Kinds of letters. Types of service letters

Since ancient times, people have used different kinds of letters to share information with their own kind. Scientists-archaeologists have found such messages on clay tablets, bits of birch bark or on parchment. This is a clear confirmation that a person by means of a letter has always tried to express his own thoughts and aspirations.

Definition of term

Speech is one of the forms of communication between people using language constructs. It represents some human efforts that are aimed at achieving a specific goal. At the same time, speech activity has such kinds as speaking, reading, translation, writing, etc. They are all means of communication between people.

The letter as a type of speech activity is a subsidiary sign system. It is used to fix the sound language. But at the same time, the letter is an independent communication system, which has a number of functions inherent only to it. In addition to fixing speech activity, it provides humanity with the opportunity to learn the knowledge of previous generations and expand the sphere of communication. In other words, the letter connects people in the case when there is no possibility of direct communication in connection with their division by time or space.

This term was interpreted somewhat differently by the Russian literary language of the 18th century. In those days, under the word "letter", in addition to the postal mail with the text on paper, it was understood and written by the authors of the composition or work. This interpretation was given to this term in connection with the significant influence of the Polish language on Russian, which took place at that time.

Today, the letter retains its main information function. However, the list of ways to transmit a particular message has expanded considerably. So, letters today can be received by e-mail, as well as using a variety of multimedia elements (pictures, audio or video clips).

Classification of messages

To date, there are different types of letters. First of all, they are divided into paper, which are traditional, and electronic.

The first type of letters is a correspondence of a different nature, sealed in an envelope. Such messages go a long way from their sender to the addressee.

The various types of e-mails transmitted using modern means of communication (via e-mail, chat, video, etc.), in their essence, do not differ from traditional ones. They, like their predecessors, have the address of the sender and the recipient, the basic information text, the signature, the date, etc. However, electronic types of letters are a special means of communication. With their help, people can communicate in dialogue mode, teleconferencing, etc. In other words, e-mail provides humanity with enormous opportunities, transmitting any information in a matter of seconds by pressing just one input button.

There is another classification, according to which the main types of letters are as follows:

1. Friendly. They are written to familiar people who live, as a rule, in another village.
2. Love. They write romance, which has not yet been translated into the modern world. Such letters, full of feelings, as in the old days, continue to fly from house to house, crossing the borders of regions, countries and continents.
3. Advertising. Their main purpose is connected with sales. To date, such letters in Russia are just beginning to be popular, increasing volumes and developing from year to year. Here you can include various kinds of commercial offers, announcements of promotions, etc.
4. Business. These are letters intended for clients and partners, officials and officials. The dispatch of such correspondence is under strict control. The letter must reach its addressee on time to inform it of important information.

There are other types of messages. So, there are letters that are attached to the resume, sent to the consulate, to the editorial office, to the embassy, and also to the technical support service.

The need for business correspondence

When writing an official letter, a person hardly thinks about how the methods of its design and presentation have been polished for many centuries. Business messages, as in former times, are an inalienable means of communication between various institutions. At the same time, they all have a single generalized name - "official letter". This concept includes different in its content documents, drawn up in accordance with the existing GOST and sent by fax, mail or otherwise. The text of such correspondence should be correct, literate and accurate. From this directly depends on the solution of this or that question, and consequently, the success of the enterprise as a whole.

The history of the appearance of business correspondence

Compilation of collections ("letters"), containing samples of documents, began in Russia in the early 18th century. The forerunners of these publications were the "formers" who were used in the West as early as the 7th century.

Both those and other directories contained the description of requisites of documents, and also their certain sequence. These were original handbooks for scribes. From them you could gather information about the construction of the document, as well as get acquainted with the template sets of expressions and phrases that were an integral part of the official etiquette.

One of the "letters" was "titular". This collection contained information on how to spell a full royal title.

There were also requirements to the handwriting of the scribe, as well as to the color and quality of the paper. All correspondence was sent in envelopes, which were sealed with sealing wax or wafers.

In the days of the USSR, the genre of a business letter adopted in tsarist Russia was simply rejected as a remnant of the past. The Soviet authorities underestimated the importance of business correspondence. In addition, the lack of competition and free enterprise deprived of the need for eloquence and in bringing convincing arguments to the partner about the beginning of cooperation.

Types of business letters

At the moment, no organization can do without official correspondence. Official correspondence is used to solve many operational issues that arise in commercial and managerial activities.

Any business letter is nothing more than an informational message bearing a protocol nature. That is why such correspondence is subject to registration, and oral communication to partners does not eliminate the need to send it by mail.

There are various types of service letters. At the same time, their classification depends on the characteristics that are inherent in them. So, they distinguish:

• Service letters to which you must respond. These are letter-requests, letters-questions, letters-appeals, and so on.
• Business correspondence that does not require an answer. It includes letters of warning, letters of reminders, etc.

Business correspondence can be classified according to the structural features. In accordance with them, there are types of official letters, both standard and unregulated. The first of them are called upon to address issues related to regular economic and legal situations. The submission of information in such a message is made in the form of syntactic constructions of the standard type. Unregulated business letters contain the author's formal-logical narrative written in the framework of the accepted etiquette.

The thematic sign of official correspondence delineates business and commercial correspondence. So, there are letters that cover the legal, economic, financial and other forms of the enterprise's activities. They are classified as business correspondence. If the text of the letter contains questions of sales or logistics, then it is considered commercial.

On the grounds of the addressee, business correspondence is divided into circular and ordinary. The second kind of letters differs in that from the same source the same text is sent to several addresses.

There are also single-aspect and multifaceted business correspondence. The first of these two types deals with only one issue or problem. The multidimensional text highlights several directions at the same time (messages, suggestions, requests).

Drawing up business letters

All official correspondence includes several structural elements. At the very top of the sheet is the header area. In its left part place an angular stamp of the enterprise with the indication of the name, as well as postal and other requisites of the company. The number of the outgoing document and the date of registration are also displayed here.

A bit below this corner stamp is the title of the text of the letter, followed by the text itself. When writing such a document, the following rules must be observed:

• The text should address either one issue or several interrelated ones;
• In the first part of the text, the reason for writing it should be stated, and in the second part - proposals, conclusions, decisions, etc.;
• Correspondence should be placed on sheets of A5 or A4 format;
• In the presence of applications, they are indicated below the main text.

Below is the signature area. Here the position of the person signing the document is indicated, as well as his surname and initials.

If you want to write different types of letters in English, German and other languages, then when designing them, you need to take into account the peculiarities of compiling business letters of the partner country. So, in different states there are separate rules for writing dates, addresses and other specific moments.

Rules for writing e-mails

To date, the authors of numerous mailings and blogs are trying to keep in touch with their readers, regularly throwing letters to them with useful advice. However, in this issue there are certain rules concerning the mailing, which a person simply does not want to see in his computer.

Unusual classification

There are 5 types of letters that should not be sent to your audience. To them it is possible to carry:

1. "Letters-sheets", occupying the volume of more than one screen of the monitor.
2. "Letters-zadolbashki", sent with an annoying frequency.
3. "Letter-referrals", in which the author gives advice "to get acquainted" with something useful. To obtain such information, the reader passes by the named link and sees there is another lesson or training. Such attraction to an extraneous site promptly reduces the number of the original audience.
4. "Letters-Partisans", sent by the author of various dispatches to the same client base.
5. "Letters of horror." These include correspondence that has an unsightly appearance when you leave on an e-mail from a mobile phone or tablet. That's why when preparing any text, you need to make sure that it is equally well read from different devices.

Letter in the process of human development

The basic concepts of transferring graphic symbols to paper people begin to learn, being at school age. It was during these years that the letter as a kind of activity takes on special significance. The desire to clearly and quickly reflect their thoughts on paper indicates that a person increases his literacy. In addition, many psychologists note the fact that the peculiarity of speech transferred to paper lies in the fact that it is not only a habit of fingers and hands. The letter is a means of active cognitive activity, and its assimilation is closely connected with the process of personality formation.

Letter in primary school

To acquaintance with the wonderful world of speech display on paper, children begin already from the first class. At the same time, students begin to realize that there are different kinds of letters. An abstract of the teacher's lesson on this topic should contain the objectives of the lesson. They consist in acquaintance of children with the genre of writing, in the development of coherent speech, orthographic vigilance, speech-auditory and visual memory, fine motor skills and emotional sphere.

In this lesson, the teacher explains to his pupils the role that the letter plays in people's lives. This allows to develop the communicative qualities of schoolchildren. The children are brought up collectivism, accumulates the initial experience of thinking, writing and writing letters.

An unusual composition

At school lessons on the Russian language and literature in high school sometimes a very interesting task is offered. Teacher invites children to write an essay in the form of a letter. Using such an epistolary genre, you can avoid pattern phrases and strict frames. In this case, the student is given the opportunity to fly his imagination, while remaining within the framework of the given topic.

Of course, writing is first and foremost freedom of thought. However, before compiling this work, it will not hurt to think about his plan. This will make it possible to clearly state on paper your thoughts and not get confused in the theses presented. Such a letter will become clear not only to the person to whom it is intended. His main idea will be understood by any reader.

Training in correctional schools

For children suffering from various diseases, special educational institutions of various types (from 1 to 8) are created in our country. Their main goal is to prepare students for adulthood.

The most difficult is to teach in schools of the 8th kind. They take the mentally retarded children here. At the first stage of their training, the teacher must form the initial skills of reading and graphical representation of sounds. The letter (1st grade, 8th form of school) for such students serves as the basis for the formation of synthesis and sound-letter analysis. First-graders work with words and syllables, short texts, and also the simplest types of sentences.

The main goal of such schools is to teach children reading and writing, as well as orientation in social conditions.