Writing a Formal letter

1
Writing a Formal letter

• To write a letter for planning permission.

2
Formal Letters

• The lay out of a formal letter

3
(No Transcript)
4
Writing the letter
5

• Task
• Each member of the group needs to write a letter
  to the local council asking for planning
  permission.
• The letter should include
• The proposed works (what you are intending to
  do.)
• How you are intending to do it.
• Time Scale (how long it will take you.)
• How you are going to ensure you keep the
  original features.

6

• Looking at different types of punctuation
• Full stops
• Question marks.
• Exclamation marks
• Commas
• Capital Letters
• Paragraphs
• Other
• Good opening lines
• Good closing lines

7

• Good Opening Lines
• With reference to your letter of 8 June, I ...
• I am writing to enquire about ...
• After having seen your advertisement in ... , I
  would like ...
• After having received your address from ... , I
  ...
• I received your address from ... and would like
  ...
• We/I recently wrote to you about ...
• Thank you for your letter of 8 May.
• Thank you for your letter regarding ...
• Thank you for your letter/e-mail about ...
• In reply to your letter of 8 May, ...

Back
8

• Good Closing Lines
• If you require any further information, feel free
  to contact me.
• I look forward to your reply.
• I look forward to hearing from you.
• I look forward to seeing you.
• Please advise as necessary.
• We look forward to a successful working
  relationship in the future.
• Should you need any further information, please
  do not hesitate to contact me.
• Once again, I apologies for any inconvenience.
• We hope that we may continue to rely on your
  valued custom.
• I would appreciate your immediate attention to
  this matter.

Back
9
Full Stops Full stops do several jobs. They are
the strongest punctuation mark, making the most
definite pause. They are used at the end of all
sentences which are not questions or
exclamations. Stop the everlasting
sentence! This is a very long sentence which
does not make any sense. Can you put it right?
There should be five fill stops. He trudged
wearily along the dusty road his feet hurt and
his head throbbed there was not a soul in sight
for miles and he wondered what to do next when he
saw someone waving at him at the top of the hill
it was a tall man in a large hat
Back
10
Question Marks A question mark is used at the end
of a sentence which asks a question. It is used
instead of a full stop so the next word begins
with a capital letter. When the word or words in
the sentence actually form a question it is
called a direct question. This sort of question
expects an answer. Which is the best route to
London?
An indirect question is a sentence which does not
ask a question but tells you what question was
asked. It does not have a question mark. He
asked which was the best route to London.
A question can just be one word. Why? Who? How?
When? What? Take care! If a sentence begins with
one of these words it does not necessarily mean
it is a question.
Back
11
Exclamation Marks An exclamation mark is used at
the end of a sentence or phrase to emphasize some
special meaning within it. It can mark surprise,
humour or joy. I don't believe it! Silly
me! What a beautiful day! It can show fear,
anger, pain and danger. Don't shoot! How dare
you! Ouch! When someone is giving an order or
shouting an exclamation mark is used. Stand up
straight! Halt! Attention! Call the
police! Don't use more than one exclamation mark
at a time. Don't use them too often or they will
lose their effect and make what you write boring
to read.
Back
12
Comma A comma is used to mark a brief pause,
much shorter than a pause made by a full stop. It
can be used to separate two words, or groups of
words, in a sentence, in order to make the
meaning clear. Commas are the most common
punctuation mark, but you have to be careful how
you use them. You can easily change the meaning
of a sentence by moving a comma to a different
place or taking to away all together. Lists When
there is a list of words in a sentence, each word
is separated from the next by a comma. Commas are
not generally used with and. In a list and
tends to replace the comma. Long sentences Two or
more simple sentences joined together by words
like but, or, nor, so, either and
neither are separated by a comma before the
joining word.
Back
13

• Capital Letters
• A capital letter should always be used for
• The beginning of a sentence.
• Peoples names.
• Names of places.
• Names of streets, roads and buildings.
• Titles of books, plays, songs, newspapers, films
  and poems.
• Days of the week, months of the year and for
  special days.
• Titles
• Titles before names
• The names of God, Jesus Christ and names relating
  to them.
• The word I.
• Begin Paragraphs/ start of a new line of an
  address.

The old Lady went to bed Bert Doris Smith New
York Mount Everest Main Street The
Mousetrap Monday December Christmas Prime
Minister Lord Longford Our Father Allah I think
I am poorly. 17 Main Street, London.
Back
14
Paragraphs Long chunks of writing unbroken by
paragraphs are very off putting to most readers.
A paragraph is a set of sentences. There are no
hard and fast rules about how many sentences
should be in a paragraph. When there is a
complete change of subject it is usually quite
easy to tell that a new paragraph is needed.
Back