Living in a world of digital information and high-performance electronic devices, people do not know how to write or format a personal letter correctly. They don't need that knowledge and skill in the age of emails, messengers, video chatting, and social media platforms, allowing talking to families and friends for cheap.
Still, to write a letter means to make a pleasant present to most people, a personal and sweet one. Such writing lets you reflect your feelings about the receiver in the text written by hand. Letter writing enthusiasts still exist and use “real” mail despite the development of communications.
It can be great to write and format a personal letter correctly. Sending emails does not provide you with unlimited customization and decoration options for a personal letter. Additionally, it is always great to save personal letters received from friends, family members, or sweethearts and collect them as souvenirs. A personal letter has much more value for the receiver because of being deeply individual. People don't usually believe in it, but they really put a small part of their soul into every letter written by hand and sent to someone close to them.
In case it is your first time to write and format a personal letter, checking tips below from professional writers will be useful for you.
Personal Letter: How to Format It
Regarding the kind of a personal letter you plan to write (we’ll discuss them below), here is the most common and widespread format.
1. Address and Name
In the top-right corner, write your name and address to start the format correctly. In case you plan to hand the letter to the receiver personally, this point is not as critical. But if you need to use the mail service to deliver it, it is crucial to add this data. Then, if your default return address written at the back of the envelope is lost, the recipient would have a reserve copy to send you an answer.
For instance:
Jack Frost
Winter Crossroads Street
Alex Gruber
Queens Street
2. Date
Date your personal letter. Write the date itself. The day is not that important. In the personal letter format, the date goes to the top-left corner, one space above the greeting.
For instance:
May 4, 2019
November 11, 2017
3. Personal Letter Format: Greeting
After the date is written, greet the recipient under it. Feel free to write a greeting informally. A personal format allows that. It's your call to greet them using their name, nickname, or pet names. These things depend on your relationships.
Customary greetings like "Salutations," "Dear," "Hello" or "Hi" also work fine in the personal letter format. This type of letters is informal, so there is no need to use a colon (:) after you wrote greeting words. Using a comma (,) is nothing terrible, too.
For instance:
Hello Elizabeth,
Hi Fred,
4. Personal Letter Content Format
Now, it is time for the main content of your personal letter. Personal letters are not official ones, so it is you who regulates its length. Write about anything you want or need to message to the recipient. To take care of the reader, you can try to make the text comfortable for them. Format the personal letter by splitting its main content into separate paragraphs.
5. Ending
After the personal letter is finished, don’t rush to pack and send it. Confirm the writing is completed. The ending phrase depends on your relationships with the receiver. Regular expressions like "So long," "Yours sincerely," "Truly yours," "From," "Love," "See you," and others are fine. But you can end the text with personal format phrases and even use pet names if you think they suit the situation. Don’t forget to sign or write your name after.
For instance:
Sincerely yours,
Jack
So long,
Alex
6. Postscript (P.S.)
A postscript format serves for you to write something you forgot to mention in the main body of the personal letter. Put it after the text is finished, under the signature or your name at the letter's bottom.
For instance:
P.S. I’m going to have a vacation at the seaside in August. Would you like to join?
Doesn’t seem to be too difficult, does it? Actually, it is easy to format and write a personal letter. It’s enough to pass through the process once to master it.
Letter Writing and Format Tips
Here are effective format tips for you to follow in case you don’t feel confident in personal letter writing.
1. Create an Outline
It is the simplest way to format a personal letter while avoiding things you won’t like in it. An outline will let you make all the necessary corrections and edit everything before completing the text. It will make your letter look presentable and be easy to read.
2. Write Neatly and Clearly
In case it seems that your handwriting manner isn't good, here is the solution. Type the digital version of the text and then ask your friend with better writing to write it by hand. There is an alternative: just write it yourself while trying your best.
3. Proofread the Personal Letter
Sending a text with grammar, style, orthography, punctuation mistakes is weird. You may confuse your recipient and show other relation to them than intended. While proofreading, make sure you don’t lose the message’s sense.
4. Simplify Things
The personal letter format is not about a poetry competition, so try not to use complex expressions (unless your letter is a love one). Let your recipient easily understand what you mean by using totally conversational language.
5. Add a Photo
Use this point in case it's been a while since you've seen the recipient or you write to a "distant friend" for the first time. Attach the recent photo of yours to the personal letter to make a connection between you two. Adding a face makes the letter belong to a truly personal format.
We hope these recommendations will improve your skills in storytelling and writing personal letters. And we can guarantee you that your recipient will feel delighted to get the real letter nowadays when people mostly communicate in digital formats.
