HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS LETTER

- A business letter must be formal, correct, clear, concise, courteous, natural,

complete, logical, to the point, reader-oriented, efficient, factual, sincere,
good looking, consistent…
- Avoid being wordy, using slang

HOW MANY PARTS DOES IT INCLUDE IN A BUSINESS LETTER?

HOW MANY ARE ESSENTIAL? HOW MANY ARE OPTIOINAL?
- 12 parts, 07 are essential, 05 are optional. Including:
1. Letter head: sender’s address. Sometimes it’s in printed
2. Date
3. Reference (optional)
4. Inside address
5. Attention line (optional)
6. Salutation
7. Subject line (optional)
8. Body
9. Closing (complimentary closing)
10. Signature
11. Enclosure line (optional)
12. C.C notation (optional)
LAYOUT: Semi – block style:
Sender's Address

Date

Reference

Inside address/ Receiver's name & address

Attention

Salutation

Subject line
 BODY
Complimentary closing

Signature

Enclosure line

C/c notation

HOW TO WRITE EACH PART?

1. Sender’s address:
On the top right – hand side of the page
No sender’s name
2. Date:
Written below the sender’s address (straight and a space separated)
E.g.: September 1st 2009
September 1, 2009
1st September 2009
Do not abbreviate the month
3. Reference:
Our ref: DL/ MT (DL = Signer/ writer’s initials, MT = secretary’s initials)
Your ref: DS/ MR
Our ref: 661/ 17 (661 = chronological No. of the letter, 17 = no. of the department)
Your ref: 86/ 24
4. Inside address/ receiver’s name & address:
1. Name of the person or company
2. Name of the house/ bldg
3. No. of bldg, name of street, road, avenue, etc
4. Name of town/ city and postcode
5. Name of the country
Eg: Ms. J.C. Gilbert, Johnson Co. Ltd
Industrial house
34 – 41 Lang Road
Bolton BL 4 8TF
United Kingdom
5. Attention line:
For the attention of
ATTN:
E.g.: For the attention of marketing manager
(ATTN: the marketing manager)
Dear Sir,
6. Salutation:
Dear sir/ sirs/ madam,  end with: Yours faithfully,
Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Ms/ Miss,  Your sincerely,
(The comma after the salutation is optional)
7. Subject line/ titles:
Re: Order no. PT 234 (re = regarding is optional)
8. The body of the letter:
Usually 03 sections:
- The opening:
- The message:
- The ending:
9. Complimentary closing:
If begin with Dear sir/ sirs/ madam  end with yours faithfully
Dear Mr. / Mrs. / Miss/ Ms  yours sincerely
(The comma after complimentary closing is optional) (If after salutation use
comma, then in closing comma is needed)
10. Signature
Name, title
E.g.: Rose Marry – Sales Manager
P.P.J. Mane – Managing director
(P.P. = per pro = for and on behalf of)
11. Enclosure line:
(In a complain: enclosure line is essential. This must be the evidence: Survey
report/ Inspection Certificate)
En. / Encl.
E.g.: Encl: 1. Price list
2. Catalogue
3. ……
Enc. 1. Survey report
2. Pictures of damaged items
12. C.C. = Carbon copies :
Written when copies are sent to people other than the named recipient.