The Daring Book for Girls - Andrea J. Buchanan [72]
The Thank-You Letter
When you receive a gift or other form of hospitality, it is polite to send a thank-you note or letter in response—and it is most polite to have the letter be handwritten. Begin by greeting the person and then start the letter right away by saying “Thank you.” You don’t have to get fancy with an introduction; the whole point of the letter is to say thanks. So start with that: A simple “thank you for your gift” will do. Then, mention how the gift will come in handy for you (or, if writing in response to a favor or gesture of hospitality, how useful their actions were to you: “I really appreciated
LETTER WRITING TIPS
from Eight or Nine Wise Words Ahout Letter Writing, published in 1890 by
Charles Dodgson (the pseudonym of Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll)
Here is a golden Rule to begin with. Write legibly. The auerage temper of the human race would be perceptibly sweetened, if everybody obeyed this Rule! A great deal of the bad writing in the world comes simply from writing too quickly.
…My second Rule is, don’t fill more than a page and a half with apologies for not having written sooner! The best subject, to begin with, is your friend’s last letter. Write with the letter open before you. Answer his questions, and make any remarks his letter suggests. Then go on to what you want to say yourself. This arrangement is more courteous, and pleasanter for the reader, than to fill the letter with your own invaluable remarks, and then hastily answer your friend’s questions in a postscript. Your friend is much more likely to enjoy your wit, after his own anxiety for information has been satisfied.
A few more Rules may fitly be given here, for correspondence that has unfortunately become controversial. One is, don’t repeat yourself. When once you have said your say, fully and clearly, on a certain point, and have failed to convince your friend, drop that subject: to repeat your arguments,
being able to stay with you when I visited New York last week.”). If you can, it’s always nice to mention looking forward to seeing them at some future event. Then say thanks again and wrap up the letter by signing off with “love,” “with gratitude,” “yours truly,” or your preferred way of closing. A brief example:
Dear Aunt Jessie,
Thanks so much for the fantastic roller skates! I can’t wait to use them at the skating party next month. When you come visit over the summer, maybe we can go skating together. Th anks again!
Love,
Emi
all over again, will simply lead to his doing the same; and so you will go on, like a Circulating Decimal. Did you ever know a Circulating Decimal come to an end?
Another Rule is, when you have written a letter that you feel may possibly irritate your friend, however necessary you may have felt it to so express yourself, put it aside till the next day. Then read it over again, and fancy it addressed to yourself. This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper, and putting in honey instead, and thus making a much more palatable dish of it!…
My fifth Rule is, if your friend makes a severe remark, either leave it unnoticed, or make your reply distinctly less severe: and if he makes a friendly remark, tending towards “making up” the little difference that has arisen between you, let your reply be distinctly more friendly…
My sixth Rule (and my last remark about controversial correspondence) is, don’t try to have the last word! How many a controversy would be nipped in the bud, if each was anxious to let the other have the last word!…
My seventh Rule is, if it should ever occur to you to write, jestingly, in dispraise of your friend, be sure you exaggerate enough to make the jesting obvious: a word spoken in jest, but taken as earnest, may lead to very serious consequences. I have known it to lead to the breaking-off of a friendship