Читать книгу Collins Letter Writing - Collins Dictionaries - Страница 9

Of any courteous letters, now: There are so few.

Ben Jonson (1616)

Once you have come to grips with the idea that your letter may exist for ever, and yet have still decided to take the plunge, then your next step must be to decide on the most suitable medium for your communication. Is the correspondence friendly, is it an apology and how much information needs to be imparted?

Writing is a slow business. We think much more quickly than we write and pen and ink merely add to the laboriousness of the process. If you wish to convey the idea that you have poured precious, loving care into your correspondence, then old-fashioned penmanship would be the most suitable choice.

Handwritten letters, in other words, demonstrate the fact that the person who sent them cares.

A printed letter can be impersonal but will always be legible.

The main negative aspect of a handwritten letter, mundane though it might be, is that a lot of people’s handwriting is not very pretty. There’s really little point putting in the extra time if no one will be able to read your letter anyway. Be honest with yourself. Is your handwriting easily legible? You already know what you are trying to say. Bear in mind that your reader might have to guess.

Word-processing is the composition of a document using a personal computer. Clearly, when a lot of facts are involved a word-processed letter will always be more effective, but for, say, a bereavement note it might be totally inappropriate. The process of computing can sometimes make the task of letter writing seem very industrial and rather formal but the results are sure to look modern, clear and businesslike.

On the plus side, with today’s printers, you can choose a particular font or paper size or graphic design in order to make your word-processed letter look softer or more casual. In any event, the printed letter is now so ubiquitous that a typewritten letter is unlikely to send out any particular signals. There are, today, very few occasions when even a social correspondent would be shocked to receive a letter in a printed format – although, of course, it is still more flattering to receive a handwritten communication.

Handwritten	Word-processed
Wedding congratulations	Letter to bank
Bereavement	CV
Love letters	Letters featuring
Birth congratulations	graphs or facts
	Explanatory letters

There is one pitfall to this apparent ease of communication, however, which many computer users fail to see. Just because it looks good instantaneously, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily right. The words flow fast – communication speeds are beginning to catch up with the speed of thought – but that doesn’t make them lovely. It is very easy to miss a mistake on a screen and it is very easy to believe that your letter is as stylish in content as it is in appearance. Just remember that it may not be …

Word-processed letters, in other words, demonstrate the fact that the person who sent them is a professional.