The writer's address

a It is normal practice for the name of the individual sending the letter to appear at the beginning of this address.

b If a house number is used, it is not necessary to put a comma between this and the street number. Avoid abbreviations such as St. (Street), Ave (Avenue), and Rd. (Road).

c There should be a comma at the end of each line, except for the last line before the postcode. A full stop is used here.

d No punctuation is required in the postcode.

e In handwritten letters the address should be printed completely in capital letters. However, it is acceptable to use printed capitals for the name of the town.

f If a house name is used instead of, or in addition to, a number, this name is written on a separate line (for typed letters too)

g If there is a recognized abbreviation for the country, this can be used, ( the same is for typed letters), e.g.

The reference

a In a typed letter from a firm, this should contain the initials of the person authorizing (dictating) the letter and those of the typist. Sometimes other symbols are used to help with identification e.g. document code.

b In a handwritten letter a reference is not normally required unless this is quoted from some previous communication related to the subject of your letter. In this case it should be written as 'Your Ref.' and positional at the left-hand margin.

c Some printed letters heads have spaces for 'Our Ref.' and 'Your Ref.' This is self-explanatory, but the writer’s reference should always be placed at the left-hand margin, e.g.

The date

a Present the date in the correct order – day, month and year.(NB! Am.E – month, date and year)

b The only standard punctuation necessary in the date is the comma after the month.

c There is no full stop after endings used with the day numbers such as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th.

Dates can be expressed in a variety of ways: 2 November 1995; 2.11.95; 2 Nov. '95; November 11th 1995; November 11 1995.

The recipient’s address.

a The same punctuation rules apply here as for the sender's address.

b The name of the person (or his/her official title) should be included. A clergyman should be addressed as The Rev John Smith, or The Rev Mr. Smith. A Member of Parliament should be addressed as Mary Jones MP.

e .g.

The salutation

a The standard beginning to a business letter is

Dear Sir, but others are used in certain circumstances:

Dear Sirs, when the letter is addressed to a partnership;

Dear Madam, whether a woman is single or married;

Mesdames, when a partnership consists of women only.

b The first letter of each word should begin with the capital letter.

c The salutation should be followed by a comma.

The main body of the letter

This is the most important part of the letter, because it contains the message. Bear in mind that effective communication should be as simple as possible. Therefore,

a Don't include any unnecessary information.

b Express yourself as concisely as possible.

c Start a new paragraph for each point you wish to make.

d Confirm to all standard punctuation and grammar rules.

NOTE. Many business letters fall easily into the framework of a three-paragraph plan, which can be generally summarized as:

Paragraph 1 Introduction: this can be an acknowledgement, a reference to previous communication, or any generally informative statement which introduces your main theme.

Paragraph 2 Specific information (facts/reasons).

Paragraph 3 Reference to further action/conclusion.