Format of Letters

1. Writing styles

a. Blocked style

Bredgate 51,

DK 1276,

Copenhagen K,

Denmark

Mrs. Sara Fisher

The Manager

Supersonic Ltd,

18 St. James Avenue,

London SE231Jf

United Kingdom

6th of May 2006

Our ref: SJA/ TR

Dear Mrs. Fisher,

Acknowledgment of order receipt

We are pleased to acknowledge your order no. 202 dated 1st October 2001. Your order is already dealt with. We will inform you when the articles are ready for delivery.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further information.

We thank you for your custom and again look forward to being of service to you in the future.

Yours sincerely,

M. Warrens

M. Warrens (Mr.)

Enc.

p.p. D. Sampson

Personal Assistant

b. Indented style

Hotel de la Playa

Avenida de la Playa 108

SP-03080 Alicante, Spain

Tel: 35049033767/124

Our ref: SJA/ TR

The Director of Tour Operations

Sun and Fun Tours

25 Hammersmith Road

Harlow, Essex CM19 5AA

England

October 23, 2006

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Problems regarding refurbishing

We are writing to you in connection with the modernization of our hotel because we have recently been informed by our contractor that he will not be able to meet his promised schedule for completion of the activities.

We deeply regret this occurrence for both our guests' and your sake. We wish that there was something that could be done, but the causes of this unfortunate event are outside of our control. A combination of inclement weather and a strike have delayed completion of the repairs. Naturally, we will do our utmost to limit the impact of this work on our guests, and I can assure you that we will pressure the contractors to complete the work as soon as possible. Realistically, however, we cannot expect the work to be completed until the end of January.

As both our interests are to ensure that our guests enjoy their vacation, I would appreciate it if you could contact me so that we can coordinate our efforts to achieve this goal.

Yours sincerely,

Michelle Fuentes

Michelle Fuentes (Mrs.)

Manager

2. Letter head/ Letter heading/ Heading

• Is cantered on the correspondence page.

• Replaces the sender’s address.

• May provide data about the sender’s company name, type of company, address, field of activity, telephone and fax number, postal code.

3. Date

• It is always placed under the heading, before or after the addresses.

• The usual order is day/ month/ year. In American English, the month precedes the day.

• It can take different forms: (the) 2nd of August 2009, (the) 2nd of Aug. 2009. Jan., Febr., Mar., Apr., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.; May, June, July are never contracted.

• It is recommendable not to type months in figures.

4. Reference line

• It is introduced by Ref./ Our ref./ Your ref.

• It may include the initials of the writer/ the typist, a file or department reference.

• It aims at an easy identification of previous correspondence.

5. Inside addresses

• The recipient’s address should be types on separate lines, as it would appear on an envelope.

• The sender should address the recipient exactly as they sign their letters.

• If a person’s title is known, it should be used immediately after the name.

• If the sender does not know the person’s name, but only his/ her position, the latter is specified, preceded by the definite article.

• If a letter is confidential, it is usual to incorporate CONFIDENTIAL as part of the inside address on a separate line before the name.

6. Salutation

a. Dear Sir

b. Dear Madam

c. Dear Sir or Madam/ Dear Sir/ Madam

d. Dear Sirs

e. Dear Mesdames

f. Dear Mr. Smith

g. Dear Mrs. Smith

h. Dear Ms. Smith

Remark:

a. The comma after the salutation is compulsory.

b. In the USA, a letter to a company usually opens with Gentlemen, followed by a colon, not with Dear Sirs.

7. Subject Line

• It is placed immediately under the salutation;

• It is generally underlined;

• Saves introducing the subject in the first paragraph;

• Immediately draws the attention to the topic of the letter and allows the writer to

refer to it throughout the letter.