Meaning of Informal Letter

What is Informal Letter:

An informal letter is addressed to a known person in a context of friendship or trust, its message being familiar.

Informal letters are written to congratulate, invite or tell about a matter to a person with whom you have closer ties.

The message of types of informal letters are personal and friendly, since they are addressed to people we know.

In English it translates as informal letter.

Characteristics of an informal letter

Informal letters are characterized by using colloquial language, which implies a relationship or complicity between the sender and the recipient.

The structure of informal letters is also freer than formal letters, and their length is also not defined. This is the ideal type of letter to send to your closest friends and family.

Parts of an informal letter

An informal letter, as such, does not need a structure but it is suggested to incorporate the following elements that form the parts of a letter:

Place and date: It is advisable to indicate the place and date at the beginning of the letter to contextualize the message, for example, “Santiago, June 24, 2018.”
Greeting: As the header of the letter, the sender is named and the degree of proximity is shown, for example, “My dear friend”, usually followed by a colon (:).
Body: In the next paragraph after the greeting, the issue to be discussed is stated. The content must obey the general writing rules, organized into introduction, development and conclusion.
Farewell: Friendly politeness is used, such as “Greetings” or “A big kiss”, usually followed by a comma (,).
Signature: The letter ends by placing the name of the sender, that is, the person who sends the letter.

See also: Parts of a letter.

Examples of an informal letter

An informal letter requires that both the sender and the recipient know each other and have a certain degree of intimacy between them as well. Below is an example of an informal letter to thank a school friend:

Puebla, June 22, 2020

Hi, friend:

I wanted to thank you, with all my heart, for the help the other day, with the biology class. Without you, perhaps the teacher and my parents would have already punished me for life.

I hope you can come to my house more times, and this time, instead of studying, we can play that robot game you told me about. I’ll see you in class!

Give me five!

The skinny

See also Letter.