This document discusses the parts and formats of business letters. It identifies the three main components as the blocked, semi-blocked, and unblocked/indented formats. The blocked format lines up all text along the left margin. The semi-blocked centers some text in the middle of the page. And the unblocked/indented format indents the first line of paragraphs and centers the subject line. The document also lists the typical parts of a business letter as the sender's address, date, recipient's information, subject, salutation, message body, closing, signature, and designation.

1. Letter Format

2. Objectives
• Explain the parts of a letter
• State the 3 letter formats
• Explain the differences between the letter
formats

3. Introduction
• Writing good business letters is
an art that all technical people
should master.
• when writing a business letter,
the writer produces a one-sided
conversation with the reader in
the sense that he/she has to
anticipate the reader's questions
and provide answers to those
questions.

4. What is a Business Letter?
• A business letter is a letter
written in formal language,
usually used when writing from
one business organization to
another, or for correspondence
between such organizations and
their customers, clients and other
external parties.

5. The Main Components of a Business
Letter
•
Business letters usually contain the following information (in this order):
1.
Writer's address (street, city, country).
2.
Date of writing
3.
Recipient's name, job title, and address
4.
Subject
5.
Salutation or Greeting (Dear Mr./ Mrs./ Ms…..)
6.
Message (body of the letter)
7.
Closing
8.
Signatory
9.
Designation
In some situations, a business letter may also include the following optional
information:
1.
Writer's Initials: typist's initials ( if writer did not type letter).
2.
Enclosures (Encl:)
3.
Carbon copy Recipients (cc:)
4.
Photocopy recipients (xc:)
Note: The last four components are not always included.

6. Basic Letter Formats
•
There are three common formats for the
business letter:
1. The blocked format.
2. The semi-blocked format
3. The unblocked or indented format

7. The blocked format
 The first lines of paragraphs and all the other
address, date, closing and signature
information are lined up with the left margin.
 There is a blank line between paragraphs.

9. The semi-blocked format
 The following elements start from the
middle of the page. (use tab to set this)
 Senders address (If letterhead is not used)
Complimentary Close
 Signature Block
 Designation (Job title or position)
• Date is aligned to the right.

11. The unblocked/indented format
The first line of the paragraph is
indented (set tab stop position to 0.5)
 If there is a subject line, then it is
centered.
 All other element are as in a semiblocked.

13. The Use of Letterhead Stationery
• When a writer is representing a company or
organization, he/she should use the organization's
letterhead stationery for correspondences with
people outside the organization.
• When using letterhead, the location of the writer's
address, city, state will be changed. These are
usually given in the letterhead typed at the top of
the page.
• If a letter requires more than one page, the
additional pages are called continuation pages are
typed on plain paper, not letterhead.