THE PARTS OF A LETTER
Postal addresses
In Britain, the recommended form of postal address has the post town in block capital letters; followed by the county with an initial capital only; followed by the postcode using capital letters.
For international communications, follow the conventions of that country for the recipient’s address: they all differ, so use previous correspondence to that country as a guide. Don’t alter the format of your own address to suit the international style. In all cases, show the country name as the last line of the address.
Reference code
Reference codes are used in letters to help infilling or to indicate the names of people writing and typing the letter (for example, BJE/glm). However, letters are often filed according to the recipient’s name or organization, which is already included in the rest of the letter, and there is no point in adding a reference code just to make the letter look more business-like.
The reference code is usually given in the form ‘Ref’, ‘Ref:’ or ‘Ref.’ at the top left of the letter. If you are replying to correspondence that included a reference code you should reply as follows:
Our ref:
Your ref:
Date
Always write the date in full and not in the form of numbers alone. This is because in the UK the day is shown first, whereas in the United States and some other countries the month is shown first. Therefore 8.12.2005 could be read as 8th December or 12th August. It is also much clearer not to abbreviate month names or years. The year should always be included as it may be important for both you and the recipient if you need to refer back to your correspondence in the future. Avoid using the term ‘Date as Postmark’ as the envelope is usually soon discarded, especially where companies have a post room that opens the mail and just delivers the letters to the recipients, so no one will know exactly when it was sent.
The common forms for the date in the UK are 8 December 2005 or 8th December 2005.
Classification line
If your letter is personal and/or confidential, indicate this at the top left of the letter. Use ‘PERSONAL’ if the letter must be opened by the recipient only; a ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ letter may be opened by his or her deputy but should, of course, be treated confidentially. ‘PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL’ may be used together if it is imperative that only the recipient opens the letter and acts upon it. The words are usually typed in capital letters and/or underlined. Repeat this information on the envelope.
Despatch method
Sometimes it may be useful to indicate the despatch method to be used, such as: Recorded Delivery, Registered Post, Airmail, or Courier Delivery. Type this in capitals at the top left of the letter; a pre-printed sticky label may be used instead.
Recipient’s name
If possible you should include the name of an individual recipient or, at least, a specific job title. This makes the letter someone’s particular responsibility and, hopefully, leads to a quicker reply. It may also be useful if you need to follow up the letter and want to know to whom you wrote in the past. However, as an alternative the name of the department and organization, or just the organization, may be given here. Sometimes a letter may say ‘All communications should be addressed to…’, and in this case you should obviously follow instructions.
Recipient’s address
This should be copied carefully from the previous correspondence if available and should be the same as the address to be used on the envelope. Avoid using abbreviations for road or town names, although it is acceptable to use the standard county abbreviations.
Addresses should include:
1. The house or building number (and a flat, chamber or office number if appropriate). No comma is needed after the number before the road name. Avoid using a house name if possible, and do not use inverted commas round house names.
2. The road name.
3. The village name, or a district of a town if there are several streets of the same name in a town.
4. The postal town (officially called the Post Town). This is the town where letters are sorted for local delivery. The Post Town name should be given in capital letters.
5. The county – unless the town is a major city or shares the name with the county (for example: Gloucestershire should not follow Gloucester).
6. The postcode. This consists of two blocks of letters and numbers, the first block indicating a major area of the postal town, the second identifying the address down to a group of 15 or so houses, or even in some cases an individual firm’s offices. There should be no punctuation in postcodes.
7. If international, the country name, in English.
Each of these parts of an address is normally given an individual line and they should be given in the order listed above. However, inside the letter the district and town names, or town and county names may share a line (separated by a comma or extra space), or, more commonly, the postal town and postcode, or county and postcode, share a line (separated by between two and six spaces).
In foreign addresses both the postal town and the county/state are usually capitalized, and zip or postal codes should always, of course, be included.
‘For the attention of’ line
This line, which is traditionally placed between the recipient’s address and the opening greeting, is used when only the name of the department or organization has previously been given for the recipient. The usual wording is ‘For the attention of Mrs J King’ (underlined with no full stop) and an attention line should be used as an alternative to, not as well as, a recipient’s name or job title. The ‘attention’ line can also be placed immediately before the recipient’s department or organization and in the fully blocked style is often typed in capital letters and not underlined.
Opening greeting (or salutation)
The form of salutation used should be related to the way the recipient’s name has been given in the address; there are particular rules for royal, military, or religious personages, or those in public office.
In general, the best guideline is to consider how you would address the individual in person and use that form.
Subject heading
It is often helpful to both the sender and the recipient to give a subject heading immediately after the opening greeting. It should be short and concise and should match that given by your correspondent if you are continuing discussion of the same topic. The subject heading may quote an important reference number, such as an invoice or order number. It should be underlined (in the fully blocked style it is often typed in capital letters instead) and have no final full stop. For example:
‘Delivery of goods for order no192746’
or
‘INVOICE NUMBER ABC/156181’.
The main body of a letter
Sometimes it is difficult to think of suitable words with which to start the letter. In general, you should always refer to any previous correspondence in the first paragraph and also try to get to the point of the letter reasonably quickly.
If a letter is long and complicated it may be useful to number points or to use paragraph headings, indicating them with capitals or underlining, although this can make the letter look rather formal. It is always best to start a paragraph with a topic sentence, introducing the subject of the paragraph, as this will help your reader to follow your train of thought. However, if the letter has more than one main subject it may be worth considering sending two separate letters as this will make it easier for both your recipient and you to consign them to the appropriate person and/or files.
Try to make the final paragraph positive and state what you hope the recipient will do. Include a personal pronoun in final statements, for example, ‘I hope to hear from you soon’ rather than ‘Hoping to hear from you soon’.
Complimentary close
This should match the opening greeting. ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’ will be appropriate in nearly all cases; other closes may be used for letters to friends, or to persons of title.
Company name
This indicates that the letter is on behalf of the company as a whole, even though it has been written and signed by a certain individual. The business name should always be given here if the plural ‘we’ has been used in the main body of the letter. The company name is placed on the line immediately following the complimentary close and is usually in the form ‘G Jones & Co’ or ‘for G Jones & Co’. If the person signing is an authorized signatory of the business, the form ‘per pro’ or ‘pp G Jones & Co’ may be used.
Signature
Letters will usually bear the signature of the writer; however, sometimes other conventions are followed. A partner signing for his firm, for example, should use the firm’s name without adding his own name. Sometimes a proxy signature may be necessary, for example when the writer is not available to sign urgent letters. In this case one of the expressions used below would probably be appropriate.
J. Jones
for Marketing Director
J. Jones
for F. Reed,
Marketing Director
J. Jones
Secretary to Mr. F. Reed
A firm’s rubber stamp in place of a signature is generally regarded as rather discourteous. Even for circular letters it is usually possible to include a printed or duplicated signature.
Sender’s name
Unless you are confident that your signature is readable, or it will be very familiar to your correspondent, it is as well to include your name immediately below the signature. This should match the signature in terms of use of first names or initials. If just initials are given the recipient will probably assume the writer is a man; in any case it is helpful if a woman adds Mrs, Miss or Ms to the name to show the style of address she prefers.
Sender’s office or department
This should be added, if appropriate, on the line following the name.
Enclosures
The abbreviation ‘Enc’ (or ‘Encs’, ‘Encs-’, or ‘Enc:’) is useful both to remind you to check that all enclosures are included, and to remind the recipient that enclosures are present. Sometimes a label is used instead, but this is less common now due to the use of word-processors and computers.
Copies line
If a letter is written to a certain person but is sent for information to others, it is helpful to all concerned to indicate who has been sent copies by using wording such as:
Copies to Mr J Edwards
Mrs R Richards
The copy for each individual can be marked by a tick against the name to save any confusion when sending the letters out.
Sometimes the abbreviation ‘cc’ is used in place of ‘copies to’, though in fact this relates to rather outdated technology; ‘cc’ stands for ‘carbon copies’ from the days when carbon paper was used to produce copies of typed letters. Similarly, you may see ‘bcc’ on some letters. Use this if you do not want the recipient to know who has received copies: ‘bcc’ stands for ‘blind carbon copies’ – information hidden from the main recipient but shown on the copies. For example, ‘bcc Mr J Edwards’ would appear on Mr Edwards’ copy of the letter, but not the copy sent to the addressee.
Postscripts
Try to avoid postscripts in letters. If your letter has been well planned, last-minute thoughts and additions should be unnecessary.
Creating letter parts on a computer
Most standard word-processing software now has functions that can automatically insert text such as opening greetings, complimentary closes, despatch instructions, classifications and references. This usually involves selecting a menu option to choose the item you require, or in some cases, recognition by the software of the word or phrase as you begin to type it (it may then offer to complete it automatically). However, such software cannot yet tell you which is the most appropriate greeting, term or phrase for the letter you are writing!
Postal addresses
In Britain, the recommended form of postal address has the post town in block capital letters; followed by the county with an initial capital only; followed by the postcode using capital letters.
For international communications, follow the conventions of that country for the recipient’s address: they all differ, so use previous correspondence to that country as a guide. Don’t alter the format of your own address to suit the international style. In all cases, show the country name as the last line of the address.
Reference code
Reference codes are used in letters to help infilling or to indicate the names of people writing and typing the letter (for example, BJE/glm). However, letters are often filed according to the recipient’s name or organization, which is already included in the rest of the letter, and there is no point in adding a reference code just to make the letter look more business-like.
The reference code is usually given in the form ‘Ref’, ‘Ref:’ or ‘Ref.’ at the top left of the letter. If you are replying to correspondence that included a reference code you should reply as follows:
Our ref:
Your ref:
Date
Always write the date in full and not in the form of numbers alone. This is because in the UK the day is shown first, whereas in the United States and some other countries the month is shown first. Therefore 8.12.2005 could be read as 8th December or 12th August. It is also much clearer not to abbreviate month names or years. The year should always be included as it may be important for both you and the recipient if you need to refer back to your correspondence in the future. Avoid using the term ‘Date as Postmark’ as the envelope is usually soon discarded, especially where companies have a post room that opens the mail and just delivers the letters to the recipients, so no one will know exactly when it was sent.
The common forms for the date in the UK are 8 December 2005 or 8th December 2005.
Classification line
If your letter is personal and/or confidential, indicate this at the top left of the letter. Use ‘PERSONAL’ if the letter must be opened by the recipient only; a ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ letter may be opened by his or her deputy but should, of course, be treated confidentially. ‘PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL’ may be used together if it is imperative that only the recipient opens the letter and acts upon it. The words are usually typed in capital letters and/or underlined. Repeat this information on the envelope.
Despatch method
Sometimes it may be useful to indicate the despatch method to be used, such as: Recorded Delivery, Registered Post, Airmail, or Courier Delivery. Type this in capitals at the top left of the letter; a pre-printed sticky label may be used instead.
Recipient’s name
If possible you should include the name of an individual recipient or, at least, a specific job title. This makes the letter someone’s particular responsibility and, hopefully, leads to a quicker reply. It may also be useful if you need to follow up the letter and want to know to whom you wrote in the past. However, as an alternative the name of the department and organization, or just the organization, may be given here. Sometimes a letter may say ‘All communications should be addressed to…’, and in this case you should obviously follow instructions.
Recipient’s address
This should be copied carefully from the previous correspondence if available and should be the same as the address to be used on the envelope. Avoid using abbreviations for road or town names, although it is acceptable to use the standard county abbreviations.
Addresses should include:
1. The house or building number (and a flat, chamber or office number if appropriate). No comma is needed after the number before the road name. Avoid using a house name if possible, and do not use inverted commas round house names.
2. The road name.
3. The village name, or a district of a town if there are several streets of the same name in a town.
4. The postal town (officially called the Post Town). This is the town where letters are sorted for local delivery. The Post Town name should be given in capital letters.
5. The county – unless the town is a major city or shares the name with the county (for example: Gloucestershire should not follow Gloucester).
6. The postcode. This consists of two blocks of letters and numbers, the first block indicating a major area of the postal town, the second identifying the address down to a group of 15 or so houses, or even in some cases an individual firm’s offices. There should be no punctuation in postcodes.
7. If international, the country name, in English.
Each of these parts of an address is normally given an individual line and they should be given in the order listed above. However, inside the letter the district and town names, or town and county names may share a line (separated by a comma or extra space), or, more commonly, the postal town and postcode, or county and postcode, share a line (separated by between two and six spaces).
In foreign addresses both the postal town and the county/state are usually capitalized, and zip or postal codes should always, of course, be included.
‘For the attention of’ line
This line, which is traditionally placed between the recipient’s address and the opening greeting, is used when only the name of the department or organization has previously been given for the recipient. The usual wording is ‘For the attention of Mrs J King’ (underlined with no full stop) and an attention line should be used as an alternative to, not as well as, a recipient’s name or job title. The ‘attention’ line can also be placed immediately before the recipient’s department or organization and in the fully blocked style is often typed in capital letters and not underlined.
Opening greeting (or salutation)
The form of salutation used should be related to the way the recipient’s name has been given in the address; there are particular rules for royal, military, or religious personages, or those in public office.
In general, the best guideline is to consider how you would address the individual in person and use that form.
Subject heading
It is often helpful to both the sender and the recipient to give a subject heading immediately after the opening greeting. It should be short and concise and should match that given by your correspondent if you are continuing discussion of the same topic. The subject heading may quote an important reference number, such as an invoice or order number. It should be underlined (in the fully blocked style it is often typed in capital letters instead) and have no final full stop. For example:
‘Delivery of goods for order no192746’
or
‘INVOICE NUMBER ABC/156181’.
The main body of a letter
Sometimes it is difficult to think of suitable words with which to start the letter. In general, you should always refer to any previous correspondence in the first paragraph and also try to get to the point of the letter reasonably quickly.
If a letter is long and complicated it may be useful to number points or to use paragraph headings, indicating them with capitals or underlining, although this can make the letter look rather formal. It is always best to start a paragraph with a topic sentence, introducing the subject of the paragraph, as this will help your reader to follow your train of thought. However, if the letter has more than one main subject it may be worth considering sending two separate letters as this will make it easier for both your recipient and you to consign them to the appropriate person and/or files.
Try to make the final paragraph positive and state what you hope the recipient will do. Include a personal pronoun in final statements, for example, ‘I hope to hear from you soon’ rather than ‘Hoping to hear from you soon’.
Complimentary close
This should match the opening greeting. ‘Yours sincerely’ or ‘Yours faithfully’ will be appropriate in nearly all cases; other closes may be used for letters to friends, or to persons of title.
Company name
This indicates that the letter is on behalf of the company as a whole, even though it has been written and signed by a certain individual. The business name should always be given here if the plural ‘we’ has been used in the main body of the letter. The company name is placed on the line immediately following the complimentary close and is usually in the form ‘G Jones & Co’ or ‘for G Jones & Co’. If the person signing is an authorized signatory of the business, the form ‘per pro’ or ‘pp G Jones & Co’ may be used.
Signature
Letters will usually bear the signature of the writer; however, sometimes other conventions are followed. A partner signing for his firm, for example, should use the firm’s name without adding his own name. Sometimes a proxy signature may be necessary, for example when the writer is not available to sign urgent letters. In this case one of the expressions used below would probably be appropriate.
J. Jones
for Marketing Director
J. Jones
for F. Reed,
Marketing Director
J. Jones
Secretary to Mr. F. Reed
A firm’s rubber stamp in place of a signature is generally regarded as rather discourteous. Even for circular letters it is usually possible to include a printed or duplicated signature.
Sender’s name
Unless you are confident that your signature is readable, or it will be very familiar to your correspondent, it is as well to include your name immediately below the signature. This should match the signature in terms of use of first names or initials. If just initials are given the recipient will probably assume the writer is a man; in any case it is helpful if a woman adds Mrs, Miss or Ms to the name to show the style of address she prefers.
Sender’s office or department
This should be added, if appropriate, on the line following the name.
Enclosures
The abbreviation ‘Enc’ (or ‘Encs’, ‘Encs-’, or ‘Enc:’) is useful both to remind you to check that all enclosures are included, and to remind the recipient that enclosures are present. Sometimes a label is used instead, but this is less common now due to the use of word-processors and computers.
Copies line
If a letter is written to a certain person but is sent for information to others, it is helpful to all concerned to indicate who has been sent copies by using wording such as:
Copies to Mr J Edwards
Mrs R Richards
The copy for each individual can be marked by a tick against the name to save any confusion when sending the letters out.
Sometimes the abbreviation ‘cc’ is used in place of ‘copies to’, though in fact this relates to rather outdated technology; ‘cc’ stands for ‘carbon copies’ from the days when carbon paper was used to produce copies of typed letters. Similarly, you may see ‘bcc’ on some letters. Use this if you do not want the recipient to know who has received copies: ‘bcc’ stands for ‘blind carbon copies’ – information hidden from the main recipient but shown on the copies. For example, ‘bcc Mr J Edwards’ would appear on Mr Edwards’ copy of the letter, but not the copy sent to the addressee.
Postscripts
Try to avoid postscripts in letters. If your letter has been well planned, last-minute thoughts and additions should be unnecessary.
Creating letter parts on a computer
Most standard word-processing software now has functions that can automatically insert text such as opening greetings, complimentary closes, despatch instructions, classifications and references. This usually involves selecting a menu option to choose the item you require, or in some cases, recognition by the software of the word or phrase as you begin to type it (it may then offer to complete it automatically). However, such software cannot yet tell you which is the most appropriate greeting, term or phrase for the letter you are writing!
