Letter

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

For other uses, see Letter (disambiguation).

Vintage German letter balance for home use

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, 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 e-mail. 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 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. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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 postal services, 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.

[edit] The letter-delivering process

Here is how a letter gets from the sender to the recipient:

1. Sender writes letter and places it in an envelope on which he writes the recipient address.
2. Sender buys a postage stamp, which they place on the front of the envelope.
3. Sender puts their letter in a mailbox and does nothing more.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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 2-3 days to 3-4 weeks. International mail is sent via trains and planes to other countries.

[edit] Letter layout

[edit] United Kingdom

The following is the normal way to set out a letter: (Note: This is the style in the UK. See below for the format used in the US.)

[edit] United States

The following is the modified block format for a business letter, common in the United States:

The sender's address and closing generally begin about one-half to two-thirds of the way across the page. The full block format is similar. In this format, however, all sections begin at the left margin. Also, paragraphs are not indented at all, rather beginning at the left margin along with all other lines. A single blank line is used to distinguish paragraphs.

[edit] See also

[edit] Types of letters

[edit] External links

• Web form to Letter (PDF) generator
• University of Wisconsin Writing Center Guide
• Letter Writing Tips, Resources & Formats
• Purdue University Online Writing Lab
• Sample Letters