Letters

Letters : Business letters are formal messages, following specific formats. They may be addressed to a particular person or organization. Most of the time business letters are sent outside of your company.

Definition of “Letter”

“A written or printed communication directed to a person or organization.”

Basic Components

Letters can be categorized into two broad types, personal letters and business letters. Here, business is not meant in its exact

Sense: it merely indicates the scale of formality involved. Business letters, which are more formal than personal letters, may be used to request or send information, sell products, or for dozens of other more serious reasons.

A business letter usually includes the following parts:

Letter Head

Date

Inside address

Salutation

Body

Complimentary close

Signature

Enclosure

Standard Parts

Letterhead

Letterhead, which is also called as stationery or return address, is the heading at the top of a letter. It includes the necessary information such as name and address, postcode, telephone number, fax number, telex number, cable address, E-mail address, web site address, and

logo of the sender’s company.

Date Line

The date line is a very important part of any business letter, and it must never be omitted. When some transactions must be checked, it is convenient for the sender and the

receiver to find the relevant letters with the date. And sometimes it is the key to settle the disputations in the transaction. The date is placed two-four lines below the letterhead, either on the right or on the left, depending on the style of the letter. There are different ways of writing the date. The following two are recommended in the business letter.

ϒ 15 August (,) 2007 — British form

ϒ August 15, 2007 — American form

Remember that the ordinals suffix for date such as “st”, “nd”, “rd”, and “th” can be omitted, for example, write September 1 for September 1st; the month should always be written in full and not...