Lay out of a business letter

7/29/2019 Lay out of a business letter

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Layout of a Business letter



A business letter is a letter written informal language, usually used when writing

from one business organization to another,or for correspondence between suchorganizations and their customers,

clients and other external parties.

The overall style of letter will depend on therelationship between the parties concerned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_%28message%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_%28message%29



Parts of a business letter Letter head

Reference number

Date line

Inside address

Attention line Salutation



Parts of a business letter (contd) Subject

Body of the letter

Complimentary close

Signature

Reference Initials Post Script

Enclosures











The name of the company

The nature of Business

Logos or trademark

Address

The registered office

Telephone, Fax and Telex numbers, E - mail



Reference Number

When a letters sent between organizations , there is often analphanumeric reference number. This can be anorganization’s internal reference number.

While replying to a letter, you have to quote the referencenumber of the letter you had received.

You can quote this reference in the body of the letter in the

form "With reference to your letter,ref num ABCD/03/07…" or "This is with reference to yourletter, ref num ABCD/03/07, dated 12th March, 2007…".



Date Line The date line is used to indicate the date the

letter was written.

When writing to companies within the UnitedStates, use the American date format. (TheUnited States-based convention forformatting a date places the month before

the day. For example: June 11, 2001. )

Write out the month, day and year twoinches from the top of the page.



Inside Address Receiver’s address

Mr

M/S

Ms

Mmes



Salutation This is the greeting within the letter. This greeting can be "Dear Sir or Madam" if

you do not know the name of the person withwhom you are in the process of establishing acommunication.

If you know the name, then begin with a"Dear Mr./Ms./Mrs. Last-Name".

In case, the business relationship betweenyou and the other person is on a first-namebasis, use the first name.



Attention Line

An attention line is used when the insideaddress does not include either the name of an individual or the name of the department.It appears two lines below the inside address.

The word attention may have an initial capitalletter or appear in all capitals. The use of a

colon after the word is optional. If the word "ATTENTION" is written in all

capital letters, the name following should alsoappear in all capitals.



Subject

Descriptive subject lines instantly inform a reader of the general content of the letter.

They also permit accurate filing and retrieval from

files. Subject lines specifically define the subject matter

of the letter.

They appear two lines below the salutation andtwo lines above the first line of the text, althoughthe simplified letter format may have differentspacing. Subject lines are highlighted by boldfacetype, underlining, or the use of all capital letters.



Complimentary Close

The complimentary close serves as acourteous good-bye signal at the end of eachletter. It is to be typed two lines below thebody of the letter. Keep your complimentaryclose professional.

Never close a business letter with Love, YourFriend or any other personal notation.

Some good, professional choices are:Sincerely, Cordially, Regards, and Respectfully .



Signature

It is assent of the writer

It consists of writer’s name, status,

department, firm It should be legible

If it is not, name should be should be

written legibly in parentheses below thesign

Seal









Reference initials

It appear two lines below the last lineof the signature block and flush with

the left margin. It shows writer's initials (capital)

followed by a slash mark or colon, and

then followed by the secretary's /typist's initials in lower case, e.g.,TLM/rgn or TLM:rgn.



Postscripts

Postscripts (additions to the letter after ithas been typed or items needing

emphasis) appear two lines below thelast line of courtesy copy notation.

The use of the initials PS or PPS is

optional



Enclosures

An enclosure notation reminds readersof enclosures and appears directly

under reference initials. The followingare examples of enclosure notationforms:

Enclosure, Enc. , Enclosures



Full block format









Modified Form block style

In the modified formal letter styles, thefollowing letter elements are aligned from the

middle of the paper, making them seem asthough they are aligned right:

Sender’s address Date The Complimentary close The sender’s Name and signature

e o ow ng e emen s are



e o ow ng e emen s arealigned left:

The Recipients Name and title

The Recipient’s address

Salutation

Body

Documents

Lay out of a business letter