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Style and punctuation
Business letters can be written in indented or blocked style. Both
are acceptable.
We will consider blocked style and open punctuation as standard
in this section. These are the most frequent kinds of letters found
nowadays.
BLOCKED style means that each line comes right under the other (vertically
aligned).
OPEN
punctuation means no commas after each line of the addresses or
the salutation or complimentary closes.
Remember
you must be consistent in style and punctuation all through the
letter
Presentation
1-
sender's address
2-date
3-inside or receiver's address
4-attention line
5-salutation
6-body of the letter
7-comlimentary close
8-signature
There
are some other features of a normal business letter that can be
frequently found in addition to the ones mentioned above.
1-
letterhead (including the name, address and information about the
company)
2-
references(indicating what correspondence they refer to or to refer
to when replying)
3-
date
4-
receiver's address
5-
attention line
6-
salutation
7-
body of the letter
8-
complimentary close
9-
signature
10-
p.p. (per pro, i.e. when an assistant signs a letter on behalf of
his/her boss. It means for and on behalf of)
11-
company position
12-
enclosures (if there are any enclosures with the letter,like leaflets
or any kind of copies, many companies write Enc. and list these
documents at the bottom of the letter).
Structure
Most
letters have four parts:
a
salutation
an opening
the message
the close
We
will deal with these in our next free lesson: "Structure of
a business letter".
Written
Communication in Business
 
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