The Art Of Letter Writing

(MENAFN- The Post) In today's piece we focus on letter writing. There are various types or forms of letter writing but we will dwell much on the business letter, precisely the application letter.
Mastering the art of letter writing is one of the most important skills that will come quite handy throughout your student and professional life.

Effective letter writing skills enable you to talk and interact with people who are far afield.

And usually the letter is the first contact and impression you create with people especially within the business context since our main focus here will be on business letter writing. With this in mind, we will focus on the form, style and presentation of the letter. We will also focus on the context in which we write the application letter.

Generally, when writing to apply for a job, college opening or writing any other application, we will be responding to an advertisement and we want to put our best foot forward, as it were. We want to strike the right code in the mind and heart of the recipient of the message. We want him or her to see us in the best light.

However, although intending to impress, the application letter remains courteous, formal and warm but avoids flowery language and over-familiarity with the person to whom you are writing even if, in some instances, you may know the person to whom you are writing to. To illustrate the format and style of the application letter, let's put what we have learnt to practice. We will assume that we are responding to the following advertisement:

The National University of Lesotho intends to admit 10 students who will be offered scholarships to study for a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Media Studies.
The students must have excelled in their high school studies and have a high degree of competence in the English language.
The successful candidates must be persons who are industrious and studious.
Apply to the Registrar.

Now we begin. We begin by writing our address. After which we write the date. We skip a line and then write the second address, that is, the address of the recipient of the letter. We begin the second address by addressing a certain person or office, in this case, the Registrar. We skip a line and focus on the salutation, Dear Sir or Madam. If we know the name of the particular person we write it as such. If we say“Dear Sir or Madam” our letter would end with“ Yours faithfully” and if we have addressed the person using his or her name the letter would end with“Yours sincerely.” After the salutation, we write the reference. The reference is very important in the sense that it acts as a subject line; it gives the person to whom we are writing to a picture of the reason why we are writing at the first glance. The reference must be modest, clear and precise.

The first paragraph of the letter is the shortest. It explains the reason for writing the letter and, in most cases, the source of the information to which we are responding to.
The second paragraph is usually the motivation behind our letter, why we feel and think that we are the best candidate. In this paragraph we usually furnish the particulars of our education and other qualifications.

Finally, we include a paragraph about people who may back or support our applications and those people are of good professional stead whose opinion and views hold sway. After that we end the letter with“ Yours sincerely” or“Yours faithfully”; we sign the letter and write our full names beneath the signature.

Letsie Flats
Maseru
Lesotho
October 5, 2023

The Registrar
National University of Lesotho
P.O Roma 180,
Lesotho

Dear Sir/ Madam

RE: APPLICATION FOR A SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDY FOR A BA DEGREE

I am writing to apply for the Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Media Studies 2024 scholarship as advertised on your website.

I am very keen on pursuing studies in the liberal arts, especially the combination of English and Media Studies. I have successfully completed my Advanced Level studies as you can see from my profile attached here.

I am confident that my diverse skills, qualities, competencies and experience put me in good stead for the scholarship I am applying for. I am very analytical, observant and studious. I also possess the skill of being a life-long learner, which attribute enables me to adapt to any environment.

For more about me kindly get in touch with the referees mentioned in my resume attached hereto.

Yours faithfully,

Lerato Mokoena

As we have demonstrated, writing formal letters in the form of application letters requires mastery of the content, format and general presentation which include using the right tone.

Vuso Mhlanga teaches at the University of Zimbabwe. For almost a decade and half he taught English language and Literature in English at high school. Send your comments and questions to:

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