TWR

Framing a Technical Letter

 The Heading

When preprinted letterhead is not used, the writer includes a

heading to help identify the source of the letter.

The heading includes the address but not the name of the writer.
The street address is on one line and the city, postal zone and
state/province and the country on another line. The name of the
country can also be shifted below state/province line.

The heading is placed at the right side of the page.

Heading
32, East Ninth Avenue,
Post Office Box, 2434,
Islamabad, Pakistan.
The Inside Address

The purpose of the inside address is to identify the

receiver of the letter by giving complete name and
address of the person or organization to whom the
letter is sent.
It is usually placed one line below the heading.
No punctuation is used at the end of any line.
It is placed flush left.
Mr. Akram Abbasi
Director of Planning
Kaynak International
57, IJP Road, Islamabad
Date

The date follows the last line of the inside address.

The Salutation

The salutation is used as a form of greeting. The

simplified letter sometimes omits it .

It is placed two line spaces below the dateline.

Use a colon or a comma after the salutation. In

modern practice, we do not use either.
Conventionally, the word Dear precedes the person
address:

Dear Mr. Ahmad: or Dear Sir: Dear Mrs. Ahmad, or Dear

Madam,

Gentlemen: is the correct form in addressing a group of

men, and Ladies in addressing more than two women.
When two persons are addressed use both names:
Write dear ladies and gentlemen when addressing a
mixed group, e.g. Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

Dear Mrs. Ahmad and Mrs. Mahmood:

If the marital status of a lady is not known, write Ms.

Dear Director of Planning:

Attention Director of Planning:

The Attention Line and Subject Line

The attention line is placed two spaces below the last

line of dateline and subject is placed below it. The word
reference or its abbreviation RE are sometimes used for
Subject.

Attention lines are generally used only when you cannot

name the reader (Attention Planning Manager, Attention
Payroll Department)
The reference line contains a numerical file
number, invoice number, policy number, or other
reference information.
Dear sir,

With reference to your e-mail dated 23-02-2015 regarding

the Presentation of Indicator Information on
Implementation of the Strategy for Resource Mobilization
to the Secretariat, pursuant to Decision X/3A.8, I am
pleased to provide you with the following information…
Subject: Request to Extend deadline
If you do not use subject, capitalize the entire line
REQUEST TO EXTEND DEADLINE
The body of the letter

Begin the body of letter two line spaces below

salutation.

Use single space for letters of average length or

longer.

Short letters of five lines or less may be double

spaced.
Always use double spaces between paragraphs in
single-spaced letters.

Whether the body is indented depends upon the

style used.
The Complementary Close

The purpose of the complementary close is to

express farewell at the end of the letter.
The complementary close should be typed two lines
below the last line of the text.
It should start slightly to the right of the center of
the page, but it should never extend the right margin.
The coma is used at its end.
Only the first word of the complementary close is
capitalized.
The signature

Type the name three spaces below the

complementary close.

Asfand Khan
Director Finance
Yours truly, Very truly yours, Sincerely, and
Sincerely yours, are the proper and conventional
complementary closes most frequently used.

Students often write Your’s truly which is

incorrect.
Enclosures

If there is an enclosure, type Encl.

If there are more than one enclosures, type Encls.

1. Experience Certificate

2. Master Degree

3. Graduation Degree

4. …….
Letter of Complaint

Letter of Complaint
Attitude should be firm and fair
Courteous
Positive attitude
Don’t threaten to withdraw your business on first
offence
Be very specific about what is wrong and detail
any inconvenience caused to you
Identify the product that had fault
Motivate the receiver to make an adjustment

If you know the adjustment, spell it out; or let it come

from the company you are dealing with

Format simple

Addressed to the Customer Relations Department

Most companies have an office or an employee

responsible for complaints
Letter of Adjustment

It is in response to a letter of complaint

Most companies welcome letters or complaint to know

their mistakes

Adjustment letter as means or promoting future

business

They fall in 2 categories: granting of adjustment

requested or refusal
The first is good news and is easy to write; the
second is bad news and is difficult to write
The Good-Newsletter
Be cheerful and build goodwill
Begin by expressing regrets about the problem
The Bad-Newsletter
Be very courteous
Try to give some concession
Good news
First: Best news or main idea
Middle: Explanation, with one or more of the
following, when appropriate: all necessary details,
educational information, resale, sales promotion
Last: Positive, friendly ending, with a clear
statement of action desired, motivation to action,
willingness to help others, appreciation
Bad News
Buffer  (thing that shields and protects against annoyance, harm etc
or that lessens the impact of a shock)
Agreement: Agree with your reader on something
Appreciation: Thanks the reader (for a check, information,
application, request, inquires)
Assurance: Assure the reader for your careful consideration
and honest explanation of all available facts about the
problem
Compliment: Try to compliment on something good about
his or her past
Cooperation: show a sincere desire to be as helpful
as possible
Good news: if you can grant any part of a request,
and you think your reader will be pleased, begin
with good news
Explanation and analysis of circumstances
Helpful suggestions
Friendly, positive close
Letter of Inquiry

Solicited letter of inquiry (question/query)

Identify the advertisement that solicited (ask for/
request) your inquiry
Identify yourself and establish your need for the
information
Request the information, specify the precise area in
which you are interested
Unsolicited (voluntary) letter of inquiry
given or supplied without being requested or asked for

Identify yourself
State clearly and specifically the information or
materials that you want
Establish your need for the requested information
materials
Tell the recipient why you have chosen him or her as a
source for this information or materials
Close courteously
Activity (Use separate sheet)

You have bought a new mobile phone and in a few days

after purchase it has stopped working. You have
spoken to the company representative a week ago but
the phone has still not been repaired.

Write a letter to the company.

In your letter:
- introduce yourself
- explain the situation
- say what action you would like to company to take.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am writing to inform you about the faulty mobile phone
that I have purchased in your store.
I am Christine B., I am a regular customer of your
company. On the 10th of March, I bought a brand new
Nokia XYZ mobile. However, upon one week of using it,
problems started to appear. The flash of the camera is no
longer working. Also, the monitor is getting blurry which
makes it difficult for me to see the SMS messages clearly.
I was very surprised to discover such problems in quite
an expensive model.
Naturally, I returned the mobile phone in your store to be
replaced with a new one. One of your sales staff told me
that they will send it to my home address within one
week. However, two weeks have passed without me
receiving any replacement. I am very upset for your poor
service.
In this regard, I insist on getting a refund of my full
payment if the replacement will not arrive within one
more week.
Yours faithfully,
Christine B.
 nd
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