Notes for letter writhing

1. LETTER WRITING
FORMAL LETTER
These are letters written to a person whom you know or don’t know very well. They are therefore similar to a
business letter. Letter to a newspaper is a good example of a formal letter, or you might be writing to someone to
ask for a reference, or to thank him to giving you one and so on.
If you know the name of addressee (the person whom you are writing) then you may use it in your salutations:
Dear Mr. khan, Dear miss Ali. The letter then ends: your sincerely.
If you don’t know the name of the addressee, being Dear Sir, Dear Madam and end yours faithfully.
Here Is an example if a simple formal letter:
NOTE:
1. Sincerely is spelt with a small s when it follows Yours
2. The writer often print or type his name beneath his signature since signatures are often difficult to read.
3. When beginning Dear Sir or Dear Madam the words Sir and Madam begin with a capital letter.
BUSINESS LETTER
Basically, business letters have the same layout as formal letter, thought there are several important additions.
They usually involve writing either to or for a company. In the latter case, i.e, if you have started to work for a
company, you should look into the company’s files to see how similar letters are set out by your company, since
different firms tend to have slightly different practice. You will also, of course need to familiarize yourself with the
firms filing system so that you will know what reference number to use.
Most business letters have the following parts:
1. Heading: letter head
2. Inside address
3. Salutation
22C Ewing Road,
Lahore.
18th
October, 2017
Mr Z.Hasan, B.A.,
The principal,
Modern Secondary School,
Old Anarkali, Lahore.
Dear Mr Hassan,
Will you please excuse my son Akbar’s absence from school yesterday? He was
running a temperature and I thought it advisable to keep him at home. He
seems to be quite recovered now.
Yours sincerely,
Athar Zaidi.

2. 4. Body
5. Complimentary close
6. Signature area
7. Reference section
Heading: letter head and date
A heading shows where the letter comes from, and if it is letter head station is usually at the top center of the
letter. If you are not using letter head station, your return address but not your name is typed directly above
the date
Usually the date is type written two to six lines below the letter head at the right margin, begin at the center.
Date sequence preferred in American business is month date, year- March 5, 2017- with the month spelled
out.
Inside address:
Always blocked at the left hand margin, the inside address includes the name, and address of the individual,
group or organization to whom you are writing.
Order if items is:
1. Courtesy title
2. Nam
3. Executive or profession title
All parts are typed single spaced.
Courtesy title and name:
If the addressee has no professional title such as teacher, Doctor the traditional courtesy titles are Mr., Mrs., Miss.
+ first name and surname. Current trend suggest Ms. As the courtesy title for a business or professional women
regardless of their marital status unless they have a professional title that takes precedence.
After the courtesy title, include your addressee’s full first names and two initials or surname when you do not
know whether the initials are for a man or a woman, you can use Mr., or Ms. for the courtesy title.
Executive or Professional title:
Depending on the length of lines, the executive or professional title
(a) may be typed on the same line as the addressees name such as;
Mr. Jhon Trinner, President
(b) the second line preceding the company name such as
Mr. Hassan Ali
Manager, XYZ corporation
(c) A line or two itself such as;
Headings-either letter head or
your own address-should be at the
top of the letter before the date,
name and address of the receiver
of your message.
Inside address should begin with
the addressee’s name preceded by
a courtesy and/or professional
title.

3. Dr. Marivel Lin,Sr.
Human Resources Officer
Esso Singapore Private Limited
Salutation:
The salutation is typed on the second line below the inside address. And two lines above the body and even with
the left margin. Both traditional and competitively recent salutations are included in the following list
a. Dear Mr. [or Mrs. Miss] when the first ----- of an inside address is the name of the individual.
b. Dear Jhon[or nickname] when you’d address the individual this way in person and when it is appropriate
for you to do so in your letter
c. Dear Koo Hong Chuan,] most often used in Asia: Family name first. Then give name. then comma.
d. Dear Manager] when the first line is a position within an organization and you have no name
e. Dear Ladies and Gentleman [or Members of Committee, Professional Women, Admission office] when
you are addressing a company, a group, or a department and you don’t know a specific person to contact.
f. Dear Customer [Home Owner, Executive, student] for messages that omit the inside address such as sales
letters and announcements.
Body:
Generally, the body f all letters should be typed single spaced with double spacing between paragraphs, before
and after the salutations, and before the use of complimentary close blank lines spaces are typed. A short letter
could be double-spaced with additional blank line spaces before and after the date and within the signature area.
When the body of a letter is two or more pages, each page beyond the first is headed by the addressees name,
page number and date. This information is typed at the top of the sheet with the same margin as the first page.
Complimentary closes:
The most popular complimentary closes in American letters are the following (notice that only the first word is
capitalized.)
Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours sincerely, Very truly yours, Yours very truly, Cordially.
When the letter is informal, additional complimentary closes are often used, such as
Warm regards, Best regards, Best wishes.
Do not surprise to see letters from the UK or Asia closing with Faithfully yours, of Faithfully; tradition influences
their use of that closing.
Signature area:
You can include the signature area several identifications: name of your company, your signature, your typewritten
name, and your business title. If printed in the letter head, your company head need not to be typed after the
complimentary close. However, if you wish to include it, type it in capital letters a double space under the
complimentary close.
Signature is pen-written above your typed name which appears three to five lines below the company name (if
included) and the complimentary close. the typed business title usually follows the typed name.
Salutations are typed on the second
line below the inside address and two
lines above the body of the letter.
Body is typed single spaced with two spaces
between paragraphs, before and after the
salutation, and before use of complimentary close.

4. Sincerely,
WESTWOOD FILMS, INC.
Hina Khan Ali Raza
Human Recourses Manager
Director
Usually the signature is the same as the typed name. an exception occur when you use your reader’s first name for
the salutation in which case you will usually sign only your first name above your typed name.
Reference section:
Your initials as the composer of the message along with those of your typist usually appear at the left margin on
the same line with the signature area(your name or title) or one or two lines below.
Use of word processing systems adds another dimension Disk information
If someone other than the signer of the letter composes the letter, fraction varies regarding reference initials.
Many firms show on the file copy the initials of the signer, writer and typist. The original to use address may omit
all or only the writer’s initials to avoid showing that the signer did not compose the letter. At present, there is no
universally recommended way to include references.
Detail about the words of short forms written in reference section.
OPTIONAL PARTS OF THE LETTER
1. ATTENTION LINE
When you want to direct a letter to a particular person or title or department or an organization, you can
use an attention line. It is useful in the following texts:
a. When the writer does not know an individual’s name but wants the message to go to a particular title
(sales and adjustment manager) or department (personnel).
b. When the writer only knows the person’s surname and therefore does not want to use the name in
the salutation.
c. When the writer expects that the addressee travels often and wants the letter to be attended to
promptly by whoever takes care of the addressee’s business.
Placement of the attention line is usually between the inside address and salutation, with a blank line
before and after it. It may be flush with the left margin, intended with the paragraphs, or centered.
signature signature
It may include information about the
message composer, the typist and
sometimes the word processing system.
An attention line is useful when you want your
message to go to a certain department or when
someone other than the addressee will take care of
your message.

5. 2. SUBJECT LINE:
Considered part of the body of the letter, the subject line helps tell your reader at a glance what your
letter is about. The subject line may include or omit the word subject. It is usually placed on the second
line below the salutation and centered. Or it may be placed flush with left margin. The typing may be
capitals and lower cased and underlined.
3. ENCLOSURE NOTATION:
To remind whoever prepares your envelope for mailing that something is to be enclosed, the enclosure
notation is usually typed a single or double space under the reference initials. This notation also alerts the
addressee to check for enclosure. One enclosure is a unit that can consist of one or more pages.
For example: a cover letter with a two Page resume enclosed is only one enclosure. When more than one
item is enclosed that should indicate the number “enclosures 3” or an attachment, that word may be
typed in place of “enclosure”.
When the enclosures are especially important (checks, documents, or blueprint) , it is desirable to list the
enclosure notation exactly what the enclosures are [enclosure 2-policy]
4. COPY NOTATION:
When you want persons other than the addressee to receive a copy of your letter, the name of these
persons should be typed just below the reference initials or the enclosure notation, whichever is last.
Type “cc” before the copy notations names if you are sending them a carbon copy. Type “c”, “pc” or
“copy” if it is a photocopy. Recipient addressees may be included after their names.
When you don’t want the addressee to know that other person are getting a copy of the letter, type “bc”
(blind copy) or “bpc” (blind photocopy) and the recipients names on the copies only.
5. FILE OR ACCOUNT NUMBER OR MAILING NOTATION:
To add in filing and quick retrieval for both sender and readers company, some firm require that file, loan
or account numbers be typed above the body of the letter.
Mailing notation words such as Specially Delivery, Certified or Registered when applicable, may be typed
a double space below the date line and at least a double space before the inside address. An alternative
placement is below the last notation. For instance: the Registered Mail notation could be placed the
double space under the reference initials and a double space above the postscript.
6. POSTSCRIPT:
To emphasize a point already in your letter or to include a brief personal message unrelated to the letter.
The postscript, typed or handwritten (with or without “P.S.”, “PS”,”PS:”) may be added below everything
else typed on the page. But with today rapid word processors, the postscript is falling into disuse.
If you have occasion to use several notations after the signature area, the initials RECMP may help you remember
the proper order for arranging them vertically at the left margin: reference initials, enclosures, copy notation,
mailing notation, postscripts.
Memorandum of understanding (MOU) it is a short form of letter
An enclosure or attachment notation is
included to remind your reader to check for
additional pages for information
When persons other than the addressee will receive a copy of your
message, you note by writing “c”, “pc”, “copy” or “cc” followed by the
names of these persons just below the reference, initials or the
enclosure notation.