Chapter Three: Letter Writing

Letter writing is an essential part of business, because the ability to write a

good letter is a skill essential to all business executives. The letter is an important
means used by a firm to keep in touch with customers and suppliers. It has been truly
said that a firm’s letters are its ambassadors. Customers form an impression of a firm
from a layout, content and tone of the letter it sends out.

When you write a letter, you must read it through carefully to see that you have
put everything you intended, and have expressed it well. You must read it again,
trying to put yourself in the place of the receiver, to find out what impression your
letter will make. That is the reason why letters should be written on good quality
paper, the letterhead should be attractive and the address on the envelope should be
neatly and correctly typed. In every letter, spelling, grammar, punctuation, typing
and layout must be perfect.

3.1 Writing Materials

When you are writing any letter, it is advisable to give some thought to the
materials you use. The overall appearance is almost as important as the content. A
neat, well-laid-out letter will not only make a good impression, but is a courtesy to
the person you are writing to. This is important for letters generally, and for job
application and other formal letters in particular. A letter should be written or typed
neatly on decent quality paper. The act of writing can be made more pleasurable
when you use good quality paper that will not crease or tear easily and will take ink
without blotching. Unless you are corresponding with a close friend or relative, use
dark blue or black ink. Avoid thick marker pens, coloured ink (other than blue or

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black) and pencil. If typing your letter on a computer, make sure the ink cartridge in
your machine will produce clear copies and even print.

Paper

Most of the paper we buy for writing, printing and photocopying is supplied
in standard “A” sizes. One of the advantages of this international standard for paper
sizes, from the paper manufacturers’ as well as their customers’ point of view, is that
each A size is half the area of the previous one, in a descending scale from A0 to A7.
Thus, an A4 sheet folded and cut in half will produce two A5, and an A5 sheet will
produce two A6 sheets, and so on. A note of caution here, if you are folding and
cutting paper, it is advisable to use a guillotine, which will give a straight cut edge.
Ragged or uneven edges will detract from overall appearance of your letter.

A0=841x1189mm A4=210x297mm

A1=594x841mm A5=148x210mm

A2=420x594mm A6=105x148mm

A3=297x420mm A7=74x105mm

A4 is the most popular size for business correspondence these days. A5 is also
widely used, especially for shorter business letters and memos, and personal letters.
Most office filing systems are designed to take A4 sheets, so, it makes sense to stick
to this size for correspondence that it likely to be kept for future reference.

Choose the paper size that best suits the sort of letter you are going to write. If
you are writing a short note or just a couple of lines of an acknowledgement, for
example, use a smaller sheet size. While the text of your letter should not look
cramped, neither should it float about in acres of white space. This is both wasteful
and unnecessary. For personal and less formal letters, it is perfectly acceptable to

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write on both sides of the sheet. Do not forget to number the second and subsequent
sheets.

A1

A3 A2

A5 A4

A7 A6

Envelopes

For most letters, especially social ones, the envelope should match the paper
used for the letter itself. Brown envelopes are the only appropriate for business letters
(invoicing, payment of bills, etc.). They are “C” size standards. Manila or padded
envelopes may be used when extra strength or protection is required, for example
when sending multiple sheets. Envelopes are available in a variety of sizes. Choose

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an envelope size that allows you to insert the letter comfortably into the envelope,
with the minimum of folds. If you do not want to fold an A4 sheet, use a C4 size
envelope. The C5 size will take an A4 sheet folded once, or an A5 sheet unfolded;
the C6 size will take an A5 sheet folded once, or an A6 sheet unfolded.

3.2Letter layout
The text of your letter should be positioned on the page with the appropriate
spacing. The print or handwriting should neither be neither too cramped nor too
widely spaced. Use two-line space between paragraphs or individual lines if this will
improve the general appearance. If the letter is short, the text should not be pushed
up to the top of the sheet with a large area left blank at the bottom. Leave some space
at the top to balance that at the bottom of the sheet. Business letters can be presented
in two styles: blocked or indented.

Blocked style

In the blocked style, everything begins at the left hand margin except the
letterhead and the date. Nowadays, the majority of business letters and most other
typed letters are in blocked style.

Indented style

The indented style is a more traditional format and is now rarely used for
business letters. It is very attractive as it gives the letter a balanced look. Many people
claim the indenting of paragraphs makes for easy reading. However, the indenting of
paragraphs is time consuming. Some people still prefer the indented style for both
formal and informal letters, especially those that are handwritten. Punctuation is used
in the indented style where it is omitted in blocked style. There are usually commas
at the line ends of the addresses and after the salutation and complementary closure.

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 3.3 Elements of a Letter

Business letters are usually typed on papers bearing the following elements:
the heading or letter head, the reference, the date, the inside name and address or for
the attention of, the salutation, the body of the letter or the text, or again the message,
the complementary closure or close, the signature, the name of signatory, the
designation, the enclosure(s), and the open punctuation, when required.

a) The Letter Head

Business letters may bear a specially designed heading which provides the
reader of the letter with essential information about the organization sending it.
Normally, the heading will include the company’s name, the type of business it is
engaged in, the addresses (physical, electronic, telegraphic), the telephone numbers,
and the VAT (valued added tax) number, and in many cases the names of the
directors. It is necessary to put a stop after abbreviations as in the case of Co.
(Company), Ltd. (Limited), Mr., Mrs. However, it is becoming more and more
common, with open punctuation to use abbreviations without a stop.

b) The Reference
The reference is typed on the same line as the date, but on left, and consists of
the initials of the person who signs the letter, and those of the typist. Sometimes other
initials are added, according to whatever may suit the filling system of the firm in
question. It is usual to quote the reference initials of the addressee company in a
reply.

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 c) The Date
The date should always be written or typed in full. The simplest and clearest
way of all the current forms used in the English-speaking word is, for instance,
4 May 2018, but there are alternative ways, for example: May 4 2020 (American put
the name of the month first), 4th May 2020 and May 4th 2020. It is not necessary to
put th after the day. You write, for example, 1st January, 2nd February… and you
read or say the first of January, the second of February (BrE) or January first,
February second (AmE).

Another practice is that of writing the date in a highly abbreviated form or in

figures: 4/5… This should not be done in letters written in English. It is discourteous
as it gives the impression that the person writing is in a hurry. It can also be confusing
as in the US, the order of the date is month, day, and year, whereas in the UK, it
follows a different order, which is day, month, and year.

Some companies insist on a comma before the year, but with an open
punctuation style, others consider this comma unnecessary. It is important to note
that the name of the town or city where the letter originates is not repeated before the
date, although this is normally done.

d) The Inside Name and Address/For the Attention of

A few points concerning the name and address of the firms written need to be
made. They are typed on the left hand margin; the use of Messrs, an abbreviated form
of Messieurs, the French word for Gentlemen, should not be used in front of the name
of a limited company, nor should it appear with the names of firms which indicate
their line of business and do not consist of family names. Messrs will be used mostly
when a partnership is being addressed. The number of the street in the address always
precedes its name.

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 Some companies adopt the rule that all correspondence should be addressed
to the company and not to individual persons by name. The sender of a letter may
wish it to reach a particular person. This can be achieved by using for the attention
of at the left hand margin below the date. No punctuation is necessary. To type it in
capitals and not underscore is the modern way of doing it.

e) The Salutation
Every letter begins with a greeting. If you are writing for the first time to a
company, you should begin your letter with “Dear Sir/Madam”. In USA, the most
common salutation is “Gentlemen”, “Ladies”. The salutation is typed against the left
hand margin. Your correspondent’s first name should be used only if you know
him/her well. If in doubt about the form of salutation, it is always best to err on the
side of formality. A woman may be addressed as “Dear Miss, Dear Mrs…, Dear Ms
or Dear Madam”, depending on the situation. Note that the use of the form “Ms” has
become quite common. Like its “male” equivalent “Mr”, it does not indicate whether
the person addressed is married or unmarried.

f) The Body of the Letter/ The Text/ The Message

The body of the letter or the message is what one writes in his/her letter. It
should be brief and to the point. If the information to be conveyed can be given in
three sentences, then there is no need to write more.

g) The Complementary Closure

This is typed above the name of the firm sending the letter, then a space is left
for the signature. It depends upon the relationship with the person to whom you are
writing. Two complementary closures are in use. The rule to follow is simple. If the
letter begins with “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam”, it should end with “Yours faithfully

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or Yours truly”. If the salutation begins with the name of the person, you will end it
with “Yours sincerely”. The initial f, t, and s of “Yours faithfully/truly/sincerely”
should not be in capitals. When you send an e-mail, use the formal writing, beginning
with “Dear Sir/Madam” and ending with “Best regards” or “Best wishes”.

h) The Signature
The letter should be signed under the complementary closure. Always use the
same signature. Do not sign differently from a letter to another. As a general rule, a
title is not used in a signature. It is incorrect.

i) The Name of Signatory

It is good practice to type the name of the person to sign the letter under the
signature. If you sign on behalf of your principal or company, usually write ‘pp’, or
’per pro’, standing for ‘per procurationeur’ before the name of your principal or
company.

j) The Designation
The official position of the person signing the letter should be placed below
his/her name.

k) The Enclosure(s)
After the designation, type ‘Enc.’, or ‘Encs’ if more than one paper or
document is to been closed with the letter. All letters should be punctuated in the
normal manner. However, many firms now use what is called ‘open punctuation’: no
punctuation is used in the reference, date, inside name and address, salutation and
complementary closure. The full stop is also omitted from an abbreviated word
unless it appears at the end of a sentence.