’s a letter to your Brother it will “Dear Brother”, if it’s an official letter to a bank manager it will be “Respected Sir” or “Dear Sir”. The Salutation will be present below the heading.

§ The body of the letter which communicates the message: This is the main content of the letter, conveying the message to the reader. The style of writing will depend on the type of letter (More of which is given below).
    (i) It’s important to split the body of long letters to smaller paragraphs. Each paragraph can address one small portion of the body. For e.g., the first paragraph might contain the background of the letter, the 2nd the course of action intended, and a final closing paragraph.
    (ii) Try to avoid long sentences. Be clear and concise in your letter.
    (iii) Do not leave room for ambiguity. Try to be as complete as possible.
    (iv) Be careful with punctuation. A wrong punctuation mark can change the meaning and tone of the letter.

§ The courteous ending and Signature: On completing the body, it is important to have a courteous leave taking. These include “Yours Sincerely”, “Yours faithfully” etc. This is present on the right/left corner below the body of the letter. Please make sure that the ending starts with a Capital Case alphabet. Below this, a placeholder for your name is present.

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