BBA L-3

Business Letter Formats

A.  Standard format of any business letter:

Letterhead: Most companies have a specific letterhead that you will need to type
letters on. This may make it necessary to adjust the margins so that words are not
printed onto the letterhead area.

Name and address/ Inside address: Always try to have the name of someone that
the letter should go to, even if you have to call to find it out.

Date: This is the date that the letter was written. It should be written out, such as
January 15, 2018.

Reference: This gives a short description of what the purpose of the letter is. For
example, one might write "lost invoice" or "account number 23654" or something
like that.

Salutation: If you do not know the person, use a more formal one, such as Dr.
Brian Lowden.

Subject Line: English business letters usually contain a subject line. Although this

line is not necessary, it is often used for practical reasons as it indicates the letter’s
overall intent. Small differences between British and American English need to be
considered: In British English, the subject line usually appears between the
salutation and the body of the letter. In some cases, it may also be written before
the greeting. In American English, the subject is generally printed before the
salutation. To announce the matter, ‘Subject’ or ‘Re’ (‘reference’ or ‘regarding’) is
frequently written at the beginning of the line.

In terms of formatting, the subject line is either bold, underlined,

or capitalised (the first letter of each word).

Subject matter/body: Single-space and left justify for modified block and block
style letters. Have one blank line between paragraphs. The first paragraph should
have a friendly opening and state the purpose of the letter. The subsequent
paragraphs should support the purpose you stated in the first paragraph.

Closing: This should be "thank you," "sincerely," or something similar.

Signature: This is the actual signature of the person the letter is from, which may
be different from the person who wrote the letter.

Enclosures: List here anything else you may be sending, such as a brochure,

samples, etc.

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 B. Formats of Business letters
FULL BLOCK, MODIFIED BLOCK, SIMPLIFIED FORMAT

 Full Block Form

When writing a letter using block form, no lines are indented. Include your name,
address, and phone number where you can be contacted, as well as the date. You
then include the name and address of the person you are sending the letter to.
With new paragraphs, just skip a line instead of indenting. Add your phone
number where you can be contacted in the last paragraph. If the receiver needs to
use a relay service to call you, briefly explain that you are deaf/ hard-of-hearing
and that s/he can call you through relay. Give the receiver his/her state relay
number and explain that s/he will need to give the operator your number. Then
give him/her your number.

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MODIFIED BLOCK

Modified Block Format (See Sample 2) In a modified block business letter, the heading,
complimentary close, the signature, and identification are aligned to the right. Address,
salutation, the body, and enclosures are aligned to the left. First sentences of paragraphs are
indented. In Sample 2, you will see that there are two spaces between the address and the
date; three spaces between the address and the salutation; two spaces between the salutation
and the first body paragraph; two spaces between first, second, and closing body paragraphs;
two spaces between the body, the complimentary close, the signature line, and identification.

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