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URDANETA CITY
UNIVERSITY
PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION
Lesson 7: Communication for Work
Purposes
What is Business Letter?
A business letter is a form of written
communication between a sender and a receiver
used to transact business which cannot be easily
relayed orally. It differs from the friendly letter in
substances, language, and in tone. This kind of
letter must adhere to certain rules, restrictions, and
formats and must use formal language. In addition,
an effective business letter should sound like a
person talking to another person.
The formal letter may serve any of the following
purposes:
1. Serves as record
2. Requires an action from the leader
3. Establishes goodwill among persons and
establishments
4. Propagation of Company
8 Cs of Business Letter
1. Clarity- refers to the clearness of business letter.
Ways on Producing letter with clarity:
a. Think before you write- before writing the first
sentence of your letter, decide and organize your
thoughts about the focus, the reason and the
beginning of your letter.
b. Express yourself in simple and familiars- do not
use “high falutin”, high sounding or complex words.
c. Avoid using the following words.
❖ Verbal Dead words or Cluttering Words-
expression using three to four words for the
same idea that will result in unnecessary and
needless repetition of words.
❖ Horse-and-buggy Words- old expression used
by the people riding in a carriage drawn by
horses during the Queen Victoria
❖ Jargons- words used by a certain set of people
with common interest or in the same
profession.
❖ Buzzy Words- content words that explain
important messages in the letter, but give
buzzing sounds and seemingly complex
structure to impress people.
❖ Twang/Slang Words- spoken by particular
group of people in a given period of time.
d. Maintain short sentences and paragraphs
e. Express yourself in active voice than in the
passive voice.
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2. Conciseness- the relationship of a letter
depends greatly on the relationships of words in
the letter so do not employ too many.
3. Consideration- uses the “You-Viewpoint” which
means looking at the situation from the standpoint
of the reader.
Ways of applying the You-Attitude:
❖ Give equal importance or attention to both
male and female.
❖ Use gender neutral language instead of gender
sensitive words.
❖ Modify words with gender-free expressions.
❖ Use appropriate gender pronouns like the
plural they, you, their, and the pronoun pairs- he
or she/his or her instead of the traditional
pronouns: he alone or she alone.
4. Courtesy- attitude of the mind that cultivates
goodwill and friendliness. It requires the use of
polite expressions such as please, thank you,
kindly, could you that show the writer’s sincerity,
tactfulness, thoughtfulness, gratefulness and
respect towards the reader.
5. Concreteness- use descriptive or mental
pictures, so that readers can form images through
words.
6. Cheerfulness- the letter should have positive
expressions to motivate the reader to act on the
message.
7. Correctness- refers to the right level of the
language- formal and informal- the accuracy of the
figures, facts, grammar, spelling, punctuation
marks, and the layout of the letter.
8. Character- letter should use words and
introduces ideas that are natural, original, fresh,
rather expressions that are worn out, cliche,
stereotyped, and plain imitations.
Basic parts of the Business Letter
1. The Heading - The heading may take the form of
the letter head or complete mailing address of the
sender. The letterhead consists of the name of the
firm or the individual and the complete address.
These are the essential parts of a printed letter
head.
2. Dateline - The date is composed of the month,
written in full; the day of the month, set out in
comma; and the year written in full. The date may
be centered, typed, flushed with the right margin
starting at the center point of the page, or in
fullblock letters, starting at the left margin.
(075) 600 - 1507
San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
ucu.edu.ph | univpresidentofficial@gmail.com
 Owned and operated by the City Government of Urdaneta

URDANETA CITY
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS
AND SCIENCES

For the date, any of the following format may be
used:
Conventional type - composed of the month, the
date, and the year
Example: November 25, 2021
UN type - composed of the date, month, and the
year
Example: 25 November 2021
3. Inside address - The inside address includes the
addressee's name, the name of the firm, the street,
the city, and zip code number. All lines are blocked
on the left margin. The first line may start on the
second or until the fourth line space below the
date.
4. Salutation - The salutation is the complimentary
greeting that begins a letter. The salutation is
always started at least one and a half inches from
the left margin, two spaces below the last line of
the inside address. A colon ends the salutation line.
5. Body - The complete message of the letter is
contained in the body of the letter. It is written
between the salutation and the complimentary
close. The first paragraph of the body is typed or
written two spaces below the salutation. It should
be correct, clear, courteous, concise, and neatly
written.
6. Complimentary close - The complimentary close
is printed two spaces below the last line of the
body and aligned with the heading of the letter. The
complimentary close should be consistent with the
salutation and the message.
7. Signature - The signature line may consist only of
the name of the writer typed on the fourth line
space below the complimentary close, followed by
his designation. The typewritten name of the
dictator/writer should coincide exactly with the
pen-written signature.
6. Continuation Line - It is preferable to use a single
sheet for the entire letter; however, for letters with
more than one page, an identifying continuation
heading aids in assembling or reassembling the
pages should they become separated.
7. Identification Initials - These are the initials of the
encoder and the initials or the name of the dictator.
It is usually placed at the lower left-hand corner of
the letter, ordinarily one or two spaces below the
last line of the signature cluster.
8. Postscripts - It indicates that the writer has
forgotten something to say in the body of the letter.
It is usually written one line after the printed
signature. An afterthought, it shows the writer's
disorientation and it is not looked upon favorably.
References:
Ambida, R. S., Galicha, J. P., & Oandasan, R. L.
(2019). Purposive Communication. C & E
Publishing, Inc.
Caudilla, J. P., & Cansancio, J. E. (2019). Purposive
Communication. Mandaluyong: Books Atbp.
Publishing Corp.
Francisco, I. B. (2006). English for Occupational
Purposes. Manila: Rex Book Store, Inc.
Prepared by:
JHON GHMUEL FRANCIS R. CAADIANG
Faculty, College of Arts & Sciences

Supplementary Parts of the Business Letter

1. Attention Line - If the writer wishes to reach a

certain person in the company because the letter is
something urgent, attention line is written. It begins
in the left margin, two spaces below the inside
address and should be centered.
2. Reference Line - t is usually written at the top left
corner of the letter two spaces below the dateline
and two spaces before the inside address. The
reference line provides the receiver an easy access
to his files on the subject contained in the letter.
3. Subject Line - This part is often used to make it
easy to refer quickly to the content of the letter.
4. Enclosure - It is used to safeguard at the mailing
time enclosed materials that should accompany
the letter like records, checks. documents, and the
like
5. Carbon Copy - It is written if the writer has to
furnish some copies of the letter to other persons
or offices.

(075) 600 - 1507

San Vicente West, Urdaneta City, Pangasinan
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