A Letter to a Friend
Hi, Paul!
I’m sorry I haven’t been writing for a while, but I was really up to my neck in work. But what happened today made me so upset that I just need someone to see me through this crisis. I know you’ll have some words of advice for me, and that’s exactly what I need right now.
Do you remember that project I’ve been thinking of? The boss told us to offer an idea of the promotion campaign. I thought that this was an original idea and no one will ever come up with something like that – not in this lifetime. So I decided that in today’s discussion, I’m going to be the last to offer my plan and make a huge impression.
However, just before I was going to speak, that Peterson guy took the floor, and guess what – he offered the same thing I was going to! Sam Peterson stole my idea. Now I recall him always arriving at the office before me. He could have browsed through the papers on my table and even files on my computer easily.
You must have thought it couldn’t be worse, but it was even worse than that. Right after Peterson stopped talking, I stood up and couldn’t utter a word. I know I should have told everything and show everyone what a two-faced liar Peterson was, but I just mumbled “Excuse me” and left.
Now that I’ve told you all that, I feel I can do something about it. Thanks for helping me let it out. I guess I’ll need to explain to the boss what has happened at the conference. I hope you’re doing fine. See you soon!
Take care,
Sam.
A Letter to the Employer
Dear Mr. Lyndon,
I am writing to you to explain the reasons for the incident which occurred during today’s meeting. You probably remember I did not deliver the ideas concerning the advertisement campaign. In this letter, I would like to explain the reasons for the above-mentioned.
How I acted can be explained by the fact that the ideas which Mr. Peterson expressed before my prepared speech were the same ideas that I was about to offer. Though some of the details were slightly changed (for example, I was going to offer a different color choice for the advertisement), the basic concept of the advertisement was designed by me. It is especially important to mention that we did not collaborate in the creation of the idea.
Therefore, I was in a state of shock after Mr. Peterson ended his speech. Losing control of my emotions, I decided to leave under the spur of the moment. Later on, I reconsidered what had happened in a cool-blooded manner.
On no account does the aforementioned mean that I accuse Mr. Peterson of stealing my ideas; however, I would like You to consider this case and figure out whether my authorship of the idea concerning the commercial should be restored. In case You would like evidence that my project is completely authentic, I will gladly provide You with the sketches of the campaign that I have made in my notebook several days ago. Also, I have attached MS Word documents with the drafts of the idea; as You can see, their creation time is several weeks before the meeting. If You need more evidence of my work, do not hesitate to contact me at any time.
Sincerely Yours,
Samuel Lynch.
Letters Analysis and Conclusions
There is a huge difference between formal and informal writing styles. The first thing that should be noticed is the clichés. In the personal letter, there are some like “Take care,” yet they are rather unnoticeable. In the official letter, the clichéd elements are, on the contrary, rather obvious: “Sincerely Yours,” “Dear Mr. Lyndon,” “On no account,” etc.
Another important point to make concerns about the choice of words. As one must have noticed, the letter to a friend is filled with all sorts of colloquialisms and metaphors: “not in this lifetime,” “up to my neck in work,” etc. Besides, the personal letter contains a lot of contractions like “haven’t,” “couldn’t.”
Finally, it is necessary to say a couple of words about punctuation. In formal letters like the one above, punctuation does not vary greatly, which makes the letter as dry as it can be. There are mostly full stops and commas, with occasional semicolons, while in the personal letter, there are some exclamation marks and even a question mark.
Hence, it can be considered that both letters efficiently convey the key idea. Each of the letters names the problem and lists the basic points. However, as has been mentioned above, not only the style but also the emotional coloring makes the letters different. Hence, it can be considered that in professional communication, it is only information that matters, while in personal correspondence, emotional strain is often much more important than the actual conflict.