Business Letter

Writing
Chhavi Jain

Business Correspondence
Correspondence means communication
by letters.
Writing of ideas, opinions, views.

Types of Correspondence
b/n friends,
Matters
of personal
relatives,
interest
etc. and welfare

Personal
Matters
b/n
friends,
of personal
relatives,
interest
etc. and welfare

Purpose of Correspondence
1

Features of business letters

Correctness of statement

Features of business letters

Clarity

Cleanliness and neatness

Right size and quality of paper
Folding of letterhead in proper manner to

put it inside the envelope of proper size.

Sizes of letterheadsQuarto

5X 8

Octavo

8 X 10

Foolscap

10 X 13

Proforma of Dispatch Register

Date

S. No. Address
of
Receiver

File No. Sub

Stamps Remarks
Matter used

Proforma of Dispatch Register

Date

S. No. Address
of
Receiver

File No. Sub

Stamps Remarks
Matter used

1-9-2013

13/123

MBA/HR
/01

Aastha, C/o
Sh ABC
Sharma,
H.No. 22,
XYZ Nagar,
Jaipur

Absentee
-ism

Head
Principal

Nil

Proforma of Dispatch Register

Date

S. No. Address
of
Receiver

File No. Sub

Stamps Remarks
Matter used

12-08-2012

12/368

Sales/12/
02

M/s Shanti
Textiles,
VKIA, Jaipur

Purchase
order

Sales
Manager

Nil

Parts of a Business Letter

Name and address of sender with business

details
Reference number- senders
Date
Inside address
Subject and receivers reference number

Format/ Layout of a business

letter

Every business letter is to be typed in a particular

manner arranging each part in a particular place on
the letterhead.
There are three types of layouts by which a letter can
be typedFull Block Method
Indent Method (Hanging Style)
Semi-Block or Mixed Method

Thank You

Name, address and details of

sender
Also called heading
Heads all other parts
Written or printed at the top of the letter head.
Includes names and details of business sender and

also their postal address.

Telephone no, fax no, post box no. are also
mentioned here

Reference Number
Number given to a letter identifying it, whenever the

need arises in future.

With the help of this number, the copy of a letter
sent earlier may be traced to the file.
Only one number is given to one letter at a time.

Examples Reference number

ABCL/ HR/ Appt/ 2005
YBI/ PD/ PF/120/2009
T/9/BPVP/2842/2008
HMS/AD/08/252
ICSEic/RG/08/X/17

A reference number helps to find out

following details:
Name

of sender who sent out this

letter
Department of office, which has mailed
the letter
Number with which the letter is
dispatched
The year in which the letter is sent
File number in which a copy of
this letter is filed

Date
The date of the letter means the date

on which the letter has been written

and is dispatched.
3 contentsDay

of month
Month
Year

Date Formats
20 th September 2005
20th Sep., 2005
September 20, 2005
Sep. 20, 2005

Ante-Dating writing a date prior to

actual date.
Post-Dating writing a date falling
after the actual date.
These practices are wrong and
should be avoided.

Inside address
Done to identify the receiver to whom the letter

belongs.
Typed after leaving 3 line space from the reference
number line.

Salutation
The prefix added before the name of the

receiver depends upon the gender of the

person, number of the persons addressed,
marital status of the lady addressed,
respect and social positions of the
individual addressed.

Person addressed Prefix used

Remarks

Gentleman

Mr.

Suffix Esq. for Esquire

Lady Married/
Unmarried

Ms.

Group of
Gentlmen

Messrs (Messeurs)

If firms name is
associated with a
persons name.

Group of Ladies

Mmes (Mesdames)

A firm consisting of
Ladies

Chief Justice,
Judge, PM,
Minister, etc.

The Honble Mr.

(Honourable)

Ambassador

His Excellency Mr..

Her Excellency Ms.

Person
Prefix used
addressed
King

His highness
King Mr.

Queen

Her highness
Queen Ms.

Priest in a
church

The Rev. Fr.

Priest in a
Hindu

His holiness
Shri

Remarks

The Reverend
Father

Salutation
Body of the letter should begin with the

salutation for the person(s) addressed.

A colon or a comma should always be

used after the salutation.

Dear Sir is used in personal / semi official

letters in business correspondence.

Sir/Madam

For official and formal

correspondence

Dear Sir/Madam

For
addressing
individual

an

Dear Sirs/Dear Madam For addressing a firm or

company.

Subject and Receivers Reference

number

Enables the reader to understand the subject

matter of the letter without reading the body.

It saves time of the reader because he need not read

the lengthy body to understand the subject matter.

Along with the subject, the receivers reference is

also mentioned.
This enables the receiver to easily take out a copy

of his own letter from his files and

understand the matter in the reply.

SUBJECT
Subject: Your order No. C317/8 dated 12th

March 2003.
Subject: Enquiry about Samsung television
Subject: Fire Insurance policy
Subject: Regarding placement of damaged

cartridges
SUBJECT: TRANSFER OF MY

SAVINGS ACCOUNT

Body of the letter

It contains the message to be conveyed to the receiver.

Consists of 3 paragraphs Introductory
Main

paragraph

body

Closing

paragraph- contains a statement the of

senders intentions, hopes or expectations

concerning the next step to be taken. The sender
should always look forward to getting a positive
response. At the end, terms like Thanking you,
With regards, With warm regards
may be used.

Ult., prox., and inst.

and proximo are both Latin,
shortened forms of ultimo mense, in the
previous month, and proximo mense, in the
next month. Many reference works say inst
is from Latin instante mense, in the current
month.

Ultimo

Complimentary Close
The formal way of closing the body of
the letter by using some respectful
phrases is known as complimentary
close.
It is merely a polite way of ending a
letter. It must be in accordance with
the salutation.

Example

Salutation

Complimentary
close

Dear Sir/Dear
Madam

Yours faithfully

Dear Mr. Raj

Yours sincerely

My Dear Akbar

Yours very sincerely

(express very
informal

Yours faithfully,
yours truly

Business Letter

Yours sincerely, yours Friendly/ personal/

affectionately
informal letters

Signature and
designation

Signature consists of the name of the

writer written in a unique style.

A letter without signature is invalid and
loses its importance because no person has
taken the responsibility for the matter
mentioned in the letter. The signature of a
particular person should be always in the
same style.

Signature and
designation

The name of the person signing is

typed below the signature in BLOCK

Letters within bracket. This is done in
order to enable the reader to name
the person signing.

Signature and
designation
Signature should be followed by the

designation of the signatory.

If he is signing on behalf of the firm, the
name of the firm should be given with
word for below the designation line.

Signature and
designation
Pre Pocurationem (P. pro./ p.p.)
Means the person signing the letter for and on
behalf of the company. It is added in order to
convey the reader that the signatory is signing
not in his personal capacity but for and on behalf
of the firm, he is representing.
The firm is legally bound and is responsible for
any matter raised in the letter by the signatory.

p.p. Secretary's Signature

President's Name
Yours faithfully,
Sd/(A B Verma)
Asst Manager
for the National Paper Mills Ltd.

Enclosures

If any document like a copy of a bill,

invoice, draft or cheque is enclosed with
a letter , it should be mentioned under
the heading Encl in the letter.

Enclosures

This is done in order that the receiver will

come to know that there were certain
documents attached to the letter, so that
the receiver will come to know that there
certain documents attached to the letter
and locate them and take care of them.

Enclosures
Even if no enclosure is sent, this
fact should be mentioned by
writing the heading and NIL
under the heading.

Enclosures Three styles

1. Encl: a.a (as above)

2. Encl: Two
3. Encl: Cheque No.2345 dated 23 Mar 2013

amounting to 5000
i. A cheque for 5000/- (Rupees Five Thousand
only) drawn on BOB
ii. A copy of the order letter
4. Encls: (3)
iii. Purchase Receipt
iv. Copy of the order
v. Photocopy of the cheque

Copy Marking(if any)

Sometimes it is necessary to send additional copies to
the receivers other than the original receiver because
some other parties may be connected/ concerned
with the matter of the letter and the sender is also
willing to inform all the adressees.
Thus the required number of copies are mailed and
sent to the desired parties in DIFFERENT envelopes.

Copy Marking(if any)

If the sender wants to inform the original receiver, he
makes a mention about this on all the copies by
giving the heading Copy to or c.c. meaning carbon
copy.
The details of the name, designation and the office
address, etc. of the receivers are given under the
heading NOO (not on original)

Initials of the dictator/ typist

It is in practice, to type initials of the persons who

have dictated the letters and who have typed them.

The responsibility of the mistake, if any, detected
later on can be fixed after coming to know from the
initials.

Initials of the dictator/ typist

It is in practice, to type initials of the persons who

N
ot

us

ed

no
w

have dictated the letters and who have typed them.

The responsibility of the mistake, if any, detected
later on can be fixed after coming to know from the
initials.

P.S. or Postscript and Nota Bener

(N.B)

After finishing the letter, the writer recollects some

other information, the inclusion of which is

necessary in this letter. The message can be written
in the lower portion of the letter after writing P.S. on
the left side.
But the signature of the original writer is essential
after that, otherwise it will be meaningless.

P.S. or Postscript and Nota Bener

(N.B)
P.S: This book is also available in Hindi Edition.

But is not used now-a-days.

Full Block Method

Indent Method

Semi Block/ Mixed Method