Notice and Letter: The Highway Outside the School Gate
The Senior Secondary School in a Punjab town sits on a state highway. Of 1,200 students, about 300 cycle to school, and the gate opens directly onto the highway. In one week, two cyclists had near-misses with trucks at 7:40 a.m. The principal asks the head boy, Arjun, to prepare two pieces of writing: a notice for the school notice board (about 50 words) telling students about a new rule-cyclists must use the side gate and walk their cycles for the last 100 metres-and a letter to the editor of a local daily (150-200 words) asking for a speed-breaker and a zebra crossing. Arjun's first draft of the notice begins: 'All students are informed that they should not come to school by cycle because it is very dangerous.' His letter begins: 'I am writing this letter to draw your kind attention towards the above matter.' The principal says the notice is too vague and the letter opens with empty formality. Arjun has one period to revise both.
1. Identify the audience and purpose of each text and explain why Arjun's notice opening fails both tests.
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The notice is for students and parents on the school notice board; its purpose is to secure a specific change in behaviour-cyclists must use the side gate and walk the last 100 metres. The letter is for the editor and, through the newspaper, local authorities and the public; its purpose is to request a speed-breaker and a zebra crossing.
Arjun's notice opening fails because it addresses the wrong action. 'They should not come to school by cycle' is not the new rule; it is a vague prohibition that would punish 300 students who have no other transport. It also gives no alternative, no date, no signature and no reason. A notice must be short, but brevity is not vagueness: it should state the rule, the place, the effective date and the consequence. The letter's opening fails differently: 'I am writing this letter to draw your kind attention towards the above matter' is a formula that contains no problem and no request. The reader cannot act on it.
2. Rewrite the first two sentences of the letter so that it names the problem and the request without the empty formula.
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Revised opening: 'Two near-misses in one week at our school gate show that the highway crossing is unsafe for the 300 students who cycle to school. We request the municipal council to install a speed-breaker and a zebra crossing before the next session.'
Reasoning: The first sentence supplies the evidence that makes the request urgent-two near-misses, one week, 300 cyclists-rather than announcing that a letter is being written. The second sentence names the addressee and the exact remedy. This is the difference between a formula and a purpose: every word after 'I am writing' should be doing work. In a letter to the editor, the writer should also avoid emotional generalisations such as 'very dangerous' unless they are tied to a specific time and place.
3. Decide which detail belongs in the notice and which belongs in the letter: the 7:40 a.m. timing, the side gate rule, the request for a speed-breaker. Justify.
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- Side gate rule: belongs in the notice. It is an instruction students must follow, and it is within the school's control. It should be stated as a rule with a start date.
- 7:40 a.m. timing: belongs mainly in the letter, because it establishes the pattern of danger for an outside authority. In the notice it might be used briefly as a reason, but it is not an instruction.
- Request for a speed-breaker: belongs in the letter, because the school cannot install it; the municipal or highway authority must act.
Principle: a notice asks the reader to do something inside the school; a letter asks an outside reader to change something outside it. Mixing the two wastes the limited words of the notice and weakens the letter's demand. Arjun should keep the notice to the rule, the location, the date and a signature; the letter should carry evidence, the request and a closing line offering the school's cooperation.