Business Letters

Business Letters
A letter is a written internal or external formal channel of communication between organizations, between organizations and individuals, between individuals. 

Parts of a letter

A business letter consists of the following parts in the order in which they appear:
Letterhead (Sender’s name and return address)
Reference – this usually consists of the initials of the writer of the letter and those of the typist, e.g. PAW/JS, typed against the words ‘Our ref’. Alternatively, the reference may include details of a file number, or customer’s account number, e.g. PAW/200764/Acc/JS. You should always include a reference showing the writer’s initials and your own, unless you are asked not to do so. The reference shown on any incoming letter should be included in the letter of reply against the words ‘Your ref’.
Date – the date must always be typed on a letter, even if you are not given instructions to include it. The date should be typed in the following order: day, month and year, with the name of the month in full.
Special Instructions (Mailing or addressee notation) – any special instructions, such as PERSONAL, PRIVATE, CONFIDENTIAL, etc, should be typed above the name and address of the recipient. Leave at least 1 clear line space between the special instruction and the name and address.
Inside name and address (Recipient’s name and address) – the name and address of the individual or organization to whom the letter is being sent should always be included. These details are usually typed above the salutation. Each line of the address should start at the left margin. Use single-line spacing.
Attention line – some business organizations like all correspondence to be addressed to the company rather than to individuals. In such cases it is usual to include an ‘attention line’ to ensure that the letter is directed to the appropriate department or individual, eg:
FOR THE ATTENTION OF MR A JONES
FOR THE ATTENTION OF MRS B WILMOT, SALES DEPARTMENT
For the attention of Miss R Timmings, Customer Services
Salutation – the opening words of greeting in a letter are known as the ‘salutation’, and the forms used in business included the following.

Dear Sirs	Where the letter is addressed to a business
Dear Sir Dear Madam Dear Mr. Brown Dear Ms. Wilson	Where the addressee's name in the inside name and address. (Note that the initial'(s) of the person's first name(s) is not included in the salutation)
Dear John Dear Elizabeth	Where the addressee is well-known by the writer

Subject Heading – a subject heading is sometimes used to help the reader identify the content rapidly, and to help in filing or in finding a particular letter in a correspondence file. Leave one clear line space after the salutation before typing the subject heading, which may be typed in capitals with or without underscore, or in lower case characters with initial capitals and underscore. Leave 1 clear line space after subject heading, before starting to type the main body of the letter.
Body of the letter – the ‘body of the letter’ consists of the paragraphs of information, or the content of the letter. Single-line spacing is most generally used for the paragraphs in the body of the letter, with a clear line space between paragraphs.
Complimentary close – the most commonly-used form of complimentary close are:

• Yours faithfully
• Yours sincerely
• Yours truly
• Sincerely Yours

‘Yours faithfully’ should be used where the formal salutation ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Madam’ begins the letter. Letters that start with a person’s name, e.g. ‘Dear Mr. Greene’, usually end with ‘Yours sincerely’. ‘Yours truly’ may end a circular letter.
Name of organization – the name of the organization is often typed after the complimentary close, in capital letters
Signature of writer – the signature is, of course, usually handwritten by the person writing the letter, or the letter is signed by someone authorized to sign in place of the writer.
Signatory or Name of writer – because it is very difficult to decipher some signatures, it is usual to type the name of the person signing the letter. Leave at least 4 clear line spaces below the complimentary close and the name of the writer to allow for the signature.
Designation or Job title and department – should be typed immediately below the name.
Enclosure notation/Attachment – attention is drawn to any material to enclosed with the letter by typing an ‘enclosure notation’. Where a single item in enclosed, the abbreviation ‘Enc’ or ‘Att’ should be typed at the end of the letter, at least 2 clear line spaces below the name and/or job title. Where there are several enclosures, type ‘Encs’ or alternatively the number of enclosures may be included, e.g. ‘Encs-3’. Some organization like the nature of the enclosure to be indicated, e.g. ‘Enc – Production Report’.
Copy notation – A courtesy copy notation (showing the distribution of the letter) appears two lines below the enclosure notation and flush with the left margin. Cc, cc:, Copy to, Copies to,
All people receiving the letter in addition to the addressee are listed:
cc Edward Albers
G.C. Fischer
Merilee Tobias 
Postscript - Postscripts (additions to the letter after it has been typed or items needing emphasis) appear two lines below the last line of courtesy copy notation. The use of the initials PS or PPS is optional.

Salutation

Greetings to the addressee – this is typed two or three single line spaces from the left margin below the
Attention Line or below the previous line.

Formal

Dear Sir (One person who is a male.)
Dear Madam (One person who is female.)
Dear Sir/Madam (One person whose gender is not known, e.g. The Principal)
Dear Sirs (Two or more males of an organization)
Ladies (Two or more females of an organization)
Gentlemen (Males of a club or association)

Informal

Dear Mr. Cox
Dear Mrs. Cox (married female)
Dear Miss Cox (female-not married)
Dear Ms. Cox (marital status unknown)
Dear Customer
Dear Harry
My dear Harry

Complimentary closings for business letters include:
Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Thank you,

Complimentary closings for informal letters include:
Best wishes, Kindest regards, Regards,
Best regards, Cordially,

Complimentary closings for very formal letters (those addressed to dignitaries and high officials) include:
Yours sincerely, Respectfully yours, Respectfully,

Layout

There are three main styles of layout in the current use of business letters: 

• Fully blocked - all are left-aligned
• Semi-Blocked - partly blocked, reference is left aligned while the date is right aligned on the same line. The complimentary close, signature, signatory and designation start at the center point.
• Intended - the first line of each paragraph is indented. The reference and date are typed as in the semi-blocked style. The subject, complimentary close, signature, signatory and designation are centered.

Line spacing

Leave at least one clear space between each part of the letter, which means pressing enter twice. 

Punctuation style:
Open punctuation - punctuation marks are completely omitted except in the body of the letter.

Example: 157 Uplift Boulevard

Cheerful Road

Mountain Pen P O

Kingston

Full punctuation - all necessary punctuation marks are used.

Example:

157 Uplift Boulevard,

Cheerful Road,

Mountain Pen P. O.,

Kingston
Guidelines for setting margins for a letter:
A4 paper
Top margin - 1" start to type address/letterhead or 2" start to type reference to leave space for letter head.
Side - 1.5" left and 1" right or 1" left and 0.5" right or left margin on line with letterhead or reference on letterhead.
Bottom - at least 1"

A5 paper
Top - 0.5" or 1" start to type address/letterhead or 1.5" start to type reference to leave space for letterhead.
Side - 1" left and right or 1" left and 0.5" right or 0.75" left and 0.5" right or left margin in line with letterhead or reference on letterhead.
Bottom - at least 1"

Blocked Letter





Semi-Blocked Letter


Indented Letter