The_Form_of_the_Business_Letter

The Form of the Business Letter

Private letters and business letters are different not only in their form but also in their general tone.

The tone of private letters is informal. We send them to close friends and relatives who know us very well. We want to tell them our news, we ask about their health and feelings, we make the letter interesting or funny. We use informal language ( idioms and slang, incomplete sentences, contracted forms, few passive verb forms etc.) The salutations and the endings are informal (Dear Jane, Hi,....Love, Yours, Take care,...).The layout is also very simple – we put our address in the top right-hand corner and the date below it.

Business letters, on the other hand, are usually sent to unknown people and are therefore more formal. They should be simple, clear, accurate and very polite. We follow a common layout, use polite phrases and formal language with no contractions.

All business letters have the following essential parts:

1. Letterhead

The letterhead is printed at the top of the letter sheet. It contains at least the firm's name, logo, and postal address. It may also include other details, such as telephone and fax number, e-mail etc.

2. Inside address

The inside address consists of the addressee's name and postal address. Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms, and the plural forms Messrs and Mmes are common titles of courtesy.

The postal address consists of

- house number, followed by street,

- name of town or city and postcode (UK), name of state and zipcode(USA),

- name of country.

If the addressee has a post-office box, the POB number is substituted for the house number and street. When a letter is sent to a person" s temporary address, the abbreviation c/o (care of) is used.

Arc Music Productions International Ltd Mr Harry Davis

POB III 85 Jane St

East Grinstead Wesr Sussex-RHl94FZ New York, NY 10014

UK USA

The postal address may also include special instructions to the post office and the addressee e.g. Registered, Please forward, Confidential, Express Delivery.

3. References

References help the reader to find out what the letter refers to - the dictator's initials, followed by those of the typist, letters and numbers indicating the writer's department or section.

4. Date

The date may be written in various ways: 12 August 2004

12th August 2004

August 12, 2004

or all-numeric form in the order year,month and day 2004-08-12

5. Salutation

In letters to individuals the following salutations are used:

Dear Sir, Dear Madam, Dear Sir or Madam, Dear Mr Baker, Dear Ms Smith

In letters to business firms, the salutations Dear Sirs (UK) or Gentlemen(USA) are used.

6. Body of the letter

The body of the letter contains the message. Most letters do not exceed one page. The body always starts with the capital letter. We leave a line space between paragraphs if the blocked style is used.

7.Complimentary close

If the letter begins with Dear Sir, Dear Madam etc., it will close with Yours faithfully. If the letter begins with a personal name (Dear Mr Cook), it will close with Yours sincerely.