CHAPTER XXX LETTER WRITING LESSON I Letter writing. Writers of short stories or novels or histories are few in number. Only a few persons are in the advertising business and have to write descriptions of new dresses or expositions of new kinds of motor-cars. The number of lawyers, who have to write out and present arguments, is comparatively small. But everybody has to write letters; and letter writing involves the use of narration, description, exposition, and argumentation. There are three kinds of letters: Formal, Business, and Personal or Social letters. [The adjective "formal" may of course be applied to business letters that are very stilted, or to social letters that are not at all intimate; but the term "formal letter" usually applies to a note written in the third person.] Formal letters. Formal letters are used chiefly for invitations and acceptances or re grets to formal Mrs. Lawrence Bruce requests the pleasure of Mr. Thornton Smith's company on the evening of Thursday, March fifteenth, from eight until ten o'clock. 36 Morton street, Seattle, Washington. dinners or entertainments. They should always be written in the third person. Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Prentiss Jones to Mr. Arthur Egbert Chandler, on Tuesday evening, September the seventh, Third Congregational Church, Los Angeles, California. The replies should also be written in the third person, and should follow the wording of the invitation exactly. Replies to formal invitations should be sent as early as possible. Formal invitations and replies should always be written on note-paper. If you add the name of the town from which you are writing, and the date, put it at the end of the note, writing out the date. Mr. Thornton Smith accepts with Bremerton, Washington, Miss Susanne Greenleaf regrets her inability to accept the invitation of Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Prentiss Jones to be present at the marriage of their daughter Aliee Elizabeth to Mr. Arthur Egbert Chandler, on Tuesday evening, September the seventh, one thousand nine hundred and seventeen, at half after six o'clock. Wichita, Kansas, July twentieth. Announcements and notices. Announcements and notices, like formal letters, should be written in the third person, and should be as brief as possible. Sometimes it is desirable, when announcements are made about societies or organizations, to have the person who posts the announcement or submits it to be read, sign his name and indicate the office he holds in the organization. When the notice or announcement is read out, the submitter's name need not be read. 1. Mr. Brown will not meet his classes this morning. (May 3.) 2. The Forum Literary Society will hold its regular meeting this evening at seven-thirty. Oct. 14. F. B. Jones, Secretary. 3. a. The members of the foot-ball squad are asked to consult the bulletin-board in the lower hall. William Rankin, Captain. |