Business Letters

Angga Alfiandri
Bunga Febrianti
Gressy Erna Sawitri
Marlin

Parts of a Business Letter

There are many parts to the business
letter.
The essential parts of a business
letter are:
1. Letter Head/Heading
2. Date
3. Reference
4. Inside Address
5. Subject
6. Salutation
7. Body of the letter
8. Complementary Close
9. Signature
10. Enclosures
11. Copy Circulation
12. Post Script

Letter Head / Heading

The heading of a business letter usually
contains the name and postal address of
the business, E-mail address, Web-site
address, Telephone Number, Fax Number,
Trade Mark or logo of the business.
Example:

Date
Used to indicated the date the letter was
written.
The date is normally written on the right
hand side corner after the heading as the
day, month and years.
Two standard ways:
a. American
ex: October 31, 1996

Date
American Style

Writing the date using American Style is placed in

the upper left of the letter with the format:
Month Date, Year.

Date
British Style

Writing the date using British Style is placed in the

upper right of the letter with the format:
Date Month Year.

Reference
It indicates letter number and the
department from where the letter is being
sent and the year. It helps in future
reference. This reference number is given
on the left hand corner after the heading.
For example, we can write reference
number as AB/FADept./2003/27.

Inside Address
This is the recipients address
Include a name
Include that individuals title
(Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Honorable, Senator)
Example:

Subject
It is a statement in brief, that indicates the
matter to which the letter relates.
It attracts the attention of the receiver
immediately and helps him/her to know
quickly what the letter is about.

Subject
British Style

American Style

Salutation (the greeting)

Containing greeting to start the contents of a
letter.
If knowing name and sex of the addressee, then
should be written with format as follows:
Dear Ms / Miss / Mrs / Mr + surname
If not knowing name of the addressee, then
should be written as following:

Salutation (the greeting)

In most business letters, the Salutation is
followed by a colon (:); in informal or friendly
letter, by a comma (,)

Body of Letter
This is where you make requests, provide
information or reasons or reply to
someone. It is the main part of the
business letter.
It is in this part where you may convey all
the messages you want your reader to
understand.

Complementary Close
It is typed 2 to 4 spaces below the body and
only the first word should be capitalized.
General expression used to close formal
business letter are: Thank you, Sincerely,
Sincerely yours and Yours truly.
Expression used to close non formal business
letter are: Regards, Best regards, Best wishes.
(usually used when sending business letter to friends)

Complementary Close

Signature
The typewritten signature is typed four
spaces below the complementary close.

2 Signatures:
a. Printed signature
b. Penned signature

Enclosures
This is required when some documents like
cheque, draft, bills, receipts, lists, invoices
etc. are attached with the letter.
These enclosures are listed one by one in
serial numbers.

Copy Circulations
This is required when copies of the letter
are also sent to persons apart of the
addressee. It is denoted as C.C.

Post Script
This is required when the writer wants to add
something, which is not included in the body
of the letter. It is expressed as P.S.
Example:
P.S. We will grant you 40% cash discount before
25
November 2011

Sources
Sebranek, Patrick, Dave Kemper, and
Verne Meyer. Writers Inc: A Student
Handbook for Writing and Learning.
Wilmington, Massachusetts: Write Source.
2001.
Tomatao,
Leslie
and
Madelle
Rose
Adorable. Parts of Business Letter.pptx
"Writing
The
Basic
Business
Letter."Purdue OWL: Basic Business
Letters. Purdue University. Web. 27 Aug.
2013.

Thank You