UNIT 1

MAKE-UP OF A BUSINESS LETTER

Simple commercial letters

A neatly arranged letter will certainly make a better impression on the reader.

The layout of business and private letters are more or less common in all countries.

There are 8 parts in a letter:

1. the letter head;

2. the return address;

3. the date;

4. the inside address (i.e., the recipient’s name and address);

5. the opening salutation;

6. the body of the letter;

7. the closing salutation;

8. the signature.

Layout of a letter

Letterhead

Sender’s address:

(Company Name)

(Street Address)

(City, State/Province ZIP/Postal Code)

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

Date

Inside address:

(Recipient Name)

(Address)

(City, State/Province ZIP/Postal Code)

Opening salutation

Body of the letter

Closing salutation:

Sincerely,

Signature

(your name)

(your position)

(Typist’s initials)

Enclosure: (number)

cc: (name)

1. Letterhead

Letterhead refers both to the high-grade paper used for business letters and to the company insignia, trade name or product name printed at the top of each sheet. The printed information also includes: the company name, address and the telephone number. More detailed letterheads may list the name and the title of an executive officer, the name of a department, or the company’s cable address.

2. Sender’s (return) address

When business letters are written on plain paper, the writer’s address must be typed in place of the printed letterhead. The information about return address is typed above the date of the letter in block style, single space:

371 Woodbine Boulevard

Spokane, Washington 992123

October 10, 2013

3. Date

The date is placed under the sender’s address, usually one or two spaces.

In Great Britain and many other countries the date is written as follows:

12^th March, 2013

March 12^th, 2013

12 March, 2013

In the USA the date is written as:

March 12, 2013

4. Inside address

The complete name and address of the intended recipient is called the INSIDE ADDRESS.

A complete inside address includes either of the following:

Name of individual	Mr. James C. Carven
Title or department	Vice President
Name of company	British Asbestos , Ltd
Street address	25, Leadenhall Street
City, state, ZIP code	London, E.C.

An appropriate title, such as Dr., Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms., Messrs. [′mesərs], Mesdames/Mmes [′meidæm] and Esq. (used in England instead of Mr.) should precede the names of individuals. Ms. is used when the marital status of a woman is unknown or when she indicates that she prefers it, as by signing a letter Ms. Jane Brown. Esq. is an abbreviation from esquire (эсквайр) but it is never used in the full form. When using this form of address mind that it is necessary to indicate the name of the person or his initials, e.g. Harold Brown, Esq. / H. Brown, Esq./ H.D. Brown, Esq. It is also worth mentioning that a name or initials should never be written after the family name (surname, last name), only in front of it.

Other abbreviations that one can come across are M.P.=Member of Parliament,

LL.D.= Doctor of Laws (доктор юридических наук), K.C.V.O.=Knight Commander of the Victorian Order (кавалер ордена королевы Виктории).

Sometimes letters are addressed to officials. In this case it is possible to address a recipient as follows:

The Chairman, A. Smith &Co., Ltd.

председателю компании А. Смит энд Ко. Лимитед

If you happen to know both the name of the recipient and his (her) position, they are written in the following way:

R.S. Jones, Esq., Chairman, A. Smith &Co., Ltd.

Р.С. Джоунзу эсквайру – председателю компании А. Смит энд Ко. Лимитед

But mind that a full recipient’s address on the letter and envelope should consist of not more than six lines.