Parts

The Parts of a Business Letter:

Heading

Date

Inside address

Salutation

Body

Complimentary closing

Signature

Typed name

Title

Heading

This contains the name of the company and the company's full address, including street, city, state, and ZIP code. It also is standard to include any of the following: phone number, fax number, Web site address, and e-mail address. Typically, business letters are printed on a company's letterhead, which will most likely already contain all of the heading information. The heading should be either centered or aligned with the center line.

Date

This is the date your letter was completed and is ready for mailing. It should be aligned with the left margin. The date should be at least three spaces below the heading.

Inside address

The recipient's full name and address. You should begin the inside address two spaces below the date. If you are writing to a business associate you also should include the person's title and company name.

Example:

Ms. Janet Ressa
Director of Research
BioEngine
446 Device Road
Tandle, CT 06615

Salutation

This is where you first make personal contact with your reader. The salutation or greeting should be two spaces below the inside address and also aligned with the left margin. For business letters, the salutation always should contain the recipient's courtesy title (Mr., Ms., Dr., etc.) and last name, followed by a colon, not a comma.

Important Points to Remember

Address women without a professional title as "Ms.," never "Mrs." or "Miss," unless she has expressed her preference to you.

If you do not know the name of the recipient, it is acceptable to address the letter to "Dear Sir or Madam," address it to the appropriate department, or use a subject line instead. However, these should be used as a last resort. The contact's name is highly desired.

Example 1:

Attention: Human Resources Department

I would like to request...

Example 2:

Attention: Lost shipment for P.O. # 22365

According to the latest tracking...

Body

The body begins one space below the salutation and contains the message of your letter. Two of the most important parts of the body of a business letter are the opening and the closing statements. The opening should identify your subject so as to quickly interest the reader. The closing should let the reader know what the next step is, create goodwill, or both.

Complimentary closing

Standard closings for business letters are:

Yours truly,

Sincerely,

Sincerely yours,

Best regards,

Very respectfully, (sometimes abbreviated as V/R in less formal communications).

Only the initial letter of a closing is capitalized, and the expression is followed by a comma. The complimentary closing is then followed by the writer's:

Signature

Printed name

Title

Here is an example of a typical business letter:

Additional pages:

If your letter consists of two or more pages, always carry at least two lines of text to the next page. Subsequent pages either can be printed on company letterhead or plain paper. Each subsequent page should have a heading with the recipient's name, page number, and date. Text should begin at least three spaces below the heading.

Example:

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