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Steps to Writing a Friendly Letter

Letter writing is a time-honored tradition of correspondence used to connect close friends and distant family. The friendly letter, a letter writing style part of traditional letter writing, adheres to a specific format that includes a heading, greeting, body and closing. The letter itself, however, is typically more relaxed in tone as it is used to communicate to someone important to you, such as a friend or family member.

Heading
- The heading of your friendly letter tells the recipient who sent the letter and provides a return address where she can send you a response. Your heading should include your full mailing address, in the proper format. Write your street address in the top right hand corner of your letter, with your city and state on the following line and separated by a comma. Write the date you sent the letter on the following line, with a comma separating the day and year.
Greeting
- Begin your letter with an appropriate greeting and the recipient̵7;s first name, followed by a comma. Do not indent your greeting. If your letter is addressed to a group of people, use a group title to indicate the recipient, such as ̶0;Dear Sirs,̶1; ̶0;Dear Interested Party̶1; or ̶0;Dear Friends.̶1; The greeting ̶0;Dear̶1; is often used as a greeting for friendly letters, but you can use alternate greetings such as ̶0;Regards̶1; or a simple ̶0;To.̶1;
Body
- Indent the first line of each paragraph in the body of your letter. Use the body of your friendly letter to communicate with your recipient, explaining the purpose of your letter and telling him the information you wish him to know. Keep the tone of your letter light and friendly, remembering that the purpose of a friendly letter is just to communicate with someone important to you.
Closing
- Write the closing of your letter, indented to begin at the middle of your page. Use a closing that is familiar and specific to the recipient. A simple ̶0;Your friend,̶1; ̶0;Best wishes̶1; or the more formal ̶0;Sincerely̶1; are ideal. Alternatively, you can use less common closings such as ̶0;Best regards,̶1; ̶0;As ever̶1; or ̶0;All my best.̶1; Note that only the first word in your closing should be capitalized. Use a comma at the end of your closing.
Signature
- Sign your letter under your closing. If you typed your letter, print it out first and sign it in pen under your closing. In business letters, you would also type your name below your signature, but in a friendly letter, this is not necessary.

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