Formatting the Physical Form of Business Letter PDF

FORMATTING THE PHYSICAL FORM OF BUSINESS LETTER Prepared by: GILBERT A. GALANG Faculty, CBA Bulacan State University City of Malolos, Bulacan LESSON OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesso...

FORMATTING THE PHYSICAL FORM OF BUSINESS LETTER Prepared by: GILBERT A. GALANG Faculty, CBA Bulacan State University City of Malolos, Bulacan LESSON OBJECTIVES At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to: 1. identify the parts of a business letter; and 2. differentiate the different types of letter style / format. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 1. Margins a. No letterhead: equal margin – top and bottom. b. With letterhead: top margin should be wider than that of the bottom. c. The two side margins should be equal (1 inch – 1 ½ inches). d. Margin at the bottom should be 1 ½ times bigger than those at the sides. e. Margins at the top and bottom should not less than 1 ½ inches; 2 inches is better. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 2. Spacing There should be double-space between the paragraphs and between other units. Body of short letters may be double-spaced, but others must be single-spaced. 3. Punctuation a. Open (Example: Dear Miss Davenport) b. Closed (Example: Dear Miss Davenport:) PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 4. Forms of Indention a. Indented form b. Fully block form: all parts of the letter flush with the left hand margins of the page. c. Block form: Heading, complimentary close, and signature should be at the right. d. Semiblock form: Same as the block form, only that the paragraphs are indented. e. Hanging or overhanging form: same as the block form, only that the lines following the first line of every paragraph are indented. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 5. Essential Parts of the Letter a. Heading, which may be of two kinds: i. Modern: letterhead and date ii. Conventional: address and date b. Inside address c. Salutation d. Body e. Complimentary close PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER f. Signature g. Miscellaneous parts: i. Attention line ii. Subject line iii. Reference or file line PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 6. Mailing and Carbon Copy Notations Sending of letter other than the regular mail should be indicated bellow the identification line or below the enclosure mark. When a writer wishes to say that a carbon copy of the letter is being mailed to another person, a notation copy or c.c. may precede the name of the person to whom the letter is being mailed with the appropriate title and should be written flush with the left-hand margin below all other notations. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER 7. Folding the Letter It depends upon the size of the stationery and the style of the envelope used. 8. Addressing the Envelope The envelope should always have the sender’s return address. The outside should be the same as the inside address and should be double-spaced. The expression Air Mail, Special Delivery, or Registered should be written in capital letters above the address in the upper right. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER Other expressions are typed in the lower left-hand corner. The following titles are used in business letters: a. Mr. – is used in addressing a man who has no other title, or whose special title is unknown to the writer. b. Ms. – is used in addressing four classes of women: i. unmarried women ii. women celebrities iii. women whose status are not known iv. female divorcee PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER c. Mrs. – is the abbreviation of the word mistress. It is used in addressing a married woman, a widow, or divorcee. d. Dr. – is used in addressing one who holds a doctor’s degree in any branch of studies. When used in a general sense, it always precedes the name of the person, but if it is used in a specific sense, it follows the name of the person separated from it by a comma. e. Professor – is used in addressing a member of a college or university faculty, either male or female who holds the rank of a professor, and assistant professor. It is preferably written in full. When used with the surname of the person alone, it is always written in full. PRESENTATION OF THE LETTER PROPER f. Honorable – is used in addressing high-ranking government officials and prominent ex-government officials. The title is spelled in full preceded by the article “the” followed by the name, initials, and surname of the person. When the abbreviation Hon. Is used, the article “the” is omitted. g. Reverend – is used in addressing a member of the clergy. It is written in full preceded by the article “the” followed by the name, initials, and surname of the person. The abbreviation Rev. should not be preceded by “the”. When only the name of the person is used, the title Reverend is spelled in full preceded by the article “the.” SALUTATIONS Sir and My dear Sir, Madam and My dear Madam are the most formal and impersonal salutations. They should be used only in addressing high-ranking government officials, officers of the army, and in letters that are highly formal and impersonal. Dear Sir and Dear Madam are the least of formal and impersonal salutations. They are used in business letters when the names of the persons are not mentioned in the address or only the initials appear in the address. SALUTATIONS The salutations, My dear Mr. Cruz and My dear Cruz, are the least formal and personal salutations. Dear Mr.Cruz is less formal and personal and is used in writing to an individual with whom the writer is not acquainted. Gentlemen is used to address a firm, a professional partnership of men or of men and women, a committee or board composed of men, or of men or women, an organization of men, or a post office box, or letters used as names of companies, or newspaper advertising boxes. SALUTATIONS Ladies is much more common than mesdames. Ladies and Gentlemen is used in addressing committees of men and women, although the salutation Gentlemen is correctly used in its stead. SALUTATIONS – Most Formal and Impersonal Salutation Complimentary Close Sir: Very respectfully, Madam: Yours, My dear Sir: Yours, My dear Madam: Respectfully yours, Dear Sir: Yours respectfully, SALUTATIONS – Personal and Formal Salutation Complimentary Close My dear Mr. Reyes, Very sincerely yours, My dear Miss Santos, Yours very truly Very cordially yours, Yours very earnestly, Very affectionately yours, Yours very faithfully, SALUTATIONS – Less Formal Salutation Complimentary Close Dear Mr. Garcia, Yours truly, Dear Helen, Sincerely yours, Cordially yours, Yours devotedly, Faithfully yours, Yours earnestly, PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER – Arranged according to standard form 1. Letterhead or Return Address. If no printed letterhead is available, type your return address so that it ends at the right-hand margin. Start one and one-half inches from the top. 2. Date line. Place the dateline at the center two lines below the letterhead. If you type your return address, type the date immediately below the last line of the address. The position of the dateline depends on the style and the length of the letter. 3. Inside Address. Put four to eight spaces below the dateline, place the name, title, and mailing address of the person to whom you are writing. The inside address may require three, four, or five lines, each starting at the left margin. When addressing an individual in a company, write his/her name followed by the company name. PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER – Arranged according to standard form 4. Salutation. Write the salutation flush with the left margin two spaces below the inside address. If an attention line issued, type the salutation two lines below the attention line. 5. Body. Begin the body two lines below the salutation. Either indent the first line of each paragraph five spaces or start it at the left margin. There should be double-space between the paragraphs. 6. Complimentary Close. Put the complimentary close two lines below the end of the body, starting five spaces to the right of the center. Capitalize the first word and put comma after the last. Note that the complimentary close varies with the tone of the letter, as well as the degree of its formality. PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER – Arranged according to standard form 7. Signature. Type your name four spaces directly below the complimentary close. 8. Written Signature. Sign your name in the space between the complimentary close and the typed signature. PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER In addition to these eight requisites, certain others are sometimes needed. 1. Identification Line. When typing some else’s letter, list that person’s initials followed by you own. 2. Enclosure. If you enclose anything with the letter, place an enclosure notation two spaces below the identification line or typed signature. 3. Carbon Copy Notation. If anyone other than you and the addressee is to receive a copy of the letter, include a carbon copy notation. Put it on the left margin two spaces below the previous notation. 4. Second Page Heading. If a letter requires more than one page, use plain paper instead of letterhead for the second and subsequent pages. Leave a one-inch margin at the top, type a second page heading, skip three spaces, then continue the letter. TYPES OF LETTER STYLE/LAYOUT 1. Full-Block Style. A letter set in the full-block style is distinguished by the absence of any indentions; all structural parts begin flush with the left margin, which gives a neat, uniform appearance. This is comparatively trouble-free construction because it requires very few tabulations. It is easier, for example, to have the complimentary close and dateline aligned with the paragraphs at the extreme left rather than shifted to the right. 2. Block Style. The block style differs from the full-block style in that the date and reference lines are flush with the right margin and the complimentary close begins slightly to the right of the center page. The inside address and the paragraphs are blocked, flush with the left margin. TYPES OF LETTER STYLE/LAYOUT 3. Semiblock Style. The semiblock style is like the block style except that the first word of each paragraph is indented five to ten spaces. 4. Official Style. The official style is used by many executives for personal letters written on executive-size letterhead. The inside address, which is written in block form and often has open punctuation, goes below the signature. 5. Simplified Style. The simplified style, like the full-block style, has all parts flush against the left margin. However, the salutation and complimentary close are omitted. Open punctuation is common in this modern format. PUNCTUATION IN YOUR LETTERS The body of a letter is punctuated according to the standard rules of punctuation. Punctuation for the inside address, salutation, and complimentary close depends, however, on the particular punctuation style you adopt. Mixed punctuation means that you use no end-of-line punctuation on the inside address. You do use a colon after the salutation, comma after the city in the inside address, and a comma after the complimentary close. Open punctuation employs no end-of-line punctuation in the inside address, no punctuation after the city in the inside address, and no punctuation after the complimentary close. ILLUSTRATIVE SAMPLES OF LETTER STYLE/LAYOUT 1. Full-Block Format The full block format is by far the simplest. Every part of the letter starts at the left margin with the spaces between each part. It appears professional. The sequence of the parts of the letter is date, salutation, body, complimentary close, signature, and additional information. (see attachment for the sample) ILLUSTRATIVE SAMPLES OF LETTER STYLE/LAYOUT 2. Modified Block Format Like the block, the modified format has the advantage of separating paragraphs so that each one stands out. The spacing between sections remains the same as in the block. The date, signature, and closing are placed to the right, thus allowing them to stand out. The complimentary close and signature are aligned and placed near the center of the letter, two spaces below the last paragraph. (see attachment for the sample) ILLUSTRATIVE SAMPLES OF LETTER STYLE/LAYOUT 3. Modified Semiblock Format You will recognized the modified semiblock as the format most commonly known as the “business letter.” It is the same as the modified block except that the paragraphs are indented five spaces. All spacing remains the same. (see attachment for the sample) Reference: Fundamentals of Business Communication. Rex Book Store, Inc. and Efren F. Abulencia. Published, copyrighted 2014, and distributed by Rex Book Store, Inc. (RBSI) ISBN 978-971- 23-6819-6