letter wiki

7/30/2019 letter wiki

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The famous Einstein letter from Edward

Teller and Le Szilrd to US President

Franklin Roosevelt suggesting an atomic

bomb project. Click here for page 2.

Letter (message)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A letter is a written message containing information from one party to another. The role of letters in

communication has changed significantly since the nineteenth century. Historically, letters (in paper form) were the

only reliable means of communication between two people in different locations.

As communication technology has diversified, posted letters have become less important as a routine form of

communication; they however still remain but in a modified form. For example, the development of the telegraph

shortened the time taken to send a letter by transferring the letter as an electrical signal (for example in Morse code)

between distant points. At the telegraph office closest to the destination of the letter, the signal was transferred back

into a hardcopy format and sent as a normal mail to the person's home. This allowed the normal speed of

communication to be drastically shortened for larger and larger distances. This required specialised technicians to

encode and decode the letter. The facsimile (fax) machine took this one step further: an entire letter could be

completely transferred electrically from the sender's house to the receiver's house by means of the telephone

network as an image.

Today, the Internet is becoming (or has become) the predominant medium for sending letters. The term e-mail,meaning electronic mail, has entered into everyday speech. By analogy, the term letteris sometimes used for e-mail

messages with a formal letter-like format. (And regular letters, since they take longer, are often called "snail-mail.")

Historically, letters exist from the time of ancient India, ancient Egypt and Sumer, through Rome, 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.

Contents

1 The study of letter writing

2 Advantages

3 The letter-delivering process

4 Letter layout

4.1 United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia

4.2 United States

Letter (message) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_(message)

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5 Letter of thanks

5.1 Types

5.1.1 Business

5.1.2 Personal

5.2 Format

6 See also

6.1 Types of letters

7 References

The study of letter writing

Due to the timelessness and universality of letter writing, there is a wealth of letters and instructional materials (for example, manuals, as in the medieval ars

dictaminis) on letter writing throughout history. The study of letter writing usually involves both the study of rhetoric and grammar.[1]

AdvantagesLetters are still used, particularly by law firms and businesses, for official (public) notifications, sometimes advertising. This is because of three main

advantages:

No special device needed - almost everybody has a residence or other place at which he or she can receive mail. A mailbox is all that the intended

recipient needs - unlike e-mail or phone calls, where the intended recipient needs access to a computer and an e-mail account or a telephone respectively.

"Catch-all"advertising- unlike e-mails, where the recipient needs an individual e-mail address to receive messages, individuals are not necessarily

chosen, by rather can widely cover many or all addresses in a given locality.

Physical record - important messages that need to be retained (e.g. invoices; government notification such as tax or immigration) can be kept relatively

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 the recipient's address is written in the centre front of the envelope. Sender ensures that the

recipient's address includes the Zip or Postal (if applicable) code and often he includes his return address on the envelope.

1.


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A thank-you letter from Katharine

Hepburn to Alan Light thanking him for

his condolences in regards of Cary Grant's

death

Sender buys a postage stamp and attaches it to the front of the envelope on the top right corner on the front of

the envelope.

2.

Sender puts the letter in a postbox.3.

The national postal service for the sender's country (e.g., the Royal Mail, UK; US Postal Service, US;

Australia Post in Australia; or Canada Post in Canada) empties the postbox and takes all the contents to the

regional sorting office.

4.

The sorting office then sorts each letter by address and postcode and delivers the letters destined for a

particular area to that area's post office. Letters addressed to a different region are sent to that region's sortingoffice, to be sorted further.

5.

The local post office dispatches the letters to their delivery personnel who deliver them to the appropriate

addresses.

6.

This whole process, depending on how far the sender is from the recipient, can take anywhere from a day to 34

weeks. International mail is sent via trains and planes to other countries.

Letter layout


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Vintage German letter balance for home

use

Sender's address here

24 Lambert StreetStoke-on-Trent

ST4 4WE

Date here

Formal: 1 January 2013 Informal: January

1

United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia

The following is a common way to set out a letter:


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Recipient's name and address

here

Mr Joseph Bloggs

25 Lambkin Street

Stoke-on-Trent

ST3 9WR

Main body

Formal: Dear Sir or Madam, Acquaintance: Dear Mr Johnson, Informal: Dear Boris,

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:

January 1, 2013

Your Address

Date

Mr Jack Brough

25 First Street

Anytown, VA 10005

Dear Mr. Brough:

This is an example of a modified block letter. The difference between itand 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,

Robert Hayward

Sales Representative


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Thank you letter sent by the US

government to test subjects of the

Tuskegee Syphilis Study.

Letter of thanks

A letter of thanks orthank you letter is a letter that is used when one person/party wishes to express appreciation to another. There are two main types of

thank you letters: business thank you letters and personal thank you letters.

Types

Business

There are numerous situations in day-to-day business that can warrant a thank you letter. Some typical situations include:

appreciation for special consideration extended by another organization, thanking a speaker for a presentation at a board

meeting, customer appreciation letters thanking customers for their patronage, thanks to employees for exceptional service

or performance, thanks to an individual or organization for a customer referral, appreciation to volunteer service workers

for their personal contributions to a public service campaign, etc.

Personal

As with business situations, there are many instances in day-to-day life that can warrant a formal thank you letter. Examples

of typical personal thank you letter situations include: a follow-up thanks after a job interview or offer, thanks to a company

or institution in appreciation for exceptional customer service received, letter to friends and/or neighbors for their support

during a difficult period, letters for wedding gifts, thanks to a service club or agency for support given to family members,

social occasion thank you letters for a wide variety of social situations, etc.

Format

A thank you letter should be written as a standard business letter or personal letter, and should not normally exceed one page. Personal thank you letters can be

hand-written in cases in which the addressee is a friend, acquaintance or relative.

Thank you letters are also sometimes referred to as letters of gratitude. These types of thank you letters are usually written as formal business letters.

See also

Address Postage stamp


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An illiterate woman and a

letter writer in Kolkata, India

Carbon copy

Compliments slip

Envelope

Historical documents

Letter box

Mail

Manuscript

Pen palPony Express

Post office

Postmaster

Postmaster General (disambiguation)

Private Express Statutes

Salutation

Secrecy of letters

Snail mail

Stationery

TypographyUniversal Postal Union

Valediction

Types of letters

Application letter

Audio letter

Begging letter

Business letter

Cease and desist letter

Chain letter

Cover letter

Dear John letter

E-mail letterEpistle

Hate mail

Introduction letter

Letter of credence

Letter of credit

Letter of inquiry

Letter of intent

Letter of marque

Letter of resignation

Letters patent

Love letter

National Letter of Intent

Open letter

Poison pen letterQuery letter

Recommendation letter

Reference letter

Sales letter

Letter (message) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_(message)

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