Presentation and structure

The layout of business letters often varies slightly from company to company. All the letters in this appendix follow a style which is acceptable for all kinds of business letter and may safely be used as models for your future correspondence.

Task Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F). Then read the

text which follows to check your answers.

1 LJ On unheaded notepaper, you should always write your name above your address.

On unheaded notepaper, the address of the sender is on the right.

Our ref. refers to the writer's filing system.

In the UK, the date 2/4/93 means February 4th, 1993.

You should always write the name and position of the person you are writing to above his/her company address.

You use the salutation Dear Sir or Dear Madam when you know that the person you are writing to is older or more senior than you.

If you begin with Dear Sir, you end with Yours faithfully.

The initials p.p. indicate that the person signing the letter is doing so on behalf of someone else.

9 I_ I It is unusual for the writer to put his/her company position at the end of

the letter.

10 LJ In business letters, dates should appear as numbers separated by full points (.) or obliques (/).

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The abbreviation Ms can refer to both married and unmarried women.

If you are writing to Mrs Anne Swanson, you open with Dear Anne

Swanson.

Short business letters are regarded as impolite.

Americans may begin a business letter with the salutation Gentlemen,

followed by a colon.

The letters Enc. mean that something else has been sent with the letter,

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Points to note

Most company notepaper is headed. However, ifyou are writing on unheaded paper, put your address (but not youy name) in tfre top right-hand corner. The address of the company you are writing to should appear on the left so that it can be seen through an envelope with a window. Ifyou are writing to a specific individual in the company, his/ her name and position goes above the address.

Dates can cause some confusion. 2/3/9_r__ means 'the second of March' in English letters, but 'February third' in American ones. Confusion can be avoided by writing dates as follows: 2 March (or March 2 in the USA)

199__ The names of the months should not be abbreviated in formal

letters. >

When you receive a business letter, there is usually a reference number at the top following the words Our ref. This is designed to help the sender to file related correspondence, and you should quote this reference when you reply.

i Ifyou do not know the name of the person you are writing to, or you are not sure ifyou are writing to a man or woman, you should begin Dear Sir or Madam (Gentlemen: in the USA) and end Yours faithfully (Yours truly in the USA). If you know the person's surname, begin (for example) Dear Mrs Jones and end Yours sincerely. If the person is more of a friend, begin (for example) Dear Peter, and end Best wishes. In opening and closing salutations and in addresses, it is common not to use full stops and commas.

i Refer to men as Mr. Refer to women as Ms, unless in previous correspondence from them they have indicated that they use the title Mrs (for married women) or Miss (for unmarried women). W,omen will often indicate their preferred title by writing it in brackets after their signature, for example: Catherine Honey.(Mrs). Most correspondents will assume you are a man unless told otherwise, so ifyou sign a letter H Jones, most people will reply beginning Dear Mr Jones.

i When you sign your name, it is common practice to type it out as well and to put your position in the company below it. If someone in a company signs a letter on behalf of someone else, the initials p.p. (per pro) should be used before the name to indicate this.

i If something is being sent with a letter, Enc. or End. (enclosure) should appear in the bottom left-hand corner o$the page.

i State your message clearly, concisely, arid politely.

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