Business Letter Format

moststudentsadmittohavinglearnedinjuniorhighschoolorinhighschoolaboutwritingbusinesslettersandaboutconventionalformatsforthem.whenitcomesdowntowritingthem,however,alltoomanystudentsseemnottoknowhowandtobeunwillingtolookuptheforms(orperhapstheydonthaveareferenceaboutusingenglish).thiswebpagewaspreparedsothatyouwouldhaveaneasilyobtaineddescriptionofwhattodo.

whenabusinessthathasletterheadstationerywritesabusinessletter,thefirstpageoftheletterusespaperwiththeprintedletterheadandsucceedingpages,ifany,usematchingqualityandcolorsheetswithouttheletterhead.abusinesswithverygoodqualityprintingmightgeneratetheletterheadgraphicwithanimageembeddedinawordprocessordocument.anindividualnormallywontuseletterheadstationeryandwontattempttofakeit.anattemptatletterheadthatproducesatackyresultorthatconveyspompousnessproduceseffectsthatyouwanttoavoid.

inabusinessletter,everythingthatyou"type"shouldbeinthesametypefaceandinthesamefontsize.youshoulduse"formalenglish"andyoushouldverycarefullycheckyourgrammarandspelling.youshouldarrangethingsneatly.youshouldconsidertheappearanceoftheletter"atarmslength"aswellascloseup--usewhitespacetoproduceanattractivesheet.

inaconventionalbusinessletteryoushouldseetheseparts,inordertoptobottom:

areturnaddress

thisitemisthepostaladdressoftheauthoroftheletter.eachlineofitisleftjustified--eitheratatabstopthatputstheinformationtowardtherightsideofthepageorattheleftmargin.normallythereturnaddressisatthetopofthepage,butyoucanmoveitdownalittletoimproveover-allappearance.donotputemailaddresseshere--ifyouneedtoconveyanemailaddress,doitinthebodyoftheletter.

thedate

thisitemisthedateoftheletter.itisalignedwiththereturnaddress.formerlytherewasneverwhitespace(blanklines)betweenthereturnaddressandthedate,butsomecurrentstylesallowblanklines.

aninsideaddress

thisitemduplicateswhatgoesontheenvelope.ithastheformalnameoftheintendedrecipientoftheletterandthatpersonspostaladdress.eachlineoftheinsideaddresisleftjustifiedattheleftmargin.noemailaddressesappearhere.youcanputblanklinesbetweenthedateandtheinsideaddresstofillthepagebetterandtoimprovethe"armslength"appearance.

asalutation

thisitemformallyaddressestherecipient.iftheaddresseeisnotafriend,youshouldwrite"dearmr.brown:"or"dearmrs.smith:"or"dearms.jones:"or"deardr.greene:"orthelike.alettertoacloseassociatemightsay"dearmike:"or"dearsally:".

thereisatleastonelineofwhitespacebetweentheinsideaddressandthesalutation.youcanputalittlemoretoimprovetheover-allappearance.

beforethedaysofpoliticalcorrectnessalettertoanorganizationwouldbegin"dearsir:"or"dearsirs:"or"gentlemen:"--forexample,iftheenvelopewereaddressed"personneldirector,xyzcompany,city,state"youmightdothis.thesedaysyoushouldprobablymakeanefforttogetaname,but...

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