Business Letters: WEEKS 7 and 8: Midterm

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033- Advanced Technical Communication

WEEKS 7 and 8: Midterm
Business Letters
It is a sad fact of life that not everyone can write good and effective business letters. However, the good news is that anyone can learn the tricks and trades
of business letter writing as long as the eagerness and interest to learn and improve are present as motivational forces.
In the world of professionals, one of the inevitable tasks that individuals perform is business letter writing. Be it in the realm of business, education,
commerce, industry, public management or private sector, the writing of business letters play a major role in the communication process among agencies
and among individuals within those agencies. When you need a job, you write an application letter. When you want to inquire, you use a letter of inquiry. If
you are not satisfied with a product or service, you write a letter of complaint. When you need a capital, you utilize a letter of credit, and so on and so forth.
When you have developed the skills in writing, thus making yourself well-versed with the intricacies of business letter writing, you are unconsciously making
a competitive edge over others, making yourself now an asset as you lead your life to the corporate world.
BUSINESS LETTERS
Business is an act of buying and selling. Any written report done on this commercial act inside or outside the place of business becomes a technical
written work called a Business Report. This is so because the content of this technical reports refers mainly to a special area of knowledge called business.
It’s only its content or subject matter that makes it a technical written work but its format and language as well. Unlike other types of writing that are open
to all kinds of expressions, business letter has its own set of special words or expressions exclusively for buying and selling acts. (Lehman, 2005)
While any format – formal, informal, memo, E-mail, blank form, or letter format is used in business, the letter is the most preferred format by the
people in the business world. Those engaged in the other fields of knowledge like science, engineering, architecture, computer, medicine and so on likewise
use letters in presenting knowledge and information on investigation results, technical proposals, feasibility studies, work progress, laboratory findings and in
other technical reports. Owing to the frequent use of letters in technical writing, the principles behind effective business letter writing must therefore be well
understood and well applied by any technical report writer. These business letter writing principles from (Davis, 2005; Brusaw, 2005) Adler (2010) and from
other reading materials on business correspondence listed on this material are clearly explained by the succeeding paragraphs.
PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER
A normal business letter has eight parts. In the order of their appearance, they are: Letterhead, Date Line, Inside Address, Salutation, Body, Closing or
Complimentary Close, Signature Line, and Notations.
The Letterhead is found at the uppermost part of the letter.
Letterhead
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This topmost part of the letter gives these pieces of information: full name, complete address, contact numbers, and the nature of the company
sending the letter. The secondary information are: names of one or more offices, telefax number, logo, and corporate subsidiaries.
With the many artistic designs of the letterheads, some consider this letter part as an information-giving portion and an ornamental feature of the
letter. However, the best kind of a letterhead is one that follows a simple design. An elaborate letterhead tends to grab the reader’s attention from the
central message of the letter.
Since the letterhead projects a corporate and somehow affects the reader’s understanding of the message of the letter, some firms take much care and time
in finalizing the appearance of the letterhead to represent the company. In fact, some companies launch money-spending contests on a company logo and
letterhead designing.
The second part of a business letter is the Date Line, which is type two or four spaces below the letterhead. There are two standard ways of writing
the date: the American way (May 8, 2011) and the British way (May 2 2012).
More way are used by other business correspondents, but whatever style you choose, the usual procedure calls for one punctuation mark – the
comma after the day (August 8, 2011) and for the non-abbreviation of the name of the month.
The address of the writer is found in the heading; that of the recipient, is in the Inside Address. This third part of the letter, Inside Address, is
written four or eight spaces below the date line on the left margin. Normally, if this consists of three to four lines, the first line presents the name of the
person or company and the individual or official corporate title of the like: Miss, Mrs., Atty., Dr., President, Manager. For example:
Mrs. Fely R. Zamora, Manage Atty. Alex B. Solis
Hope Enterprises Maxim Steel Corporation
38 Quirino Avenue, Quezon City 17 Taff Avenue, Manila
The following are some reminders on the proper way of writing titles:
1. Address an individual the way he usually signs his name.

2. Avoid abbreviating Christian names, corporation, company, and official positions or ranks, like: Sergeant, Treasurer, Secretary, Sales
Manager, director, and the like.
3. You may abbreviate titles like Honorable, Reverend, Professor. But in formal letters, it is preferable to write them in full.
4. Include the article “The” before the company name like – The Dean’s Café, or the Paulinian Ladies Circle.
5. Write the titles – Honorable, Reverend in full if the article “The” precedes them like The Reverend Jose P. Gomez, not The Rev. Jose P.
Gomez.
6. Use the title Honorable, Reverend, Professor, and Superintendent before full names, not before a last name, like – Professor Juliet J. Sales,
Honorable Orly D. Pecson, not Professor Ramos, Honorable Daza.
7. Use small letters in writing the article “The” in “the Reverend Lino V. Paterno” or “the Honorable Nestor G. Cortez” if the article is preceded
by other words in the sentence, such as – Everybody stood up to greet the Honorable Jose P. Laurel.
The fourth part is the Salutation or Greeting. This is written on the left margin, two or four spaces below the Inside Address. Since its purpose is to
cheer up or greet the addressee with the use of positive words like Dear, Dearest, My dear, it is also called the Greeting. However, you cannot just use any
greeting you want. The degree of formality tells you which greeting to use. The most formal salutations for top-ranking government officials are Sir and
Madam. Lower than these are Dear Sir or Dear Ma’am, and for friendly, intimate and informal relationships, you may use My dear Cora, Dear Peter, and so
on.
In formal business letters, the Salutation is followed by a colon; informal or friendly letters, by a comma. These two – colon and comma – are the only
punctuation marks used after the Salutation of a business letter. Gentlemen is the salutation for letters addressed to a company, club, committee, and other
organizations composed of males or both males and females. The salutation, Ladies, is for organizations exclusively for females. However, if there is a
particular person whom you want to read the letter addressed to the company, you can write this person’s name in the Attention Line, a letter part
considered as an extension of the Inside Address and can be placed between the Inside Address and the Salutation or opposite the Salutation.
Examples:
extension of the Inside Address and can be placed between the Inside Address and the Salutation
GONZALES ENTERPRISES
23 Yulo Street
Cubao, Quezon City
Attention: Engr. Hector N. Nolasco

Gentlemen:
opposite the Salutation
GONZALES ENTERPRISES
23 Yulo Street
Cubao, Quezon City
Gentlemen: Attention: Engr. Hector N. Nolasco
There are also Salutations, like To Our Dearest, To the PTA Members, Dear Customers, that are situated at the upper center of the bond paper. These kinds
of Salutations are good for formal letters making an announcement to a group of people.
Another secondary part of a business letter found in the area of the salutation is the Subject Line placed two spaces below the Greeting. In a modified block
letter, it is usually centered, and in a full block style, it is at the left margin. Serving as the title of the letter, the Subject Line states the purpose or topic of
the letter in a short sentence. Here are examples of the how the Subject Line is written.
Engr. Nick F. Lanuza, President
APEX Home Builders
12 Taft Avenue, Manila
Dear Engr. Lanuza:
Subject: Repainting of the Del Fun House.
Please, comply with our agreement on the repainting of the DEL Fun House before the end of Summer 2011. It is surprising that, soon, May
none of your men is coming to see us regarding this matter.
Nova Hills Bank
28 Pawid Street
Fairview, Quezon City
Gentlemen: Subject: Repainting of the DEL Fun House
Please, comply with our agreement on the repainting of the DEL Fun House before the end of Summer 2011. It is surprising that, soon, May
none of your men is coming to see us regarding this matter.

The fifth and the biggest part is the Body of the business letter. This begins two spaces below the Salutation. The spacing is double between the
paragraphs of the letter. It is in this part where you may convey all the messages you want your reader to understand.
The Closing or Complimentary Close comes as the 6th part. It is typed two or four spaces below the body. Unlike the Salutation that uses two punctuation
marks, comma, and colon, the closing uses only one marl, the comma. If the closing is of several words, only the initial world should be capitalized.
Choosing the kind of complimentary close also considers the degrees of formality. Below are some of the most commonly used Closings ranging from formal
to informal ways:
Very respectfully yours,
Respectfully yours,
Very truly yours,
Truly yours,
Sincerely yours
Cordially yours,
Best wishes,
Kindest regards,
The seventh part is the Signature Line. In business letter, two signatures are needed – the printed or typewritten signature, and the penned
signature. The printed signature is typed four spaces below the Closing. It is four spaces because the other two spaces are for the penned signature of the
writer and for the fully capitalized name of the company represented by the writer. If the name of the company is in the letterhead, you may do away with
your typewritten signature. With regard to the signature of a woman writer, consider the following assumptions:
It is assumed that a surname preceded by initials belong to a man.
Example:

Yours truly,

M.S. Lopez
It is assumed that a name not preceded by Miss or Mrs. always means a name of an unmarried woman. (Rosario C. David)

Respectfully yours,

Myrna S. Lopez
The eight part, which is the last part is Notations. The following are the notations that come two spaces below the Signature Line:
Identification Initials. These are the initials of the writer or dictator and the typist or transcriber. A colon, a slash mark, or a differentiation in letter
size used to separate the two kinds of initials. (e.g. KM:LY, KM/LY, KM ly)
Enclosure. Sometimes, there are some important documents or papers that the writer would like to attach to the letter. This inclusion of papers in the
letter would eventually be discovered by the reader through the explicit statement of these documents in the body of the letter and in the Enclosure.
Enclosure is a notation written two spaces below the initials of the dictator and the typist and appearing in full word. Enclosure or in an abbreviated
form, Enc.
Example:
Carbon Copy. This notation is found two spaces below the last line of the signature. Its purpose is to let the reader know that a copy of the letter is
sent to another person or recipient whose name is not mentioned in the address. The term Carbon Copy or the symbol CC may then be written for this
kind of notation, and the written after CC or Carbon Copy is the full name and official corporate position of the other recipient.
Example:
Blind Copy. If the writer, in confidence, decides to give a copy of the letter to a person not referred to in the address, he may note this as “blind
carbon copy” or “bcc” on the copy for the “secret” recipient. This “bcc” is not reflected in the original. Actually, though they are not noted as carbon
copies, they may not be, at all times, carbon, but may be photographic or Xeroxed copies.
Postscript or PS. This may be added after the last notation. It serves as a device for emphasis. Two spaces below the Identification Initials or two
spaces below the Enclosure or CC is where you can write the symbol PS.
FORMAT OR STYLES OF A BUSINESS LETTER
Based on a certain letter format, you may position the parts of your letter in the following ways:
FULL BLOCK STYLE
MODIFIED BLOCK STYLE
SEMI-BLOCK STYLE
INDENTED OR TRADITIONAL STYLE
HANGING STYLE
MEMORANDUM STYLE
The first three styles – Full-block, Modified Block, and Semi-Block – are the modern forms of business letters. Among the three, the Full-Block is the
most widely used form because its layout is easy to make. Since all its parts begin at the left margin, the typist need not worry about the indention of
parts. To a certain extent, this advantage is likewise true for the Modified and Semi-Block forms. There is however one disadvantage of the Full-block
form. This is the lopsided or imbalanced appearance of the letter due to the concentration and beginning of all parts at the left margin. Looking at the
layouts well and depending on these criteria for evaluating letter forms: time for typing, need for space, nature of the message, kind of
occasion, and the position of the write, you may conclude that some patterns are good or bad.
END of LESSON 7 and 8
REFERENCES
Baracero, E. (2011). Technical Writing in this Era of Globalization and Modern Technology.. Manila: Rex Book Store
Abulencia, E. (2001). Integrated Business and Technical Communication.. Manila: Rex Book Store
Egipto, J. (2005). Writing Business Letters.. Manila: Rex Book Store
Online References
https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-communication-and-ethics/intro-to-business-communication/principles-business-communication/
https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/business-communication/4-types-of-direction-in-formal-communication/28014
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-organizationalbehavior/chapter/directions-of-communication/
https://www.wisdomjobs.com/e-university/principles-of-management-and-organisational-behaviour-tutorial-366/directions-of-communication-in-the-organization-
12760.html#:~:text=Direction%20of%20Communication%20flow%20in,upward%20and%20laterally%20(horizontal).&text=Downward%20communication%20involves%20a%20mes

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3/3/22, 6:31 PM 033- Advanced Technical Communication - https://usl-tuguegarao.neolms.com/student_lesson/show/3143412?

033- Advanced Technical Communication

PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER

The Letterhead is found at the uppermost part of the letter.

Mrs. Fely R. Zamora, Manage Atty. Alex B. Solis

Hope Enterprises Maxim Steel Corporation

38 Quirino Avenue, Quezon City 17 Taff Avenue, Manila

1. Address an individual the way he usually signs his name.

Cubao, Quezon City

Attention: Engr. Hector N. Nolasco

opposite the Salutation

Cubao, Quezon City

Gentlemen: Attention: Engr. Hector N. Nolasco

Engr. Nick F. Lanuza, President

APEX Home Builders

12 Taft Avenue, Manila

Dear Engr. Lanuza:

Subject: Repainting of the Del Fun House.

Nova Hills Bank

Fairview, Quezon City

Gentlemen: Subject: Repainting of the DEL Fun House

Very respectfully yours,

Very truly yours,

It is assumed that a surname preceded by initials belong to a man.

FORMAT OR STYLES OF A BUSINESS LETTER

FULL BLOCK STYLE

MODIFIED BLOCK STYLE

INDENTED OR TRADITIONAL STYLE

END of LESSON 7 and 8

Egipto, J. (2005). Writing Business Letters.. Manila: Rex Book Store

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