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Your street address
City, State, ZIP
Today's date (Month, day, year)
Dear _____________________, (Dr. Turner,
Larry, Mom, Uncle John, etc.)
A
friendly letter is usually written in paragraphs, and
can be one or many paragraphs long. A paragraph starts
with a topic sentence, and the other sentences in the
paragraph should be related to that topic, and in a
logical order. Begin your first paragraph by indenting
five spaces. The rest of the lines in that paragraph
should not be indented. Skip a line between paragraphs,
before the first paragraph, and after the last paragraph.
In
a friendly letter, you can use more informal language.
This means you can use the first person ("I")
and contractions such as "can't" and "isn't"
that you would write out in full for formal writing.
Slang is sometimes acceptable, but only to a close friend.
Avoid abbreviations and instant-messaging words (4U,
etc.). You can use exclamation marks more than in regular
writing, but don't overuse them.
Indent
each new paragraph the same way you did the first one.
Keep writing in this way until you've covered all the
subjects you want to include. If you get to the end
of the page and still have more to say, it's better
to end the first page early than to have only one or
two lines on the second page.
After
your last paragraph, you finish your letter with a closing
and a signature, starting at the center of the page.
Closings in a friendly letter include such things as
"Love," "Sincerely," "Yours,"
"Your friend," and so on. The signature is
handwritten in script underneath the closing.
Dr. Turner
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