COMPONENTS

OF A
BUSINESS
 CORRESPONDENCE

“An incomplete letter completes

its expression.”
ESSENTIAL PARTS
(MAIN PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER)
A complete and effective business letter
contains all the following essential, basic
mandatory parts:
1. HEADING (Letterhead)
2. DATELINE
3. INSIDE ADDRESS
4. SALUTATION
5. BODY
6. COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE
7. SIGNATURE BLOCK

HEADING
The heading or letterhead bears the
corporate or registered name and logo
or trademark of the enterprise.
⦿ containsthe business address,
contact numbers, official website,
e-mail addresses of the company

⦿ seen at the topmost part of the letter

2 KINDS OF HEADING
⦿ CONVENTIONAL HEADING
◼ lettersenders not connected with any
agency
 ◼ makes use of 2, 3 or 4 lines but usually
3 lines

◼ SEMI-BLOCK STYLE: right side

◼ MODIFIED or FULL BLOCK : flushed
left margin
First Line
▪ usually contains the number of the house
and the name of the street
▪ the name of the street as well as the word
“street” should start with a capital letter ▪ if
possible, the word “street” should be spelled
out if the space warrants

Examples:

162 Aguinaldo Street

One Rizal Street

▪ Suite, apartment or room number
appears after the street address on
the same line separated by a comma
 47 Aguinaldo Street, Apt. 4

▪ If there is a post office (P.O.) box

number, it is placed before the street
address

P.O. Box 235, 116 Rizal Street

▪ Numbered streets ten and below are spelled
out. Above ten, they are typed as figures.
 Seventh Avenue

33rd Street

▪ A hyphen is inserted between building and

street numbers when both are written in
figures. Space is observed on both sides of
the hyphen.

135 – 33rd Street

Second Line
▪ containsthe name of the city and the
province, or town and the province ▪ start
with capital letters and should be spelled out
▪ a comma is used to separate the divisions

Angeles, Pampanga

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan

Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines

Third Line
▪ contains the date when the letter was written ▪ if
the letter is completed over a number of days,
the date it was finished is used in the dateline ▪
name of month should not be abbreviated ▪ day
should not be ended with ordinal endings such as
st, nd, rd and th
▪ year
should be written in full numerals and
never go beyond the right margin

December 18, 2004 (American English Style)

18 December 2004 (British English Style)

▪ when you wish to include your fax
number, phone number, e-mail
address or cell phone number in the
heading for your additional contact
information, you can place this on
the line before the dateline

166E Balzain West, Brgy. 12

Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
joelegipto@yahoo.com
September 21, 2004
▪ In some cases, when the specific number of the house
and the name of the street are not given because of
geographical size, only two lines can be utilized.

Maddalero, Buguey, Cagayan

March 11, 2004

▪ There are times when four lines are used especially in

cases when the names of the street and barangay are
long.

145 Coronan Campus

Caritan Norte
Tuguegarao City, Cagayan
 November 18, 2004

⦿ MODERN HEADING

◼ composed of the letterhead and the

dateline

◼ usedwhen letters have bearing with

agencies concerned

◼ letterheads attract attention through

their mark of formality and prestige
◼ the letterhead usually contains:

Name of the company

Address
Telephone number/s
Fax number
Company logo
Company motto
Names of officials
Materials and services offered
Advertising message
Others (depending upon the preference
 of the company)

DATELINE
The dateline is the exact date when the letter
is written.

◼ entered 2 or 3 spaces below the last line of the

printed letterhead

◼ itmay be typed left or right of the paper

depending on the format used
◼ asa rule, the dateline is not abbreviated or
written as numbers
(see example)

INSIDE ADDRESS
◼ contains the full name and
position/designation of the person you are
writing to, his/her organizational affiliation,
and his/her corporate address

◼ it is typed 2 or 3 spaces below the dateline

 Prof. Ma. Juliet G. Vasay
Adviser of the Blazing Phoenix
College of Arts and Humanities
University of the Immaculate Conception Bonifacio
Street, Davao City
◼ regardless of the style of the letter, it should be
left justified

◼ when a line is too long, its continuation may be

moved to the next line with 3 to 5 indentions
from the left

Prof. Ma. Juliet G. Vasay

 Assistant Professor III, College of Arts and
Humanities
University of the Immaculate Conception Bonifacio
Street, Davao City
◼ the name of the position may either be
written beside the name or on the next
line, it should not be abbreviated

Ma. Juliet G. Vasay, Asst. Prof.

Ma. Juliet G. Vasay

Assistant Professor
SALUTATION
The salutation is an
expression of courtesy to and
respect for the addressee or
reader of the letter.

◼ itis typed 2 spaces below

the inside address
BODY
The body may have 3 subparts:

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

STATEMENT OF DETAILS

CONCLUDING STATEMENT

◼ if there is a subject line, the body must start 2

 spaces below the subject line

COMPLIMENTARY
CLOSE
The complimentary is a cordial and a graceful
way of closing your letter.

◼ it is typed one double-space below the body of the

letter
◼ it may be centered on the page or set flush with
left or right margin, depending upon the letter style
◼ a comma may or may not be used after the
complimentary close, depending on the salutation
punctuation

LINE
You can include in the signature area several
identifications: typewritten name and
signature, business title, and company name.

◼ If
printed on the letterhead, the company name
need not be typed after the complimentary close