ShmoopTube

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[Coop and Dino singing]

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If you want to be a great writer, you have to know your audience. [An audience of people]

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And no, we don't mean scheduling a meet and greet with every single person who reads your work.

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That sounds exhausting.

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A play that might go over great with toddlers… [Babies sitting in a theater]

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…might receive a slightly icier reception from an audience of theater snobs.

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Even if it does happen to star an incredibly cute teddy bear. [Man with teddy bear's head in an alley]

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The same is true when it comes to writing letters.

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There are two main kinds of letters – business and friendly – and each type follows very

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different rules.

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Business letters tend to be pretty formal, and we can even see this in the letters' layout. [Buisness letter with a mustache appears]

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They don't begin with a happy greeting or a funny picture…

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…but with a whole lot of information about addresses.

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Because what's more fun than reading addresses? [Teacher reading addresses off a chalkboard and falls asleep]

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…Everything.

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The answer is everything is more fun.

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Anyway.

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A business letter begins with the return address at the top left…

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…followed by the date the letter was written: the month, the day, and the year…. [Hand points to buisness letter's return address]

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And after that comes the address of the recipient, aka, the person getting the letter.

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Next comes a quick line of greeting, which is the first sign that this letter might have

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come from an actual human being, with feelings and everything.

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However, be sure to start the greeting with a capital letter, and it end with a colon, [Hand points to letter greeting]

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just to keep things formal.

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Finally, you're ready to write the body of your letter.

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Be sure to write in block paragraphs, with no indentations.

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After all, why waste time with blank space when there's business to be discussed? [Men standing a blank office space]

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Now, time for the closing.

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Choose a relatively formal closing statement, like "Best regards," or "Sincerely," being

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sure to start with a capital letter and end with a comma.

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After that, all that's left to do is sign your name, and include your title, if you

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have one.

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We like putting, Shmoop, Ruler of the Universe on ours.

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With all those rules and all that formality, writing a business letter might seem as fun [Coop discussing business letter rules]

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as, well, doing your taxes.

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Friendly letters can be a lot more fun. [Dino discussing friendly letters]

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You can start with less information.

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Heck, you just the return address in the top right and the date.

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Then you can get down to the fun part: writing to your friend!

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Your greeting can be pretty much whatever you want, without any need for a formal colon; [Dino clapping]

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just a capital letter out front, and a friendly comma at the end.

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Unlike those blocky business letters, the body of a friendly letter includes indentations.

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Because what's more fun and friendly than indenting paragraphs? [Woman points to indentation]

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Once you finish the body, it's time to say goodbye with an informal closing line – again

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starting with a capital letter and ending with a comma –…

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…and sign off, appropriately enough, with your signature.

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Plus, if you decide there's a bunch of bonus content you didn't manage to fit into the [Man holding a friendly letter]

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letter, feel free to add a postscript.

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Just write "P.S."…

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…then write to your heart's content.

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Although hopefully not too much.

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You might not look like the greatest letter writer in the world if your postscript is

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fifty times longer than your actual letter.

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