October | 2012 | okhtablog

Business Letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned. There are many reasons to write a business letter. It could be to request direct information or action from another party, to order supplies from a supplier, to identify a mistake that was committed, to reply directly to a request, to apologize for a wrong or simply to convey goodwill. Even today, the business letter is still very useful because it produces a permanent record, is confidential, formal and delivers persuasive, well-considered messages.

Layout of Business English Letter

1. Letter Head

The letterhead is located on the most part top of the letter. The contents of the letter head usually contains company’s address, company’s telephone number, company’s logo, corporate e-mail, the company’s webside address, and other information about the company.

2. Date Line

The date line is used to indicate the date the letter was written. However, if your letter is completed over a number of days, use the date it was finished in the date line. When writing to companies within the United States, use the American date format. (The United States-based convention for formatting a date places the month before the day. For example: June 11, 2001. ) Write out the month, day and year two inches from the top of the page. Depending which format you are using for your letter, either left justify the date or tab to the center point and type the date.

British English
Position: on the right, one line below the sender’s address (in letters with a ready-printed sender’s address, the date can also be put in the top left corner).

American English
Position: top left corner (sometimes centred)

3. Inside Address

The inside address is the recipient’s address. It is always best to write to a specific individual at the firm to which you are writing. If you do not have the person’s name, do some research by calling the company or speaking with employees from the company. Include a personal title such as Ms., Mrs., Mr., or Dr. Follow a woman’s preference in being addressed as Miss, Mrs., or Ms. If you are unsure of a woman’s preference in being addressed, use Ms. If there is a possibility that the person to whom you are writing is a Dr. or has some other title, use that title. Usually, people will not mind being addressed by a higher title than they actually possess. To write the address, use the U.S. Post Office Format. For international addresses, type the name of the country in all-capital letters on the last line. The inside address begins one line below the sender’s address or one inch below the date. It should be left justified, no matter which format you are using.

Example :
Mr. Eko
Head Manager
HRD
Indosat

4. Reference Line

Some companies, especially big ones, Dixie says, have a system of tracking letters by chronological numbers, employee initials, department codes/numbers or whatever else they choose. This is what they put in the reference line. Or sometimes you can include the reference line in your letter to refer to the information specifically requested by the recipient, such as a job reference or invoice number.
The reference is typed on one or two lines, immediately below the date. This means it is typed to the right of the center in the modified block and indented business letter layouts. Dixie says you can also refer in the reference line to the letter you are replying to, if you wish.

Examples of references:
Re: 180/VG
Re: Job # 389-03
Re: Your letter dated 11/15/2006 (this can also be used as a subject line, see Dixie’s comment under the subject line below)

5. Salutation

Use the same name as the inside address, including the personal title. If you know the person and typically address them by their first name, it is acceptable to use only the first name in the salutation (for example: Dear Lucy:). In all other cases, however, use the personal title and last/family name followed by a colon. Leave one line blank after the salutation.
If you don’t know a reader’s gender, use a nonsexist salutation, such as their job title followed by the receiver’s name. It is also acceptable to use the full name in a salutation if you cannot determine gender.

example:
you might write Dear Chris Harmon: if you were unsure of Chris’s gender.

6. Subject line

A subject line is not really necessary. You may want to use one, however, so that the reader immediately knows what your letter is about. There are three common methods to distinguish the subject line from the body of the letter:

Use “Subject:” or “Re:”
Type the subject in bold letters
Type the subject in capital letters

British English

The subject line is usually placed between the salutation and the body of the letter (with a blank line in between).

American English

In American English, the subject line can also be placed between the recipient’s address and the salutation (with a blank line in between).

7. Body of Letter

For block and modified block formats, single space and left justify each paragraph within the body of the letter. Leave a blank line between each paragraph. When writing a business letter, be careful to remember that conciseness is very important. In the first paragraph, consider a friendly opening and then a statement of the main point. The next paragraph should begin justifying the importance of the main point. In the next few paragraphs, continue justification with background information and supporting details. The closing paragraph should restate the purpose of the letter and, in some cases, request some type of action.

Example :

8.Complimentary Close

The most common complimentary close accepted in the US and UK is

Sincerely

Respectfully yours (very formal)
Yours faithfully (UK for business letters that begin with Dear Sir, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam, Dear Sir or Madam)
Very truly yours (polite and neutral for the US)
Cordially yours (quite informal)

9.Signature

Leave four blank lines after the complimentary close to sign your name. This is a rule Dixie would advise to stick to unless you have very little space, but three is a minimum. Sign your name between the complimentary close and your printed name. Dixie hopes you like her tidy signature above. Title is optional depending on relevancy and degree of formality.

Example :

Syahroni Okhta

Syahroni Okhta

10. Enclosure

If you have enclosed any documents along with the letter, such as a resume, you indicate this simply by typing Enclosures one line below the closing. As an option, you may list the name of each document you are including in the envelope. For instance, if you have included many documents and need to ensure that the recipient is aware of each document, it may be a good idea to list the names.

Example :

-Curriculum Vitae

-Application Form

11.Postscript

A brief message appended to the end of a letter (following the signature) or other text. A postscript is usually introduced by the letters P.S.

Example :

 P.S. Are you interested in novelettes? I have several which I am very eager to publish.
(Saul Bellow: Letters, ed. by Benjamin Taylor. Viking, 2010)

12. Carbon Copy

Students often ask Dixie what ‘CC’ in the email stands for and Dixie tells them that ‘CC’ can be part of a business letter as well. When asked about ‘CC’ Dixie immediately pictures in her mind carbon paper that was very widely used for making copies not so long ago. Carbon paper is on the way of disappearing but it looks like ‘CC’ from ‘carbon copies’ will remain in business correspondence for a long time.

A lot of humans and cats nowadays prefer to state that ‘CC’ means ‘courtesy copy/copies’ though. Some companies started using ‘PC’ instead of ‘CC’, where ‘PC’ stands for photocopy.

The ‘CC’ notation usually includes names of people to whom you distribute copies, sometimes you could include their addresses as well. ‘CC’ is typed at the end of the letter after enclosure notations or identification initials.

example :

CC: Jarrod Curtis or
cc: Jarrod Curtis

If you don’t want the addressee to know that a copy is being forwarded to a third party, use ‘BCC’ that can be shortened to ‘BC’ for blind (carbon or courtesy) copy. This notation appears on the office copy and the third-party copy only, not on the original. Dixie would like you to remember this very well: not sticking to this rule can put you in an embarrassing situation.

Form and Style of Business English Letter

1. Full block

A full block style business letter is all justified against the left margin, including the your return address (if not using letterhead), the reference line, and your closing, signature, and printed name.

2. Semi

A semi (modified) block style business letter is justified against the left margin with the exception of including the your return address, the reference line, and your closing, signature, and printed name. These are tabbed about one third to the right of the page.

3. Modified

In a Modified Block format letter, (1) all text is aligned to the left margin, except for the author’s address, date, and closing; and (2) paragraphs are not indented. The author’s address, date, and closing are usually indented three inches from the left margin, but can be set anywhere to the right of the middle of the page, as long as all three elements are indented to the same position.