Parrts of A Business Letter and Style of Business Letter

Parts of A Business Letter

• The Heading (The Retern Address) or Letterhead - Companies usually use printed paper where heading or letterhead is specially designed at the top of the sheet. It bears all the necessary information about the organisation’s identity.

Examples :

a.

ENGLET & BROT LTD
115 Downing Street
LONDON- ENGLAND

b.

GOOGLE MILLS INCORPORATION
499 NORTH WARREN AVENUE
SYRACUSE 2, NEW YORK

• Date - Date of writing. The month should be fully spelled out and the year written with all four digits October 12, 2005
  (12 October 2005 - UK style). The date is aligned with the return address. The number of the date is pronounced as an ordinal figure, though the endings st, nd, rd, th, are often omitted in writing. The article before the number of the day is pronounced but not written. In the body of the letter, however, the article is written when the name of the month is not mentioned with the day.

Examples :

23^rd November, 2013      or  November  23^rd, 2013

28 July, 2013                 or    July 28, 2013

If there is no letter head in a letter, you must write a full address of the sender, example :

115 Downing Street, London

June 28^th, 2009

• he Inside Address - In a business or formal letter you should give the address of the recipient after your own address. Include the recipient's name, company, address and postal code. Add job title if appropriate. Separate the recipient's name and title with a comma. Double check that you have the correct spelling of the recipient 's name.The Inside Address is always on the left margin. If an 8 1/2" x 11" paper is folded in thirds to fit in a standard 9" business envelope, the inside address can appear through the window in the envelope.

Examples :

Mr. Prana Pramudya

115 Downing Street

London

Mmes. Robert Thompson & Audrey

112, Downing Street

London E.C. 2, England

• Attention Line-Business letters are usually  more addressed to companies than to one person. But, sometimes this form of written communication should take place between company and  company  or between company and a person and vice versa. In this situation we need to use what people call "attention line". We mostly use attention line for the following three reasons :

• We want the letter directly delivered to a certain people in a company.
• We do not know the person's name we are writing to and we decide to write to the company he or she works in.
• We want the letter to reach a person we are writing to faster.

Attention line is usually put after inside address.

Example :

Gifted Restaurant
16771 Fifteen Avenue
New york, N. Y. 

Salutation

British Style

Examples:

Dear Sir,                    

Sir,                            

Dear Sirs,                   

Dear Madam,             

Mesdames,

American Style

Examples:

Dear Sir:

Sir:

Gentlemen:

Dear Madam:

Mesdames:

If you know the person you are writing to, you can use the style below which is more personal or informal:

Dear Mr. Brown,

My dear Madam Tiara,

• The Subject Line (optional) - Its inclusion can help the recipient in dealing successfully with the aims of your letter. Normally the subject sentence is preceded with the wordSubject: or Re: Subject line may be emphasized by underlining, using bold font, or all captial letters. It is usually placed one line below the greeting but alternatively can be located directly after the "inside address," before the "greeting."

Examples:

CHEAP CRUISE TO SCANDINAVIA
SCANDINAVIAN VACATION


• Body of The Letter-A  good letter body should fulfill the following requirements : 

• Concise / short : Never make up sentences just to make a letter look longer.
• Simple : Avoid making up complex sentences. Try to make up a simple sentence. 
• Systematic : Always put your ideas in order from A to Z. ( From opening paragraph to closing paragraph there should not be any repetitions)

Body of the Letter consists of 3 paragraphs :

•  the opening paragraph
•  the content paragraph
•  the closing paragraph

• The Complimentary Close - This short, polite closing ends always with a comma. It is either at the left margin or its left edge is in the center, depending on the Business Letter Style that you use. It begins at the same column the heading does. The traditional rule of etiquette in Britain is that a formal letter starting "Dear Sir or Madam" must end "Yours faithfully", while a letter starting "Dear " must end "Yours sincerely". (Note: the second word of the closing is NOT capitalized)

Examples:

Yours truly,

Wisnu & Ninda LTD

Truly Yours,

Wisnu & Ninda LTD

• Signature and Writer’s identification - The signature is the last part of the letter. You should sign your first and last names. The signature line may include a second line for a title, if appropriate. The signature should start directly above the first letter of the signature line in the space between the close and the signature line. Use blue or black ink.

Examples :

signature       Adam Williams Customer Relation Manager

         

signature         Adam Williams

• Identification Initial-Identification Initials are usually used by large-sized ompanies for administrative purposes only. Identification Initials mainly have two functions :

a. to give information about the secretary or the author of a business letter
b. to provide data in case of some incidents or errors.

Identification Initials are generally put at the left-hand bottom, just after the signature line. They are sometimes put at the same line with the date line

Example :


J.B./m.h.
The identification initials mean that the author is Jack Brown and the secretary/clerk is Meredith Harrison.

Sumber :http://www.englet.com/parts

Style Of Business Letter

Business letter can be written with different styles, such as:

• Full Block.

Full block style is a letter format in which all text is justified to the left margin. In block letter style, standard punctuation is placed after salutations and in other headings. Open punctuation, however, refers to a modification of style where all nonessential punctuation is omitted. A few key factors will help you understand block style format and the difference that open punctuation makes.

1. Return Address:  If your stationery has a letterhead, skip this. Otherwise, type your name, address and optionally, phone number. These days, it’s common to also include an email address.

2. Date: Type the date of your letter two to six lines below the letterhead. Three are standard. If there is no letterhead, type it where shown.

3. Reference Line: If the recipient specifically requests information, such as a job reference or invoice number, type it on one or two lines, immediately below the Date.

4. Special Mailing Notations: Type in all uppercase characters, if appropriate.

5. On-Arrival Notations: Type in all uppercase characters, if appropriate. You might want to include a notation on private correspondence.

6. Inside Address:  Type the name and address of the person and/or company to whom you’re sending the letter, three to eight lines below the last component you typed. Four lines are standard.

7. Attention Line: Type the name of the person to whom you’re sending the letter.

8. Salutation: Type the recipient’s name here. Type Mr. or Ms. [Last Name] to show respect, but don’t guess spelling or gender.

9. Subject Line: Type the gist of your letter in all uppercase characters, either flush left or centered. Be concise on one line.

10. Body: Type two spaces between sentences. Keep it brief and to the point.

11. Complimentary Close: What you type here depends on the tone and degree of formality.

12. Signature Block: Leave four blank lines after the Complimentary Close to sign your name. Sign your name exactly as you type it below your signature. Title is optional depending on relevancy and degree of formality.

13. Identification Initials: If someone typed the letter for you, he or she would typically include three of your initials in all uppercase characters, then two of his or hers in all lowercase characters.

14.  Enclosure Notation: This line tells the reader to look in the envelope for more. Type the singular for only one enclosure, plural for more.

15. cc: Stands for courtesy copies (formerly carbon copies). List the names of people to whom you distribute copies, in alphabetical order.

• Semi-block style

Semi-blok fromat: in a format this text parallel left and all paragraphs in the letter is indented. Format shape on this letter on letter head, date, complementary a close, and signature being in a position flattened right. In the layout uneven right, but can dibilangg flattened middle. Other parts on a letter as inside address, subject, salutation, body of letter, and enclosure if terdapatnya attachment letter,Being flattened on the left.

Sample Form Letter Semi Block Style :

Description:

1.Kop Letter

2. Date of preparation of letters

3. Letter No.

4. attachment

5. case

6. The letter addressed

7. a word of salutation

8a. Introduction letter

8b. Explanation letter

8c. The cover letter

9. Greetings Closing

10. Name of office

11. signature

12. Names to approach

13. copy

14. Attachment page letter / initials

• Simplified-style

Simplified-style business letters contain all the same elements as the full-block and semi-block letters. Like the full-block format, the simplified format left-justifies every line except for the company logo or letterhead. The date line is either slightly right of center or flush with the center of the page. Letters written in the simplified format have fewer internal sections, such as the body, salutation and date line.
Using the simplified style is the most useful at times when you don’t have a recipient’s contact name. Because the simplified style does not require a salutation, you don’t need the person’s name. The simplified format does away with unneeded formality while maintaining a professional approach.

• Hanging-Indented Style

This very useful style places the first words of each paragraph prominently on the page. It is useful for letters that deal with a variety of different topics. However, for normal business communications, this style is very rarely used. The first line of the paragraph begins at the left-hand margin. And the other lines of the same paragraph are indented three to four spaces. This is the reversal of semi-indented style discussed in other page.

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