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Letters are written for many purposes and audiences:

• they can be written to someone close to you, like a parent or friend, or to a stranger
• they can be formal, such as a letter of complaint, or informal, to someone you know well
• they are usually structured in a particular way to show that the text is directed at someone, using a salutation ‘Dear…’ and an appropriate ending ‘Yours sincerely…’

Open letters

• An ‘open letter’ is a letter which is either addressed to the public or is to a specific person, like a politician, but published in a public forum such a popular newspaper with a big audience. An open letter is often used to protest about something.

Example

This letter was written by the author Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, when he was only 12. It was a letter to the editor of a comic called The Eagle.

‘January 23, 1965

Dear Editor,

The sweat was dripping down my face and into my lap, making my clothes very wet and sticky. I sat there, walking, watching. I was trembling violently as I sat, looking at the small slot, waiting — ever waiting. My nails dug into my flesh as I clenched my hands. I passed my arm over my hot, wet face, down which sweat was pouring. The suspense was unbearable. I bit my lip in an attempt to stop trembling with the terrible burden of anxiety. Suddenly, the slot opened and in dropped the mail. I grabbed at my Eagle and ripped off the wrapping paper.

My ordeal was over for another week!

D. N. Adams (12)

Brentwood, Essex

The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time, Douglas Adams

Analysis

This letter:

• Is clearly trying to get published - it’s very dramatic and over the top. This exaggeration is designed to flatter the editor of the comic ‘I grabbed at my Eagle and ripped off the wrapping paper.’
• There is a lot of detailed description of the writer being tense ‘My nails dug into my flesh as I clenched my hands.’
• But it’s also funny for the same reasons. There is comedy is the way he seems so desperate to get the weekly comic ‘My ordeal was over for another week!’
• Douglas Adams signs it with his age – it is common to include the writer’s age when publishing letters in newspapers.