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a. A heavy loss by reason of fire.

b. The defeat of the football team of which he is captain.
c. His failure to win a debate for his school.

d. His failure to pass his college entrance examinations.
e. An accident which prevents his spending his vacation
in the mountains.

7. Write a letter to a member of your family from the town where you have just found employment. Describe the town, the people with whom you are associated, and the work you are doing.

8. Find in the library good examples of friendly letters. Select two to bring to class and point out the features which make these letters of interest to you.

NOTE. Some of the best letters have been written by Stevenson, Thackeray, Scott, Lowell, Lamb, Irving, Thoreau, Washington, Phillips Brooks, Edward FitzGerald, and Madame de Sévigné.

9. Write a letter to a friend who did not enter high school with you, urging him to enter with the next class and explaining the advantages.

10. Your father has been away on an extended trip. Write him about the happenings at home in which he will be interested.

11. Write a reply to exercise 10, describing the trip and asking questions about home affairs.

12. Write a letter of congratulation.

13. In a letter to a friend, write what you have learned from this chapter about letters of friendship.

276. Informal Notes. An informal note is much like a friendly letter except that it is much shorter, containing usually the single point for which it is written. It should in general have the same form and

be governed by the same rules as the longer letters. The place and date, however, may be written out in full at the end of the note instead of being placed at the top of the page, or they may be omitted altogether.

EXAMPLES OF INFORMAL NOTES

My dear Elizabeth,

I

It will give me great pleasure if you will dine with us to-morrow, at six o'clock. I should like you and my cousin Margaret Hall, who is visiting me this week, to know each other.

Cordially yours,

Jean Alexander.

Bridgewater,
August first.

II

Dear Jean,

It will give me great pleasure to dine with you to

morrow at six and to meet Miss Hall again.

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I am very sorry that a previous engagement will deprive me of the pleasure of a drive through the chestnut woods with you Friday. I regret it the more, because the woods must be beautiful just now in their autumn colors. It was most kind of you to think of me.

Sincerely yours,

Wednesday, October 8.

Charlotte Wing.

277. Formal Notes. Formal notes are written in the third person and are usually invitations or replies to invitations. They have no heading, introduction, or conclusion. The address and date are at the close, to the left of the page.

All replies, whether formal or informal, should be sent at once in order that the host may know how many guests to expect. These replies should repeat the day and hour mentioned in the invitation, to prevent any mistake in the time.

EXAMPLES OF FORMAL NOTES

I

Mr. and Mrs. William Green request the pleasure of Miss Margaret Cushman's company at dinner on Wednesday evening, May the second, at seven o'clock.

1218 Avon Road,

April twenty-seventh.

II

Miss Cushman accepts with pleasure Mr. and Mrs. William Green's kind invitation to dinner on Wednesday evening, May the second, at seven o'clock.

68 Fourth Street,

April twenty-eighth.

III

Miss Cushman regrets that she is unable to accept Mr. and Mrs. William Green's kind invitation to dinner on Wednesday evening, May the second.

68 Fourth Street,

April twenty-eighth.

EXERCISE 52

1. Examine the examples of formal and informal notes, and point out the characteristic features of each.

2. Write an informal note inviting a friend to spend the week-end with you at your summer camp.

3. Acknowledge the receipt of a Christmas gift.

4. Explain in an informal note to your teacher why you are absent from school.

5. Write a formal note inviting an acquaintance to a Hallowe'en party to be given at your home.

6. Write a formal note accepting the invitation in exercise 5.

7. Write a formal note of regret in reply to the same invitation.

8. Write your hostess thanking her for the good time she gave you during your visit.

9. Express in an informal note your appreciation of sympathy extended to you.

10. Write a note inviting one of your teachers to luncheon on Saturday.

11. One of your friends is moving to Boston. Ask your cousin who lives there to call on him.

12. Write a note of apology to some friend whom you have offended.

278. Business Letters. A good business letter has for its chief characteristics brevity and clearness. The business man has no time to waste, so the point of the letter must be made clear to him in the briefest possible space consistent with accuracy and courtesy. There is no place for unbusinesslike, needless detail. Those facts which the reader must know, which have an immediate bearing upon the business at hand, are

given, and no others. In your efforts to be brief, however, clearness should not be forfeited for brevity; nor should necessary details be omitted. On the other hand, the letter should not convey an impression that you are hurried. That so-called "business style" of writing which omits the pronoun and uses certain shortened forms of expressions such as y'rs, and rec'd, is in bad taste and should never be adopted. The same rules for complete sentences hold here as elsewhere in composition work.

If the letter is a reply, it should begin with a reference to the letter received; it should answer definitely all questions asked, and make such explanations as are deemed necessary; and it should bring up last any new phase of the subject.

In paragraphing a business letter it is well to give a separate paragraph to each of the points under discussion so that each may stand out clearly and definitely and at once attract the reader's attention.

Whenever a favor is asked in a letter other than a friendly one, it is a good rule to enclose a stamp.

EXAMPLES OF BUSINESS LETTERS

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Upon my return to the office this afternoon, I found your telephone message relative to kindergarten furniture. I sup

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