How to Format a Letter
No matter which firm you work for, no matter whether you are working as regular employee or as a freelancer, at some point of time you may have to write a formal business letter. It could be your customer, your employer or any other firm for which you may require to write a business letter. Perhaps writing letter in the correct format is an important aspect of conveying your message.
If you want to know how to format a business letter, then this article can help you out. Following instructions enlisted below give an idea of how a business letter should be formatted.
Instructions
1. First write your address (also known as return address) on the left hand side. This applies when you are using a plain paper for your letter. However, if you have a letter headed paper then this step should be omitted.
700 Avenue Road
Springfield, Kansas 12345
2. Next, immediately after the address state the date. It is always preferable to mention the date in word rather than in number form. This is important especially when writing a business letter abroad so as to avoid any confusion. Do not use ‘th’ while writing the date. You can write date in either of the two ways:
20 January 2009(beginning with date and no use of comma)
Or
September 1, 2009(Begin with the month and use a comma)
3. Now state the full name and address of the recipient. These details should be written on the left hand side of the page. If you are writing letter to a male member address him as Mr. and for addressing a lady prefer writing Ms.
Ms. Merry Clair
Department of History
Right State University
University Drive
Felicity, OH 45334
4. Just after the address leave a lines space and put greeting or salutation as “Dear Roger” or “Dear Sir/Madam” as appropriate. Follow this with a colon. This should be left-aligned.
Dear Sir:
5. If you want you can include a subject for your letter. This makes the task of the recipient easier because at a glance the person can make out what the letter refers to. It should be just below the salutation.
Subject: “Application for the post of XYZ”
6. Now you can start writing the letter. Make sure there is single-spacing between lines and double spacing after each paragraph.
7. Write the text in clear and comprehensible language. Keep it precise and short because the reader will not have the time to read your long letter. The best way to write the body of a business letter is to refer to a well-formatted prewritten business letter.
8. Close your letter by writing appropriate closing phrase. “Yours sincerely” and “Yours faithfully” are time-honored terms used to close a formal letter. Follow this closing with a comma. Leave four single lines after the closing and type your name. Put your signature in the space above your name.
9. If you are enclosing some additional information with your letter, then omit two single lines just after your typed name and write “Enclosure” or “Enclosures.” Using a plural term will allow you to state the number of enclosures in parentheses.
Watch a video instruction on how to format a letter
See also
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como escrever uma carta postal em francês