How To Start A Letter

If you are interested in writing a letter, then you should know how to start a letter. There are two types of letters that most people will ever be faced with writing: a formal or an informal. These types of letters both have to be started differently because if you are writing to say, a business, you don’t need to start off sound disrespectful or unintelligent because you will present a bad first impression. This works the other way also because if you are writing a friend or family member, you don’t want to sound disconnected.

1. If you are writing a formal letter, you will need to start with a formal greeting.  You want to use a proper formal greeting because if you don’t, the business or institution may overlook it because they will not take you seriously from the start. If you are writing a formal letter, you are most likely trying to get someone to persuade someone to your point of view, therefore you need them to take you as serious as possible. Some proper formal greetings include “dear sir/madam”, “to whom it may concern”, or “hello Mr./Mrs.”. Any of these openings to a formal letter would be a proper way to start a letter.
2. For an informal letter, you should use a different greeting from a formal letter. Openings for informal letters need to be friendly so you don’t sound emotionally detached from the family member or friend that you are writing to. Proper informal greetings include “Hi *name*”, “what’s up”, or “hello *name*”. Any of these openings for your informal letter will be a proper way to start off your letter.