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Business
Letter Format |
Your address:
Street
City, State Zip code
Date |
heading/
date line |
4 spaces
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Ms. Janet Smythe, Director of Employment
Johnson Corporation
327 Jackson Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90211
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inside
address |
3 spaces
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| Attention: Ms. Janet Smythe [only use if no name is with the inside address] |
3 spaces
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| Subject: Purchase Order #3987 [use if you need to call attention to the letter's main point] |
2 spaces
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| Dear Ms. Smythe:
[salutation: follow with a colon] |
| Here are some clichés that you will want to avoid: |
attached please find
enclosed please find
herewith, forthwith, herein ...
it is requested that |
permit me to say
as per your request
we are in receipt of your request
we beg to advise you that |
| payment for same (just write "We request payment for the item.") |
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Avoid pompous, inflated, or overly formal diction. Use short paragraphs that deal with one topic. Above all, be clear and concise.
Try to develop what technical writing textbooks call the "you attitude." This means that you should try to use "you" as often as you use "I," and you certainly want to avoid starting each sentence with "I." The "you attitude" means that you try to empathize with the reader: What do they need to know? What do they want? What's in it for them? Even if you are dealing with a dispute, you should remain polite. Before you send a letter, consider how you would react to the letter if you received it.
Often, you will want to end you letter with a call to action that explains exactly what you want the reader to do or what you would like to get from the reader.
2 spaces
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Sincerely,
(Sincerely Yours, , . . .)
4
spaces
Phil Druker
Senior Instructor
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Complimentary close
Signature
Name
Title
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PD:rst
identification line: author's initials: typist's initials
Enclosure / Encl: Resume / Enclosures (2)
enclosure
line
cc: Ms. Georgia Williams
copy line: who else received a copy of the letter
Notes:
1. You do not need identification, enclosure, title, attention or subject
line in this letter.
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