Letters

1. Letters Personal Business Letterhead Memos

2. Personal Business Letter • A letter written by an individual to deal with business of a personal nature • Typed in Block Format • Everything is typed at the left margin • No indents • Open Punctuation • NO comma or colon after the salutation or complimentary close • Margins • Top Margin: 2 inches • Left, Right, Bottom: 1 inch

3. Parts of Personal Business Letter • Return Address: The return address consists of a line for the street address and one for the city, state, and ZIP Code. • Date: Key the month, day, and year on the line below the city, state, and ZIP Code. • Letter address: The address of the recipient of the letter. A personal title (Miss, Mr., Mrs., Ms.) or a professional title (Dr., Lt., Senator) is keyed before the receiver’s name.

4. Parts (Cont.) • Salutation: Dear and the recipient of the letter. • Body: Message of the letter • Complimentary close. Short polite closing • Name of the writer: Person who originated the letter. The name may be preceded by a personal title (Miss, Mrs., Ms.) to indicate how a female prefers to be addressed in a response. If a male has a name that does not clearly indicate his gender (Kim, Leslie, Pat, for example), the title Mr. may precede his name.

5. Special Parts of Letter • Reference initials. If someone other than the originator of the letter keys it, key the keyboard operator’s initials in lowercase letters at the left margin, spaced below the writer’s name. Do not key your reference initials for letters you key yourself. • Attachment/Enclosure notation. If another document is attached to the letter, the word “Attachment” is keyed at the left margin, spaced below the reference initials. If the additional document is not attached, the word “Enclosure” is not used. If reference initials are not used, “Attachment” or “Enclosure” spaced below the writer’s name.