MELI MAHMUDA: BAHASA INGGRIS BISNIS 1

PART OF BUSINESS LETTER

The Heading

If you do NOT use letterhead stationery, the heading is located at the top right of the page and includes the writer's complete mailing address and the date.

e.g.

******* Laboratory

Technical Development Group

Kobe Steel Ltd

5-5 Takatsukadai 1-chome

Nishi-ku

Kobe

Hyogo

Japan 651-2271

March 21 200-

If you DO use letterhead stationery, the address is already printed on the paper; only the date must be added, at least two spaces below.

e.g.

When writing the date, it is best to state MONTH, DAY, YEAR, in that order as above. Using the short form of the date i.e. 7/10/2001 can sometimes be confusing. In some countries 7/10/2001 means October 7, 2001.

The heading above is in Semi-Block form. See Layouts to see the Block form.

The Inside Address

The inside address is always placed even with the left margin (left justified) and at least two (2) spaces below the heading. It contains the full name of the person being written to—including a proper title — (see Salutations below) and the complete mailing address.

e.g.

Dr. Frederick Johnston,

Senior Researcher

Materials Research Laboratory

NUCOR

1649 Telegraph Road

Crawfordsville,

IN 58936USA

The Salutation

All letters begin with a salutation or greeting. It is placed two spaces below the inside address and even with the left margin. Most people still use ‘Dear____’ to open their letters.

- When you have a person’s name in the inside address, use their name.

- When you do not have a name use ‘Dear Sir’ or ‘Dear Madam’.

- When you are addressing a firm or a group of men you can use ‘Gentlemen’.

Use of the correct title is important. Look at the chart below:

Note that the American style has a period after the title ( Mr. Dr. Ms.). It also uses a colon (:). The British style does not have a period after the title and uses a comma (,). Ms. or Ms (pronounced Miz) is now in common use as a female equivalent to Mr. However, if possible, it is best to find out which title the woman herself prefers (Ms. or Mrs. or Miss). All of the examples above are in formal style which should be used for all business letters. Use of the first name (Dear Tom, Dear Sue, etc) is only for informal, personal letters.

The Body

The body of the letter, or its message, begins two spaces below the salutation. It is structured in paragraphs, which may or may not be indented, depending on the layout used. See Layouts.

Hints on structure:

1) Expressing thanks for a favour done.

2) Writing about future events.

3) When writing to someone you have not met, let the person know why you are familiar with him or her.

4) When asking for a favour, leave the person as much time as possible. Nevertheless, if you expect to have a reply within a certain time, make that request specific.

5) Referral Statements

6) Tone.
A business relationship can often become fairly informal. If you find yourself in this situation, you can alter the tone of your business correspondence from impersonal to personal.

The Closing

The closing of a business letter is placed two spaces below the body. It is a conventional expression, indicating the formal close of the letter. The first word is capitalized. Closings end with a comma.

The Signature

Every letter should have a handwritten signature. Four to six spaces below this is the typewritten signature. A woman may include (Miss), (Mrs.) or (Ms.) to the right of the typewritten signature.

Enclosure and/or cc:

If other documents are going to be included in the envelope with the letter, then the word Enclosure or Enclosures (if there is more than one) needs to be included after the typist’s initials to inform the reader to look for those documents. If the letter is also being copied to another person, a cc: would be included under the word Enclosure. You should include the names of any people who will receive the copy after the cc, such as cc: Joan Brackletter.

It would look like this:

Enclosure

cc: Joan Brackletter, Pradeep Junkta

THE STYLE OF BUSINESS LETTERS

Business letters may be written in any of the following styles: full block or purely block, simplified, modified block, semi-block, hanging-indented, indented, and memorandum style. The full block style has all the letter elements flush with the left margin; it is asymmetrical because there are wide white spaces on the right. It differs from the simplified style in the sense that the salutation and the complimentary close are absent in the latter. The modified block style, the semi-block style, and the hanging-indented style share the same format, that is, all the letter elements, except the salutation, complimentary close, and signature (which are begun at the center) are flush with the left margin. The three differ in paragraph indention: the modified block has no indention, the semi-block style has a normal or standard indention, while the hanging-indented style, as its name suggests, has a hanging indention. The indented style has most of its elements indented. The memorandum style has a unique format. It has a header with the reference line, date line, subject line, TO line, FROM line, and THRU line. A demarcation line divides the header and the body of the letter. Examples of the letter styles are found below.

1) FULL BLOCK OR PURELY BLOCK STYLE