Letters
Business Letters
 Letters Sent to Persons Outside the
Organization
Parts of a Business Letter
 Letterhead
 Date
 Inside Address
 Salutation
 Body
 Complimentary Close
 Signature Line
Letterhead
Sender’s
logo
company name
address
phone/fax number
web address

Preprinted on the paper
User can create their own
Date
The current date
DO NOT abbreviate the
date.
Quadruple space (QS) after
the
Date
Two inches from top of page
3 Blank Lines
Inside Address
Name and address of the person
and/or company to whom you are
sending the letter.
Letter Address
Quadruple space after date
Title, First Name, Last Name
Company Name
Address
City, ST zip

Also called Letter Address.
No abbreviations
Double space (DS) after the inside
address
The Greeting
Begins with the word
“Dear,”
Includes the person’s
Title and Last Name.
Double Space after the
salutation
1 Blank Lines
Salutation
Salutation
Double space after letter address
1 Blank Lines
Body
Body
Single space paragraphs with
double space between
paragraphs
The body is the written
message.
The body is never hand
written in a business letter.
Single space the paragraphs.
Double space between
paragraphs in the body of the
letter and after the last
paragraph
Complimentary Close (Closing)
Short, polite closing.
Respectfully yours
Sincerely
Cordially yours
Second word not capitalized
Quadruple space (QS) after
Complimentary Close
1 Blank Lines

Complimentary Close
Quadruple space after Complimentary Close
to type Signature Line
3 Blank Lines
Signature Block
Signature Block
The typed sender’s
name
Sender’s Job Title may
be included after the
sender’s name.
Double space after the
signature line
Special Letter Parts
 Typists/Reference Initials are
the initials of the typist in lower
case letters.

DS after signature block
 Enclosure” or “Attachment,” if
something is being send in the
envelope with the letter.

DS after previous letter part
 Courtesy Copy Notation (cc)
indicates someone else is
receiving the letter

DS after previous letter part
Reference Initials
Initials of person who
keyed the document
Special Notation
Letter Styles
 BLOCK STYLE
 MODIFIED BLOCK STYLE
Block Letter Style
Block Style
All elements of the letter are
aligned at the left.
All elements aligned at the left
Letter Styles
Block and Modified Block Styles
Modified Block Style
Date, Complimentary Close, and
Signature Line all begin at center.
All other elements are left aligned.
Modified Block Style
All elements are aligned at
the left except
Date
Complimentary close
Signature Line.

Tab these three are at the
3.5” tab
Punctuation Styles
Open Punctuation
 No punctuation mark
after the salutation or
complimentary close:
Dear Mr. Smith
Sincerely yours
Mixed Punctuation
 Contains a colon (:)
after the salutation and
a comma (,) after the
complimentary close:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Sincerely yours,