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A modified block format letter (from an organization to a person):

Botanical Society of America

4475 Castleman Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63110-3201

July 21, 2008

Prof. M.S. Tenson

987 Strait Road

Springfield, Or 97477

Dear Professor Tenson,

Botany Symposium

The National Committee of Botany is planning to arrange a Symposium in early June and requests you to present a paper on one of the following topics:

4.…….

5.………

6.………

We would appreciate your early reply informing us about the topic of your presentation.

Yours sincerely,

M.S. Carroy

Coordinator

Let’s break those down into the main elements, in top-to-bottom order:

Your Address

Your address, also known as the “return address” (sender’s address), should come first.

Your return address should be positioned:

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On the left-hand side if you are using full block format

On the right-hand side if you are using modified block format

This applies when a letter is written from one person to another. If a letter is sent from an organization the sender‘s address (the letterhead) may be printed and placed in the center of the page.

Why put your address? Even if the recipient has your details in their address book, you want it to be as hassle-free as possible for them to reply – you are likely to receive a speedier response.

The Date

Directly beneath your address, put the date on which the letter was written:

May 7, 2008 or 7 May 2008.

To avoid any confusion, especially if you are writing abroad, it is best to put the date in word rather than number form. 5/7/08 is read in Great Britain as 5 July 2008, in the USA – May 7 2008.

The date should be positioned on the left-hand side, for full block format and for modified block format.

Why put the date? It is standard practice to include the date on which the letter was written. Correspondence is often filed in date order. It makes it much easier for the recipient to send a timely reply, and easier for you to chase up an answer if necessary. Eg. “In my letter of May 7…”

Recipient’s Name and Address (inside address)

Beneath this, you should put the name and address of the person you are writing to, just as it would appear on the envelope. If you are using a window envelope, this should be aligned on the page to show through the window – but even if it will not be visible until the letter is opened, it should still be included.

In formal scientific correspondence it is necessary to use the titles, scientific degrees and professional occupations of people you are writing to. They are placed after the surname: Mr. M.B. Smith, B.A. The official position is placed after the surname: Prof. M.S. Tenson, Vice-President.

B.A. – Bachelor of Art.

Ph.D. – Doctor of Humanities ( Doctor of Philosophy).

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Lit.D. – Doctor of Literature.

M.D. – Doctor of Medicine.

M.Pd. – Master of Pedagogy.

B.C. – Bachelor of Chemistry.

M.C. – Master of Chemistry.

D.C. – Doctor of Chemistry.

The recipient’s name and address should be positioned on the left-hand side, for both formats.

Why put their address? If you are writing to someone in an office, it probably will not be them who opens the post. An administrator is likely to do so – and letters may be separated from their envelopes at this stage. Particularly if there are multiple departments within one building, or if you are starting your letter “Dear Bob”, a name and address ensures your letter reaches the correct recipient.

The salutation

After their address, you should leave a line’s space then put the appropriate salutation. When writing to persons the following salutations are used:

formal

Dear Sir

Dear Madam (if you are not sure whether the lady is married)

less formal

Dear Mr. Smith

Dear Mrs. Smith (to a married woman) Dear Miss Smith (to unmarried woman) Dear Prof Smith

Dear Colleague

My dear Mr. Smith (dear is not capitalized if preceded by the possessive pronoun my)

The salutation should always be left-aligned.

When writing to an institution, organization or business firm the official salutations

Dear Sirs, Dear Madam, Gentlemen (in the USA) are used.

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Why put a salutation? Business letters are a formal type of writing, and it is considered polite to start with a greeting. Although you can get away with starting emails “Hi” or “Hello”, letters follow more conservative conventions.

The Subject

Optionally, you may wish to include a subject for your letter. This is becoming more common, perhaps as people have become used to the subject lines of emails. If you do put a subject line, it should be in uppercase, directly below the salutation.

The subject (if you include one) should be left-aligned for full block format, but can be either left aligned or centered for modified block format.

Why put the subject? It is a good idea to include a subject so that the recipient can see at a glance what the letter refers to. It should be short but include as much information as possible, e.g. “The Berlin Conference”.

The Text of Your Letter (the body of the letter)

The body of the letter is the text itself. To make a letter easier to read and more attractive, divide it into paragraphs. A standard letter usually contains three paragraphs. The first paragraph (opening paragraph) states the reason for writing the letter and introduces to the subject of the letter. The second paragraph (the main paragraph) is the main part of the letter presenting all the information relevant to the subject of the letter. The third paragraph (closing paragraph) is a sentence that logically concludes the content of the letter.

Each paragraph should deal with one subject, brief, concise and accurate excluding all matters not relevant to the purpose of the letter. It is best to avoid long paragraphs. If there are several paragraphs dealing with the same subject, they should fit together smoothly.

Your text should have:

Single-spacing between lines

A blank line (NOT an indent) before each new paragraph

(And, of course, you should conform to all the usual rules of grammar, punctuation and spelling). Why leave blank lines? In the business world, it is standard practice to put a blank line between paragraphs. This helps to break up the text on the page and make it more readable.