The structure of a business letter

The structure of a business letter

Discuss different parts or elements of a letter

Or, discuss the structure of a business letter

Business letter generally have ten (10) elements, which are as follows:

1. Letter head:
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It includes organization’s name, full address, telephone number etc.

2. Date line:
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Date line usually placed at least one line below the heading. It can be written either in left or fight merging.

3. Inside address:
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It indicates the receiver of the letter. It includes name and address of the receiver.

4. Salutation:
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It is almost similar to the first line of the inside address. For the male singular it is ‘Dear Sir’ for the female ‘Dear Madam’ etc.

5. Body of the letter:
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This is the heart of a letter. Infect the main message or information are given in this part of a letter.
Body of a letter has three parts:

i. The opening paragraph
ii. Middle paragraph or communication
iii. The closing paragraph.

6. Complementary close:
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It is typed below the body of a letter. It is the closing of a letter on a friendly note. Popular forms are as follows:

7. Signature block:
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It should be several lines below the complementary close.

8. Initials:
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Initials appear at the left margin and are typed at least two (2) lines below the signature block. It is the short signature of the type writer or computer operator.

9. Enclosure:
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It appears at the bottom of the letter. It mentions the attachment of the other papers with the letter.

10. Carbon copy notation:
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It indicates names of the persons who are receiving the carbon copy’s (CC) or photo copy’s (Pc) of the letter.

Beside the main parts there are some additional parts of a letter which are as follows:

1. Addressee notation

2. Attention line

3. Subject line

4. Second page heading

5. Mailing notation

6. Postscript

Business letter format and style

The distinction between advertisement and circular letter

 Fig-11: Business letter parts.