Letter Writing
Letter writing is one of the important tools of written
correspondence. A good letter is of something that carries the
writer’s/sender’s presence. There are two types of letters. They are
business and personal letters.
A business letter is formal and written to communicate
with an official or a business firms. It is different from personal letters in
many ways like language, style, format and purpose. Information presented in a
business letter should be straight, lucid and precise.
The purpose or the reason of the letter must be mentioned in
the opening paragraph. Give complete details in clear terms in the body. State
clearly the expected action in the closing paragraphs.
There are six important parts for a business letters. They
are as follows:
1. The Heading: It consists of the sender’s address and the
date on the last line. Generally there should be a one line gap for the address
and date.There is no need to write the return address if letterhead of the
company is used for this purpose.
2. The Receiver’s Address: Write receiver’s address clearly
and completely.
There is a general rule that one line should be skipped
between date and address line.
3. Salutation: It deals with how one addresses the receiver
of the letter. In a business letter it has to be formal.
It starts with the word "Dear" and often includes
the person's last name.
4. The Body: The body carries important details in detail.
The language used should be lucid and courteous.
For each paragraph, one line should be skipped.
Also skip a line between the greeting and the body. Skip a
line between the body and the close.
5. The Complimentary Close: This brief expression usually
ends with a comma.
6. The Signature: Skip two lines and write your name
and just above the signature should be done.
Women may indicate how they wish to be addressed by placing
Miss, Mrs., Ms. or similar title in parentheses before their name.
Business Letter
Styles
The following are some of the formats of the business
letters. There are three accepted styles.
They are
1. Modified Block Style
2. Semi Block Style
3. Block Style
Of the three, the third one (Block Style) has been widely
used in the modern day communication. In block style, punctuation marks like
commas and full stops are omitted in many places. Comma should be given after salutation
and leave taking lines.
