Elements of Business Writing

1. A letter is the appropriate medium:

When immediate feedback isn’t neded or isn’t possible, e.g. when inviting comments on a proposal

When personal contact isn’t needed or isn’t possible, e.g. when confirming an appointment made by phone

When a written record is needed, either as a permanent record or as a symbol of the company’s image.

When you are not sure you can contact the right person by phone or the right person is difficult to get hold of

2. Parts of a business letter

Business letters are written on the company’s letterhead stationery, which includes the organization’s full name, full address and telephone, fax, or telex numbers, and e-mail adddress. The parts of a business letter are:

Date

Attention line

Inside address

Subject line

Body of the letter

Complimentary closing

Signature

Reference initials

Enclosure notation

Copy notation

! Not all of the above components are always used (the “Attention line”, “Subject line” and “Enclosure” notations)

a. Date

The dateline in a letter is typed three or four lines below the last line of the letterhead.

The standard dateline in the United States and various other countries is the full name of the month (no abbreviations), followed by the day and the year. A comma separates the day of the month from the year.

Ex: August 18, 2009

In Europe and many other countries the most widely used format to write a date is: day, followed by the month and the year.

Ex: 5 November 2009

! In order to avoid confusion in international correspondence, do not use numerals to indicate a month, but always type out the full name of the month, ex: 05-09-2009