Training Room 2

Project 3: Documents for Personal and Business Use

 

Structure and Format of Personal Business and Business Letters

 

INF1030: Word Processing 1 introduced you to the personal letter, teaching you the parts of the letter as well as proper letter format. Proper letter format and correct terminology are essential to business communication. As you enter the workforce, you will need to demonstrate your ability to communicate in a professional manner. At the end of this lesson, be sure you are familiar the terminology, structure, and format of the letter.

 

Most letters are written using full block style, which aligns all letter parts along the left margin. This is the easiest, fastest, and most commonly used style of letter.

 

Look at the exemplar to learn the format for a personal business letter. Pay close attention to

• the proper terminology for the letter parts
  
  
• the spacing between the letter parts
  
  
• the punctuation style
  • two-point punctuation (also known as standard punctuation) uses a colon ( : ) after the salutation, and a comma ( , ) after the complimentary closing
    
    
  • no-point punctuation (also known as open punctuation) has no punctuation after the salutation or complimentary closing

 

Read the text in the Personal Business Letter—Sample Cover Letter to learn how to develop the content for a cover letter that gets results.

 

Letters start with the return address (this is the sender’s address, and it starts at approximately 2" from the top of the page). To start your letter in the correct spot, you can

• hit your Enter key four times
• set your top margin to 2"
• vertical-centre the text in the document (from top to bottom of the page)

To learn how to vertical-centre your text from the top to the bottom of the page, go to the Instructional Videos and watch “Vertical Centre a Document.”

 

The return address includes the sender’s street address or mail box number, town or city, province, postal code, and sometimes country. The sender’s name may be included in the return address or, it can be omitted as it appears in the writer’s identification at the end of the letter.

 

When writing out addresses, use the two-letter abbreviation codes for provinces and territories in Canada, and for states if the letter is going to the United States. Below is a reference table for the two-letter Canadian abbreviations.

 

 

Canadian postal codes are written in ANA NAN format (where “A” stands for alphabetic character and “N” stands for number), for example T8N 2W1. The postal code is separated by one space and a hyphen is not used. ¬†

 

Following the return address, hit the Enter key twice to leave one blank line between the return address and the date.

 

The standard Canadian date format is month, day, and year; for example, September 15, 2010. Do not abbreviate the name of the month, and be sure to include a comma between the day and the year. If you use a date in numerical format (e.g., 03/12/2010), you may confuse your reader. Does this date mean March 12 or December 3? By writing out the month, you clearly communicate the date.

 

Go to the Instructional Videos and watch “Using the Insert Date and Time Feature” to learn how Microsoft Word can automatically insert the date for you.

 

After the Date, Hit the Enter Key 4–8 times, depending on the length of the letter (for short letters use more spaces for better visual balance; for longer letters use fewer spaces to create more room on the page for your content).

 

After the 4–8 spaces, insert the inside address. This is the name and complete address of the person or business to whom you are sending the letter. If you are sending a letter to an organization, it is always best to address the letter to a specific person and include their job title or position if you can.

 

After the inside address, hit the Enter key two times to leave one blank line.

 

Next comes the salutation. When you are sending a personal business letter, include your recipient's courtesy title: Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Dr. If you don’t know your recipient’s name, you can always phone the organization or search the company’s website for a directory or contact information. When contact information is unavailable, use “Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,” “Dear Personnel Director,” or “To Whom it May Concern.”

 

After your salutation, you will need to choose a punctuation style for the letter.

Remember, two-point punctuation style uses a colon ( : ) after the salutation (e.g., Dear Mr. Boles. No-point punctuation style uses no punctuation (e.g., Dear Mr. Boles).

 

Following the salutation, hit the Enter key two times to leave one blank line.

 

You may want to include a subject line. This is an optional line of text that summarizes the purpose of the letter (e.g., SUBJECT: Letter of application). The subject line can help the reader focus his or her attention on the intent and purpose of your letter.

 

Now hit the Enter key two times to leave one blank line.

 

The body of the letter usually has three paragraphs. The first paragraph introduces the topic, and sets the letter’s tone; the second paragraph gives details, shares information, or makes a request; the final paragraph closes the letter, gives follow-up information, and concludes in a positive manner. Paragraphs are single-spaced, aligned with the left margin, and separated by a blank line.

 

The length and content of the letter will be determined by its purpose and what you need to communicate.

 

Once you have completed the body of your letter, hit the Enter key two times to leave one blank line.

 

Now it‚Äôs time to end your letter by adding the complimentary closing. The complimentary closing signals to the reader that you are finished communicating, or ready to “close” the letter. Closings may be formal (e.g., “Respectfully,” “Cordially”) or more personal (e.g., “Sincerely” or “Yours truly”).

 

Just as with the salutation, keep to one style of punctuation in the complimentary closing:

• Two-point punctuation style places a comma ( , ) after the closing (e.g., Sincerely,).
• No-point punctuation style uses no punctuation (e.g., “Sincerely”).

Now hit the Enter key 4–8 times, depending on the length of the letter (use more space for a short letter, and less space for a longer letter) so the writer has enough space to handwrite his or her signature.

 

The signature is handwritten by the person sending the letter. The signature shows the reader you actually are the author of the letter.

 

Below the signature, be sure to include the writer’s identification. This is the typed name of the person sending the letter, including their job title if appropriate. The job title can be typed following a comma after the writer's first and last name or on the line directly below.

 

Hit the Enter key two times to leave one blank line if you are adding notations.

 

Notations are used depending on the circumstances. Below are a variety of notations that may be included in your letter. They are only to be added if appropriate.

• Typists initials. In business, office assistants will type letters and prepare documents for other staff, and would therefore use typist initials to identify themselves.
  
  
• Enclosure. When you are sending your resumé with a cover letter to apply for a job, you would use ‚ÄúEnclosure: Resumé,‚Äù indicating that something else is accompanying the letter.
  
  
• Carbon copy (Cc). You may have seen the carbon copy option (“Cc”) in your email program. It is used when copies of the same letter are being sent to two or more people (e.g., cc: Keith Wilson, Attorney). When you use this notation on an email, everyone who is carbon copied can see the list of people to whom the email was sent.
  
  
• Blind carbon copy (Bcc). The blind carbon copy notation is used when you send copies of the same letter to people other than the addressee, but conceal the complete list of recipients from the addressee. You may also use this function to conceal all recipients’ names.

 

Look at the following Example: Full-Block Style Personal Business Letter to see a properly formatted letter.

 

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