COMMON LETTER LAYOUTS

There are three main layouts used in business letters; fully blocked, semi-blocked and fully indented.  We will look at them in order of popularity and formality.


Fully Blocked Layout

This layout has been heavily influenced by American and European usage and therefore is ideal for international communications.  ‘Fully blocked’ means that paragraphs are not indented and a double line space is put between each paragraph.  Everything – even the signature block – is ranged to the left-hand side of the page.

                                                                                                                  42 Botley Close
                                                                                                                   Colebourn
                                                                                                                   RIPON
                                                                                                                   Yorks
                                                                                                                   R187QS

Your Ref 5/12A

17 May 2005

Messrs Brown & Page (Builders)
28A Long Lane
RIPON
Yorks
R121AN

Dear Sirs,

QUOTATION FOR EXTENSION AT 42 BOTLEY CLOSE

Thank you for your estimate dated 5 May 2005.

I am sorry to have to tell you, however, that the figure quoted is in excess of others that we have received and we shall therefore not be pursuing the matter further with you.

Thank you for supplying the quotation, nevertheless.

Yours faithfully,
(signature)
John Smith

The above example also has what is known as an ‘open punctuation’ style; basically, it uses minimal punctuation.  No punctuation is used outside the main text of the letter unless essential for sense (for example, if the town and country names in an address are put on the same line they should be separated by a comma or two spaces).  Dates are shown without –st or –th endings, and no full stops are used in abbreviations, contractions or acronyms (for example, Mr Jones, NATO, BSc or MP).

Semi-blocked Layout

This represents a compromise between the ‘fully blocked’ and the ‘fully indented’ style, in that some indentation is used for the main body of the text.  It is considered a little old-fashioned, nevertheless many established companies in the UK and parts of Europe prefer it as their correspondence style, along with what is called ‘closed punctuation’.  An example is shown below.

                                                                                                                42 Botley Close,
                                                                                                                Colebourn,
                                                                                                                RIPON,
                                                                                                                 Yorks,
                                                                                                                 R187QS.

Your Ref: 5/12A

                                                                                                                   17th May 2005

Messrs Brown & Page (Builders),
28A Long Lane,
RIPON,
Yorks,
R121AN

Dear Sirs,

                                     Quotation for extension at 42 Botley Close
                                                         (underlined)
        
             Thank you for your estimate dated 5th May 2005.

             I am sorry to have to tell you, however, that the figure quoted is in excess of others that we have received and we shall therefore not be pursuing the matter further with you.

             Thank you for supplying the quotation, nevertheless.

                                                     Yours faithfully,
                                                       (signature)
                                                       John Smith


You will note that in the above example the paragraphs have been indented, but there is still a double line space between each paragraph.  Punctuation has been added to the peripheral parts of the letter:  the addresses all have commas at the end of each line; the reference has a colon to separate the number from the words; the date has –th added; and the salutation ‘Dear Sirs’ is followed by a comma.  In the main body of the letter, the subject heading is in upper and lower case letters and is underlined, rather than being in capital letters only.  The signature block has been moved away from the left-hand side of the page.

Fully Indented Layout

This style, which involves graded indentations of all the parts of the letter, has largely been abandoned since the advent of the electric typewriter, since it involved setting up lots of complicated tabs to create the different indents.  It is now primarily used for hand-written letters only, but it is worth looking at an example to show how it differs from the other layouts.

As you can see all the indents are stepped, even the signature block.  This is very time-consuming to do on a typewriter, word-processor or computer, hence its fall from popularity.

                                                                                                                 42 Botley Close,
                                                                                                                 Colebourn,
                                                                                                                 RIPON,
                                                                                                                Yorks,
                                                                                                                R187QS

Your Ref: 5/12A

                                                                                                                  17th May 2005

Messrs Brown & Page (Builders),
28A Long Lane,
RIPON,
Yorks,
 R121AN

Dear Sirs,

                                   Quotation for extension at 42 Botley Close
                                                     (underlined)

        Thank you for your estimate dated 5th May 2005.
        I am sorry to have to tell you, however, that the figure quoted is in excess of others that we have received and we shall not, therefore, be pursuing the matter further with you.
        Thank you for supplying the quotation, nevertheless.

                                                                                                               Yours faithfully,

                                                                                                                        (signature)
                                                                                                                       John Smith