Lighthouse-School en www.verbanet.com.ar

BASIC
RECIPES

CLASS 02
Good morning! Good afternoon! Good evening!
Welcome to our second class. If you have questions about the functioning of the course only, contact lh@verbanet.com.ar.

In our previous session we emphasized a few facts about writing messages:

The need to organize ideas in a concise way,
Take into account the reader's view and,
Check the text for grammar, tenses, spelling and style.

Today's topic is...
The Friendly Letter

"The desire of writing grows with writing."

Erasmus

How much do you know about letters? Take the following quiz:

The classic salutation of all types of letters begins with the word...

After the salutation the traditional punctuation mark to use is a...

A very usual closing sentence is "I look forward to...

If you address someone by his/her first name, the traditional closing is...

H o w - d i d - y o u - s c o r e ?

READING

"Read, read, read. Read everything - trash, classics, good
and bad - and see how they do it... like a carpenter who works
as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You'll absorb it.
Then write."

William Faulkner

Read the following sample letter.

Dear Thomas,

Thanks for your message. I apologize because I couldn't
write earlier. Work here is hectic!

It was very interesting to read about your trip to Nepal.
What a great experience it must have been for you!

I'm also trying to squeeze a couple of days in the
following weeks to go visit my brother in New York.
By the way, he finally put a wedding date, early next year.
I'll let you know.

These days I'm finalizing the market research I was telling
you about some weeks ago. I can't believe how the
workload has piled up on my desk.

Anyway, I'll let you go now and go back to the coal mines.

Say hello to your family, and send me a picture from your
trip if you can.

Take care and write soon,

Taylor

A friendly letter may include letters to a long time friend, a former teacher, a business colleague, or a distant cousin.
There are very little rules, except for the typical sentences used in English as conventions.
You have already seen that all letters begin with the word "Dear", even if the reader is not a close aquaintance of yours.

Here are other writing conventions :

It is customary to begin a letter thanking any previous messages. Example: "Thank you for your letter."

Reading becomes easier if you organize what you want to say in different paragraphs.

One or two general closing sentences make the letter sound more polite. As in the example above.

The word "Love," to close a letter is best for close family members or very close and long time friends. A good alternative is "Take care,".

P R A C T I C E

"The great end of life is not nowledge but action."

Thomas Huxley

You will find two exercises to help you improve your letter-writing skills.
Follow the links:

Great Beginnings, Great Endings!

Good Reasons For Writing

We have reach the end of today's class. Hope you have found the contents interesting.

Regards for all,

Your electronic teacher

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