WRITING BUSINESS LETTERS Parts of a business letter Format of a business letter

Business letters A written message addressed to a person or organization. Business letters differ from personal letters because they follow very strictly set rules for composition.

Heading/Sender's Address The sender's address usually is included in letterhead. If you are not using letterhead, include the sender's address at the top of the letter one line above the date. Do not write the sender's name or title, as it is included in the letter's closing. Include only the address.

Date The American style: July 10, 2011 Other styles: 10 July 2011

The inside address is the recipient's address The receiver's courtesy title ( Ms. , Mrs. , Mr. , Miss, Dr. ) Receiver's name Receiver's professional title Department and company’s name Receiver’s address

The greeting that begins the message Salutation The greeting that begins the message The standard opening for formal correspondence is Dear. Dear Mr. Hamid: Use a colon after the salutation.

Use Ms. For a female receiver , unless she specifies another title. Dear Ms. Rita: If you don't know a receiver's gender, use the full name without Ms. Or Mr. Dear Chris Harmon: If you know the receiver personally, you can use their first name . Dear Rita:

Otherwise use the surname/last name. Dear Ms. Shelton: If you don’t know the name, write Dear sir: Dear madam:

Subject line Identifies the topic of the letter A double space below the salutation. Should be less than one line and NOT a complete sentence

Body of the letter Leave a blank line between each paragraph. In the first paragraph, consider a friendly opening and then a statement of the main point. The next paragraph should begin justifying the importance of the main point.

Body of the letter In the next few paragraphs, continue justification with background information and supporting details. The closing paragraph should restate the purpose of the letter and, in some cases, request some type of action.

Body of the letter The first lines of paragraphs and all the other address, date, closing and signature information are lined up with the left margin. There is an extra blank line between paragraphs.

Closing The closing ends the letter Capitalize the first word only . Sincerely yours, Put a comma after the closing. Sincerely,

Closing It is keyed a double space below the last line of the body of the letter. Leave four lines between the closing and the sender's name for a signature.

LETTER FORMATS Full block Modified block Simplified

Full block The most streamlined format All parts and all lines begin at the left margin.