Letter (message)
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A letter is a written message from one person to another. The role of letters in communication has changed significantly since the 19th century. Historically, letters were the only reliable means of communication between two persons in different locations.
As communication technology has diversified, letters have become less important as routine communication. The development of the telegraph, telephone, fax and the Internet have all had an impact on the writing and sending of letters. In modern industrialized nations, the exchange of personal letters has become less common, being replaced by technologies such as the telephone and also e-mail. With the advent of the compact cassette, tape letters became a novelty.
By analogy, the term letter is sometimes used for e-mail messages with a formal letter-like format. Historically, letters exist from the time of ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer, through Rome and Greece and China, up to the present day. Letters make up several of the books of the Bible. Archives of correspondence, whether for personal, diplomatic, or business reasons, serve as primary sources for historians.
Advantages
Letters are still used, particularly by companies and advertisers. This is because of three main advantages:
- No special device needed - almost everybody has a home, which means they are easy to reach. A mailbox is all that the intended recipient needs - not like e-mail or phone calls where the intended recipient needs access to a computer and a telephone respectively.
- "Catch-all" advertising- unlike e-mails, where the recipient needs an individual e-mail address to receive messages, addresses are not chosen (per se), and so with the help of a postal service, delivering an advertisement to all homes in a particular area is not hard.
- Physical record - important messages that need to be retained (e.g. receipts) can be kept more easily and securely.
The letter-delivering process
Here is how a letter gets from the sender to the recipient:
- Sender writes letter and places it in an envelope on which he writes the recipient address.
- Sender buys a postage stamp, which they place on the front of the envelope.
- Sender puts their letter in a mailbox and does nothing more.
- The National Postal Service for the sender's country (e.g. the Royal Mail in the UK or the U.S. Postal Service in the U.S.) empties the postbox and takes all the contents to the regional sorting office.
- The sorting office then sort each letter by address and postcode, and deliver the letters belonging to a particular area to that area's post office. Letters belonging to a different region are sent to that region's sorting office, to be sorted further.
- The local post office dispatches their letters to their delivery personnel (postman/woman) who deliver them to the appropriate houses.
This whole process, depending on how far the sender is from the recipient, can take anywhere from a day to 3-4 weeks. International mail is sent via trains and planes to other countries.
Letter layout
United Kingdom and Canada
The following is the normal way to set out a letter: (Note: This is the style in the UK and Canada. See below for the format used in the US.)
| Sender's address here |
| 24 Lambert Street |
| Stoke-on-Trent |
| ST4 4WE |
| Date here |
| Formal: 3 February 2008 Informal: 03/02/2008 |
| Recipient's name and address here |
| Mr Albert Gribble |
| 25 Lambkin Street |
| Stoke-under-Lyme |
| ST3 9WR |
| Main body |
| Formal: Dear Sir or Madam, Acquaintance: Dear Mr Doe, Informal: Dear John, |
| Content |
| Formal: Yours faithfully, Acquaintance: Yours sincerely, Informal: Best wishes, |
| Sender's Name |
| Formal: Sender's Occupation and Enclosures Informal: Nothing (optional: P.S. / Post Scriptum = Afterthought) |
United States
The following is the modified block format for a business letter, common in the United States:
May 19, 2007
your Address
date
Mrs. Jane Doe
25 First Street
Anytown, VA 10005
Dear
Ms. Doe:
This is an example of a modified block letter. The difference between it and a full block letter style is that the date begins at the center point of the page; therefore, if a letter has a 6 inch line of type, the date begins approximately over 3 inches from the left margin.
The closing block also begins half-way across the page. The complimentary close and the keyed signature (first and last name of the writer) begin at the same point as the date - approximately 3 inches from the left margin.
Sincerely,
Ashely Ferris
Sales Representative
jtp (the typist's initials appear at the left margin)
See also
