4. Inside address

Have a look at the recipient’s address on the envelope. The Inside Address is the repeated recipient’s address. It contains the name and address of the firm or individual to whom you are writing. Notice that the English address should be written in reverse way, i.e. first- the recipient and the name of the company you are writing to, then- the house number, the street, the town/city, the state/country. Mind the order in which the address is usually written.

To a firm in Great Britain:

Messrs¹ Peterson and Sons

106 Knightsbridge

London SWL 96C

England

______________________________

¹ Messrs [mess] – abbreviated from “Messiurs”(Fr.); it is used if name of the firm includes surnames of people.

1. Attention Line

You will not see the Attention Line in every business letter. When writing to a company or a department within a company you might need to attract the attention of a specific person. The following are various styles of attention lines:

For attention of …

Attention: Sales Manager

Attention: Mr. Brown

Private and Confidential

Urgent - срочное; personal – личное; confidential - конфиденциальное.

6. Salutation line

Here are some ways to open a letter

Dear Sirs – to a Company

Dear Sir – to a man if you don`t know his name

Dear Madam – to a woman if you don`t know her name

Dear Mr. Smith – to a man

Dear Mrs. Smith – to a married woman

Dear Miss Smith – to an unmarried woman

Dear Ms Smith – to a married or unmarried woman

Dear John – to a friend or someone you know well

2. Subject line / title.

Just like the attention line the Subject line may be omitted. The writer needs it when he (she) wishes to give the reader advance notice of what the letter is about. Here are the examples of different Subject Line styles:

Subject: Order for computers

Re: Mr. Menton`s visit to India

8. Body or Message

The body of the letter is the message itself; all the other parts are just framing elements. The message of every business letter usually consists of at least two paragraphs – even if the second paragraph is just a courtesy phrase, i.e. the conclusion. It usually presents some polite remark to round the letter off.

3. Complimentary

Complimentary Closings like salutations, vary in form. In fact, your choice of a closing depends on the salutation.

If you open a letter with In the complimentary Close use:

Salutation	The way you close a letter
Dear Sirs/Sir/Madam	Yours faithfully
Dear Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms Smith	Yours sincerely
Dear John	Best wishes

Signature

It consists of

• The writer’s hand written signature;

• The writer’s identification;

• The typed name of the company.