INTRODUCTION

The medium used most often for written message to person outside your organization is the business letter .

TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTER

Letter of ComplaintResume Cover LetterLetter of RecommendationLetter of ResignationJob Applicant Not HiredDeclining Dinner InvitationReception of GiftNotification of ErrorThanks for Job RecommendationInformation Request

ENVELOPE It is never too much trouble to format the envelope

correctly. It may make the difference in the response that you get

from the person on the contents of the letter. Information in the address should be listed in the following

orders ; name and title of receiver name of the department name of organization Name of building [if relevant ] Street address Post office box office no City , state and zip code Country [ if the letter is being send out of the country ]

STANDARD PARTS OF THE LETTER

Parts of a business letter:letterhead (or senders address for plain paper),

date, inside address reference line (if applicable) salutation body complimentary close signature name of sender printed or typed enclosures listed (if applicable)

HEADING It is written at the top center of the

sheet. It bears all the necessary information

about the organization's identity. If the letterhead is not being used then

the return address but not the name is typed above the date.

The date is aligned with the return address and written two to six lines below the last line of the letterhead.

INSIDE ADDRESS

It should begin with the addressee's name followed by a courtesy or professional title

It includes the recipient's name, company, address and postal code. 

If the addressee has no professional title then the traditional courtesy titles are used such as Mr., Mrs., Miss, or Ms.

SALUTATION It is typed on the second line below the

inside address. The type of salutation depends on a

relationship with the recipient. It normally begins with the word "Dear"

and always includes the person's last name.

For example : Dear Mr. Rohit –When the first line of an inside address is the name of an individual. Dear Rohit – When it is appropriate to address for the sender to do so

BODY It’s main part of the business letter. It should be typed single spaced, with

double spacing between paragraphs. A short letter could be double spaced

with additional blank line spaces. A new paragraph should be used if a

new idea is introduced.

COMPLEMENTARY CLOSE

This polite closing always ends with a comma. For e.g. Sincerely,

Sincerely yours,

It is either at the left margin or its left edge is in the center, depending on the Business Letter Style.

SIGNATURE AREA

It is the last part of the letter. The sender should sign the first and the

last name. The signature line may include a

second line for a title, if appropriate. It is pen written above the sender’s

typed name.

SIGNATURE AREA

It may include information about the message composer, the typist and the word processing data.

OPTIONAL PART OF THE LETTER

Optional parts are those parts of a letter that we use when required. They are;1) Attention line2) Subject line3) Enclosure notation4) Copy notation5) File or account number6) Postscript

ATTENTION LINE

Direct a letter to a particular person or title , department in an organization we can use attention line

SUBJECT LINE

Subject line helps tell your reader at a glance what your letter is about

ENCLOSER NOTATION

Notation alert the address to check for enclosures .

COPY NOTATION

When we want person other than the address to receive a copy of your letter the name of these person should be typed just below the reference initial or the enclosures notation .

FILE OR ACCOUNT NUMBER AND MAILING NOTATION

To aid in filing and quick retrievals for the both sender and reader of the company ,some firms requires that file , loan or account no be typed above the body of the letter .

POSTSCRIPT

To emphasize a point already in your letter or to include a brief personal msg unrelated to the letter , a post script , typed or hand written may be added below everything else typed on the page .

LEETER LAYOUT

Business letter layout is important. There are three main layouts that are commonly used and people will be used to seeing them when they receive business letters.

BLOCK FORMAT

The most commonly used letter format is block format. The other two formats are modifications of the block format.

for example ;

MODIFIED BLOCK FORMAT

In the modified block format, business letter layout, the sender’s address, date and closing are all moved towards the centre of the page

example ;

PUNCTUATION STYLE

Standard punctuation applies through out the letter with the following specifications:

Punctuation after the salutation and closing - use

a colon (:) after the salutation (never a comma) and a comma (,) after the closing. Called mixed punctuation.

In some circumstances, you may also use a less

common format, known as open punctuation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY http://

www.ehow.com/about_6602798_purpose-writing-business-letter.html

http://www.ehow.com/list_7535468_10-types-business-letters.html

http://www.ehow.com/how_2121827_write-business-envelope.htmlhttp://

www.austinschools.org/campus/small/latest_news/keyboarding/directions/Punctuation.html

Effective business communication – Herat A Murphy , Jane p Thomas .