Parts of a Personal Business Letter
A personal business letter is a letter an individual writes to a business, be it a publishing company, a church or a prospective employer. Proper letter-writing skills are important in that the business you are trying to reach may make its decision for or against you, based on how you look on paper. In general, a personal business letter contains six parts.
Other People Are Reading
-
Heading
-
Place the heading of a personal business letter at the beginning, or top left-hand corner, of the letter. This part consists of the sender's address and date. According to Lindsay Trawick and Kate Bouwens, authors of "Writing a Basic Business Letter," do not place your name here, as it goes at the end of your letter.
Date
-
Spell out the month when writing the date, as the textbook article "Typing a Personal Business Letter" points out. According to Purdue University's Online Writing Lab (OWL), you should include the full date according to the American date format when the addressee is within the United States. For example, instead of "Nov. 4, 2010," write "November 4, 2010."
-
Letter Address
-
Include the name and address of the person to whom you are writing your letter. Write out the full address, with the appropriate abbreviations, e.g., in writing 123 Smith Avenue, you may write "Smith Ave." Write out the name of the city, but abbreviate the state. Instead of writing "Ann Arbor, Michigan," write "Ann Arbor, MI."
Salutation
-
Address the person to whom you are writing. Use "Dear" followed by formal titles, be it Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr. or Reverend, according to the person's preference or office. As the OWL suggests, use Ms. if the addressee is a woman and you do not know what title she prefers.
Body
-
The body is the most important part of your letter. It will tell the reader the subject matter of the letter, or the reason you are writing the addressee. It is the part where you ask, for example, the credit card company to consider lowering your monthly rate. It is the portion of the letter you will use to sell yourself to a prospective employer. If your letter is to a church and you are asking for donations to finance a homeless assistance project, this is the section in which you describe the merits of the endeavor.
Ending
-
Conclude the letter by writing the formal "Sincerely Yours," or "Yours Truly." Write your first and last name. Include a personal signature, in pen, just above it. As the textbook article "Typing a Personal Business Letter" points out, leave four blank lines for your handwritten signature above your typed name.
-
References
- Photo Credit Image by Flickr.com, courtesy of Ralph Aichinger
