1. Chetana hazarimal somani
college of com. & eco. & smt.
Kusumtai chaudari college of
arts
Group no: 6
TOPIC:
 BASICS OF EFFECTIVE WRIRING
 BUSINESS LETTERS- TYPES,
2012
PURPOSE AND LAYOUT
Presented to:
Prof. shivaprasad

2. GROUP MEMBERS
AARTI YADAV 151
NITIN SINGH 140
JESAL BARIA 102
VINESH puli 131
NEHA PANCHAL 125
JASON RoDRIguES 134
KIRAN BADSIWAL 147
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3. Table of contains
Page no.
1. Introduction to Basics of Effective Writing ………………………………..4
2. What is Effective Writing??.........................................................4
3. Principles of Effective Writing…………………………………………………….5
4. Basics Rules of Effective Writing…………………………………………………8
5. Common Mistakes in Writing…………………………………………………..10
6. How to Avoid Mistakes??.........................................................14
7. Introduction to Business Letters………………………………………………15
8. Basics Principles of Business Letters…………………………………………15
9. Physical Appearance of Business Letter……………………………………18
10. Types of Business Letters……………………………………………………….20
11. Purpose of Business Letters……………………………………………………24
12. Parts of Business Letters………………………………………………………..28
13. Forms of Layout of Business Letters……………………………………….31
14. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..37
15. Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..38
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4.  Basics of effective writing
 INTRODUCTION
Communication through words may be in writing or oral. Written
communication entails transmission of message in black and white.
It mainly consists of diagram, pictures, graphs etc. reports, policies,
rules, orders, instructions, agreements, etc. have to be conveyed in
written form for proper functioning of the organization.
In our society, the study of language and literature is the domain of
poets, novelist. Language is considered as attractive art, fit for
entertainment and culture.
 WHAT IS EFFECTIVE WRITING..??
Experiences in school leave, some people with the impression that
effective or good writing simply means writing that contain no bad
mistakes i.e. no errors of grammar, punctuation, or spelling. In fact,
good writing is just more than correct writing. It is writing that
responds to the interests and needs of our readers.
Briefly, here are the basics characteristics of goods and effective
writing:
 Good writing has a clearly defined purpose.
 It makes a clear point.
 It supports point with specific information.
 The information is clearly connected and arranged.
 The words need to be appropriate, and the sentences must be
clear, concise, emphatic, and correct.
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5.  PRINCIPLES OF GOOD OR EFFECTIVE
WRITING
Managers and leaders must express their ideas clearly, concisely,
and completely while speaking and writing. If your written
messages are not clear or lack important details, people will be
confused and will not know how to respond.
The process of writing involves three basics steps- Preparing,
Writing, and Editing.
1. KNOW YOUR OBJECTIVE:
Think before you write. What’s your goal? Make sure you fully
understand the assignment. Are you writing a one paragraph
executive summary or a five page report? Try answering this
question: What specifically do I want the reader to know, think,
or do?
2. MAKE A LIST:
Write down the ideas or points you want to cover. If you have
trouble getting started, try discussing your ideas with someone
else. “Kicking an idea around” often helps you clarify your
objective and fine tune what you are trying to finish.
3. ORGANIZE YOUR IDEAS:
Just as it is difficult to find what you want in a confused desk
drawer, it’s hard to find important ideas in a poorly organized
message. Here are a few ways you can organize your ideas:
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6.  Importance
Begin with the most important piece of information and
then move on to the next most important.
 Chronological Order
Describe what happened first, second, third. It must be in
ascending order.
 Problem- Solution
Define the problem, and then describe possible alternatives
or the solution you recommend.
 Question- Answer
State a question and then provide your answer.
Organize your ideas so the reader can easily follow your argument
or the point you are trying to get across.
4. BACK IT UP
Have an opinion but back it up- support with data. There are a
number of ways you can support your ideas, including
explanations, examples, facts, personal experiences, stories,
statistics, and quotations. It’s best to use a combination of
approaches to develop and support your ideas.
5. SEPARATE MAIN IDEAS
Each paragraph should have one main point or idea captured in a
topic sentence. The topic sentence is normally the first sentence
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7. in the paragraph. Each paragraph should be started by an
indentation or by skipping a line.
6. BE PRECISE AND ACCURATE
Words like “large”, “small”, “as soon as possible”, “they” are
unclear and imprecise. The reader may interpret these words to
mean something different than what you intended.
Reduce communication breakdowns by being specific and precise.
Define terms as needed. The reader may not understand certain
acronyms and abbreviations.
7. WRITE COMPLETE SENTENCES
A sentence is about someone doing something- taking action.
They may be a manger, employee, customer, etc. The “Doing
something- taking action” can include mental process such as
thinking, evaluating, and deciding, or physical action such as
writing and talking. A good rule to practice is to have subjects
closely followed by their verbs.
8. USE SHORT SENTENCES
Sentences should be a maximum of 12 to 15 words in length.
According to the American Press Institute, sentences with 15 or
fewer words are understood 90% of the time. Sentences with 8 or
fewer words are understood 100%.
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8.  Basic Rules of effective writing:
 BEING CONCISE:
a. Use of short sentences
b. Start document with purpose
c. Creation of ‘single screen view’ messages
d. Elimination of unnecessary words
i. E.g.. “Avoid bad miscommunication in email writing.”
ii. (the word ‘bad’ is a modifier which is used
unnecessarily)
e. Use lesser number of words
• PARAGRAPHING:
a. Short Sentences
b. Short Paragraphs (2 to 5 sentences)
i. Creates “white space”
ii. Quicker to read
iii. Engages the reader
c. Opening Paragraph
i. Five “Ws” - “Who?”, “What?”, “When?”, “Where?”, &
“Why?”
• Use of Lists:
1) Benefits of using lists:
a. Writer organizes thoughts
b. Reader sees main points
c. Important points are not overlooked
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9. 2) Formatting a list:
a. Use numbers or bullets
b. Items should be parallel
c. Capitalize the first word of each point
d. Be consistent with punctuation
3) Spacing of a list:
a. Double spacing makes reading easier
b. Double spacing takes more valuable screen space
c. Single spacing does not enhance the list
d. Single spacing takes less room
USE OF NON-DISCRIMINATORY LANGUAGE
a) Nondiscriminatory language is language that treats all people
equally.
b) Use language that is free of religious, age and sexual bias
c) Nondiscriminatory language can come between you and your
reader.
PUNCTUATION ,GRAMMAR AND SPELLING
a) Use ‘Spell Check’ function.
b) Always Proof Read document
Tone
a) How can I make sure my messages have the appropriate tone?
b) Ask the following questions:
a. Why am I writing this document?
b. Who am I writing to and what do I want them to understand?
c. What kind of tone should I use?
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10.  Common mistakes people make
when writing letters:
People have a tendency to avoid tasks for one of two reasons:
1) They find the task unpleasant or
2) They fear or know they are bad at it. Letter writing can fall into
either of these two categories. The category you can do
something to change, however, is the second one. Become aware
of common mistakes people make when writing letters and you
can improve your letter writing skills.
 Mistake #1: Not identifying the purpose of the letter.
Whether your letter is for business or personal communications,
you should state in the beginning what the letter is about. For
example, you are requesting a refund for a broken product or you
are following up on a proposal.
 Mistake #2: Not getting to the point.
Just as when you don't identify the purpose for your letter, not
getting to the point risks having the recipient miss the intended
message entirely. If you're really writing to resolve a specific
problem, don't spend three paragraphs apologizing in advance or
talking about unrelated issues.
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11. Mistake #3: Redundancy.
There are several types of redundancy, and all of them are equally
unnecessary. The first, and easiest to identify, is using the same
word more than once in the same sentence or more than three
times in the same paragraph. An example is "She added a
personal touch to the personal letter she wrote." The second type
of redundancy that many writers miss in their own writing is
repeating the same idea in different words: "Her message was
effective because it was personal.
 Mistake #4: Using unfamiliar acronyms, abbreviations or
technical language.
Don't assume your audience knows all the abbreviations, lingo
and acronyms that you know. An acronym is word formed from
the initial letters of a name, such as CHOP for Children's Hospital
of Philadelphia. The same letters can stand for different
organizations or meanings depending on where the person lives
or other frame of reference. Or they simply may not know what it
stands for.
Mistake #5: Using ambiguous or confusing words.
Similar to avoiding acronyms try to choose words with clear
meaning, especially if your letter is attempting to resolve a
conflict. Ambiguous subjects or misplaced descriptive phrases can
totally change the intended meaning of your words. If you are
having trouble identifying your own ambiguity, try writing your
major points in very simple subject-verb-object format.
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12.  Mistake #6: Monotonous sentence structure.
Counterbalance to mistake #5; you don't want to bore your
audience to sleep either. Writing every sentence in the same
exact structure and length is amateurish and disruptive to the
flow of the letter
Mistake #7: Inconsistency.
Variety, however, should not be confused with inconsistency.
There are two things that generally should not vary within a
sentence or even within your letter: person and tense. Person
refers to first (me, I, we), second (you) and third (he, them, etc.).
Tense pertains to verbs or action happening in the past, present
or future. Of course, there are always exceptions to this rule, such
as occasions where”
Mistake #8: Fragments, run-on sentences and missing or
incorrect punctuation.
A lot of people have heard of a fragment but don't recognize it
when they write one. A fragment is simply not a complete
sentence. Commonly used fragments are noun phrases (the man
with the short beard and navy jacket), verb phrases (walking
through the park and over the hill), and prepositional phrases (on
a tree stump within the national park reserve).
Mistake #9: Bad spelling and misused words.
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13. It ought to go without saying; misspelled words are a common
mistake in letter writing. Not only does bad spelling make you
look unprofessional, it also gives the reader the impression that
you don't know what you are talking about. If they don't believe
you, your communication is ineffective.
 Mistake #10: Not reading it over before you send it.
The last example is an excellent reason to be sure to re-read your
letter before sending it to anyone. Even if you think your letter is
free of human error (which would be rare!), your letter may have
been corrupted by computer error or unintentional (and
sometimes misfortunate) auto-formatting.
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14.  How to avoid mistakes…??
Where Do Commas Go?
The proper use of commas may seem difficult, but it really isn't. The
most common writing mistake is failure to separate two independent
clauses with a comma and a coordinating conjunction. Plain English?
When you write two complete sentences, sometimes you join them
with an "and" or "but." To be correct, a sentence like this needs a
comma before the "and" or "but." For example, "I went to the store,
and I bought some bread." Insert a comma before the "and" because
the phrases on each side are complete sentences.
You and Me... Me and You
Pronouns can be tricky. The following phrase in incorrect: "Me and
Molly are going to the movies." The pronoun "me" is incorrect. Take
out the other person's name, and read the sentence. You are left with,
"Me are going to the movies." You wouldn't say that. You would say, "I
am going to the movies." The correct pronoun, in this instance would
be "I." To revise, "Molly and I are going to the movies."
Can I Be a Writing Expert?
The online writing lab of Purdue University offers many helpful
resources. You can check out their proofreading section at
owl.english.purdue.edu. No writer will ever be perfect, but you can
avoid most common mistakes.
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15.  BUSINESS LETTERS
A LETTER IS REALLY, “A PIECE OF CONVERSATION BY
POST.”
EVERY LETTER YOU WRITE BEARS A HALLMARK OF YOUR
PERSONALITY.
BUSINESS LETTER IS AN OLD FORM OF OFFICIAL
CORRESPONDENCE.
A Business Letter is written by an individual to an organization or
an organization to another organization. Business letters are
written for various purposes. You will be writing letter to other
companies, firms, customers, government officers, employees etc.
Their aim is to achieve a definite purpose, such as selling a
product, making an enquiry, creating goodwill etc.
 BASICS PRINCIPALS OF BUSINESS
letter:
There are certain well accepted principals of good
correspondence. Such principals provide guidelines to write or
draft business communication more effectively. The principals
are:
A. PLANNING OF THE LETTER
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16. A business letter should be properly planned. The writer should
know what to say, to whom, when and why. While planning a
letter, the writer should consider the following factors:
 Assembling of facts:
The writer should collect as much as information as possible. Up-
to-date or latest facts must be collected. If the latest facts are not
collected, then the information exchanged will be incorrect,
inaccurate and incomplete. This may even annoy or irritate the
receiver and the sender may not get the desired response.
 Selecting the Approach:
It is not just ‘what to say’ is important, but ‘how to say it’ is
equally important. One should always try to find out new and
better ways to express the ideas or message to obtain the desire
response from the receiver. At this stage, it is essential to
understand the nature and the status of the receiver, and
accordingly draft the letters.
 Knowing the purpose of the letter:
A letter must have a definite purpose to serve. The purpose of the
letter can be:
To place or receive orders.
To give or get information.
To receive or pay money.
To exchange views, ideas, etc.
B. SINCERITY:
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17. A letter should be written with sincerity. The writer should make
the reader to understand that he is seriously and sincerely writing
the letter. The letter should be able to convince the receiver that
the information provided in the letter is correct.
C. SIMPLICITY:
The letter should be written in an easy and simple language. Use
of technical and commercial language must be avoided. Simple
language is only kind which people understand.
D. CLARITY:
The message must be clearly understood by the reader. For the
time the words should not be simple but must very clear. Words
which have different suggestion should be avoided. The reader
should clearly understand the message of the letter in first
reading itself. Use of complex sentences is to be avoided.
E. BREVITY:
A letter should write briefly, and effectively. Every word should
have its own value. Study each and every sentence carefully.
Consider its meaning and importance. Convey maximum
information in minimum words.
F. COURTESY:
Every letter must be courteously worded. Polite and convincing
words go long way in generating positive response from the
readers.
G. LAYOUT:
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18. The letter must have a proper layout. A layout is a plan which
shows the position of different parts of the letter. Just like an
architect’s plan which shows the number and position of doors,
windows, rooms, stairways etc. In the same way the layout of the
letter should shows the proper position of all parts of a letter, i.e.
it must have a heading, address, reference number, data,
salutation, subject matter, complementary close and the
signature
 PHYSICAL APPEARANCE OF
BUSINESS LETTER
A good business letter should have a pleasing appearance.
i. PAPER:
The paper used for writing letter must be of a good quality. Cheap
quality of paper creates poor impression of the sender on the
mind of the receiver. Therefore, to create good impression, the
sender should use good quality paper.
ii. LETTER-HEAD:
It refers to the name and address of the sender. The letter-head
must be well designed so as to impress the reader. The type,
design of letter and the color used for such letters must be
appealing. The letter head introduces the sender to the reader.
iii. TYPING:
The letter must be type neatly and without mistakes and
correction. Overtyping must be avoided. Quality ribbons must be
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19. used for typing. Nowadays, commercial organizations use
electronic typewriters and computers with lasers printers.
iv. MARGIN:
Proper margin must be kept on the left hand side and the right
hand side. Also, necessary space must be left at the bottom of the
letter. If there is less matter, then small sized paper must be used.
v. SPACING:
Proper spacing must be kept between the paragraphs. This is
because it facilities easy and quick reading. There should be
proper indenting. There should be proper justification on the both
side. Nowadays, electronic typewriter provides the facility of
justification.
vi. FOLDING:
As far as possible, letters must be folded with minimum folds. Too
many folds give a crumpled look and create poor impression.
vii. ENVELOPE:
Proper size, color and quality envelope must be used. The address
on the envelope must be neatly typed. Right letter must be placed
on the right envelope. Nowadays, some firms use window
envelope saves time and labor. It also gives an attractive
appearance.
viii. LAYOUT:
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20. There must be proper layout of the letter. All the parts of the
letter, i.e. date, letter heading, reference number, etc. must be
placed properly at the right place to give a balance look.
 TYPES OF BUSINESS LETTERS
1) JOB APPLICATION AND ATTACHMENT
A letter of application is one of the most important letters that an
individual writes, because of which a particular individual future
prospects and career depend. Therefore, it is very important for
every individual to possess, the ability to write a good and
effective letter of application.
2) RECOMMENDATION LETTER
A recommendation letter is a letter which expresses the personal
opining of a referee. This referee is, generally, a person who has
known the applicant for a certain period of time, in a particular
capacity. The applicant seeks the referee’s permission before
suggesting his name as referee, it is essential that he write in
favors of the applicant. The referees balance his opinions in
stamped and addressed envelopes given by the aspirant and send
it directly to the company after entitling me ‘confidential’. It is
therefore, advisable that the applicant select his referees
carefully.
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21. 3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT LETTER
An acknowledgement letter is used to acknowledge a fact, action
taken or a situation that happened. This letter is nothing but
saying a thank you to someone who has helped or supported you
in your difficult times. An acknowledgement is a spontaneous
reaction whereas a thank you many times is used as a social norm.
This sort of letter is used to convey your gratitude towards a
person who stood with you in your bad phase. It is for a longer
duration of time. A mere thank you works with a short term
action.
An acknowledgement is a great way to get response from other
side. The letter has to be direct and should recall the past deeds
and actions that you are acknowledging. This type of letter helps
you in building a bond or strengthening the relationship with the
recipient. This letter is also used to confirm that you have
received a letter, report and you are working on it. The letter
should have a positive tone. Do not bring any conflicts that you
had in the past in the letter.
4) ACCEPTANCE LETTER
An acceptance letter is written to convey your acceptance of an
offer. This letter helps the reader to understand and confirm
individual’s acceptance. These letters are professional responses
to the offers made by an organization or company. The letter has
to be professional as it can be used to impress your employers.
This type of letter has to be planned carefully and then neatly
drafted. The letter has to address the hiring manager of the
organization. The letter has to discuss the aspects of job like
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22. salary, benefits, insurance cover, etc. This will help the
organization in understanding that there is no misunderstanding
and all the terms and conditions are clear. This sort of letter helps
in showing transparency from your side.
5) AGREEMENT LETTER
An agreement letter is a formal type of written communication. It
is needed at the time of agreement between two parties. It
contains all terms and conditions regarding the agreement. An
agreement letter can be a written list of goods, services provided
at the agreed price, terms. An agreement letter should not be
vague in language and content and should state the purpose of
the agreement. Mention all the details, specifications and
conditions in an agreement letter. These letters acts as a model of
communication between the customer, vendors, consultants and
clients. This form of letters falls under the category of business
writing hence should contain no ambiguity and doubt. The
agreement letters should be crisp, direct and clear as far as the
content is concerned.
6) ANNOUNCEMENT LETTER
An announcement letter is used to announce an event in personal
or professional life. The announcement letter is a medium which
helps the writer to give out information about a situation.
Announcement letter is written for various purposes like
announcing the quarter financial results to investor, announcing
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23. an event, business announcements, announcing an engagement
or wedding, etc. Announcement letters are used both for
professional as well as personal purposes. The announcement
letter has to be direct and concise. The tone used in the letter is
always positive. This letter has to begin with the main purpose i.e.
announcement.
7) SALES LETTER
Selling is the index of success in business. It is the volume of sales
that determines the rest of the activities in a business firm. Hence
in the present days of keenly competitive business, businessmen
want to sell their products or services as fast as possible so as to
earn a suitable margin of profit.
SOME FEATURES OF A SALES LETTER
I. It is the least expensive and the most selective medium.
II. It can reach any age, group, financial class etc.
III. It can give complete information of a product.
IV. It is a one kind of business communication where informality
is not merely acceptable but is also appreciated.
V. It compels more attention from the reader because it does
not have to compete with other items such as
advertisements in magazines or newspapers. It does not give
a feeling of wasted efforts.
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24.  PURPOSE OF BUSINESS LETTER:
Business letters are used for many purposes such as to make
inquiries, send replies, to place orders or bank correspondences
etc. The main and the basic function of the business letter is not
only to convey your message to the person who receives the
letter but also to influence the reader
The single purpose of a letter is to convey thought. That thought
may have to do with facts, and the further purpose may be to
have the thought produce action. But plainly the action depends
solely upon how well the thought is transferred. Words as used in
a letter are vehicles for thought, but every word is not a vehicle
for thought, because it may not be the kind of word that goes to
the place where you want your thought to go; or, to put it another
way, there is a wide variation in the understanding of words
To request more information about a product
To ask for a business reference
To express your opinion about a product
To thank a person
As a sales tool to sell a product
One purpose of a business letter is to update customers on company
products.
Business letters can be written to employees or managers, as well as
clients and prospective customers. The business letter is a formal
type of communication that is usually typed on 8 1/2 by 11-inch
white stationery paper. Business letters must be targeted to a
specific individual or group, have a clear and concise purpose, be
convincing and end with a specific objective, like a meeting date.
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25. I. Sales Efforts:
The purpose of a business letter can include introducing
customers to new products. In direct mail, a form of advertising,
these letters are called sales letters. The sales letter is usually
mailed with a brochure and order form. While the color brochure
often features a company's products, the sales letter is designed
to highlight the key benefits of the products for the consumer or
business customer.
II. Relationship Building:
Purposes of business letters also include apprising or thanking
business associates or customers. For example, a cover letter sent
with a report can apprise business associates about the contents
of the report. These letters are often very short, with bullet points
highlighting key topics discussed in the report. Thank you letters
can be used by companies to thank customers for a recent order.
The objective of the thank you letter is to build rapport with the
customer, and remind them of the company's products or
website.
Selling Incentive Sales:
The purposes of business letters can include providing sales
incentives for customers. Selling incentive sales letters are used to
offer rebates, coupons or special deals to long-term customers.
For example, a small printing company may offer a 20 percent
discount to customers who have used their services for six
months or longer. An alternative would be to offer the discount to
customers who spend a certain dollar amount with the printer.
Companies typically use selling incentive sales letters to promote
existing products.
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26. III. Prevention/Solution
Sometimes, a business must write a letter to acknowledge a
complaint. This complaint could involve a customer service issue,
damaged product or even an inaccurate shipment. Consequently,
the company must write a letter to the customer that informs
them what is being done to correct the error. Complaints can lead
to potential legal problems.
Considerations
Finally, a company may write a business to a "lost customer" or
someone who has not purchased products for a while, according
to the Austin Business Journal. Internet, mail order and retail
companies that use databases often have the ability to find these
customers. Subsequently, they may write to these customers and
offer them a special deal
Delivering a Response
Business letters can be sent to deliver a response directed at a
request for something a person has applied for. These are usually
sent to an individual from a business. Businesses or organizations
can respond to an application for a job, funds, a scholarship, or
admission to a program. The response can either be bad news,
which is usually buried and cushioned between kind, polite words
and advice, or good news, which often comes attached with a
congratulations and further instructions. For legal purposes,
response letters from businesses are always written as politely as
possible so as not to excessively offend anyone.
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27. IV. Asking for Permission for a Project
Business letters can be used for the purpose of asking the
permission of a company to help with any project, such as to
allow filming on company property. These types of letter answers
the question "is this project reasonable?" to convince the
company that if they do not help. They are the ones being
unreasonable. If the project is reasonable, included are reasons
why it will not hurt the business's reputation, bank account and
employees.
Petitioning Something
A business letter can be sent for the purpose of petitioning a
problem that affects a group. This letter includes a description of
the problem or opportunity, a statement of who it affects and
approximately how many people are affected and the location of
the problem. If the location is not a specific one, a list of examples
may be included.
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28.  PARTS OF BUSINESS LETTERS
The various parts of Business Letters are as follows:
1. Letterhead:
It refers to name, address, telephone number and such other
details. It introduces the firm/ sender to the reader. The letter
head must be attractively designed.
2. Date:
It refers to date, month and the year. A date in the letter has legal
significance. It also helps for filing and referencing. Generally, date
is written on the right hand side below the letterhead, but
nowadays some companies write on left hand side. The date may
be preferably written like this: 8th August, 2002’’.
3. Reference Number:
It helps for filing and referencing to both the parties i.e. sender
and receiver. There are different ways of writing a reference
number. It depends upon the requirement of the sender.
4. Inside Address:
It refers to name and address of the receiver/ addressee. This is
always written on the left hand side. Whenever required Shri,
Smt, Mr., Ms, M/s etc. must be type.
5. Salutation:
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29. It refers to greeting to the addressee. It is written just below the
inside address. Sir, Sirs, Madam, Madams, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam,
etc. to be used depending upon the relations with the receiver.
It is to be noted that in business letters, it advisable to address the
party with his name in salutation for example, Dear Mr. Michael
Vase. This gives a personal touch to the letter.
6. Subject Line:
It is necessary to mention the subject to which the letter relates.
The subject line helps to sort out the letters and immediately the
receiver may to come know the purpose of the letter. For
instance, a complaint letter may contain a subject line like this:
“Complaint against defective goods…”
7. Body of letter:
This contains the subject matter. It must be divided into
paragraphs. Every separate idea or point must be presented in a
separate paragraph so as to facilities quick and easy
understanding.
8. Complimentary Close:
It refers to the regards or respect which the writer wants to
convey to the leaders it must agree with the salutation.
Salutation Complimentary Close
Respected Sir, Dear Sir Yours faithfully
Dear Mr. Sam Nair Yours sincerely
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30. It is to be noted that some organizations used “yours truly”
instead of “yours faithfully”. In countries like Japan and Germany,
“yours sincerely” is used even when the salutation is “Dear Sir”.
9. Signature:
Every letter contains the signature of the sender. It has legal
significance. It reveals the identity of the sender. The signature
must be always be handwritten and not rubber stamped,
especially on important letter. Below the signature, the name and
designation must be type. If a person is signing on behalf of boss
or someone, then ‘for’ or ‘Per Pro’ should be type before the
signature.
10. Identification Mark:
At the bottom of the letter, there may be initial of the clerk, who
types the letter. This mark is put to hold the typist responsible for
any grammatical or other errors, if any. However, the sender is
overall responsible for the letter.
11. Postscript:
The writer wants to insert additional matter after the completion
of the letter, and then such matter is written by indicating a P.S.
As far as possible, Post-Script must be avoided, as its shows
carelessness of the writer.
12. Enclosures:
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31. They are document send along with the letter. If there are any
enclosures, then they should be stated serially at the end of the
letter.
 LAYOUT OF BUSINESS LETTERS:
The layout is the ‘arrangement’ or ‘planned setting’ of the parts of
the letter. The format of the letter includes the margin, the space
around the parts of letter and balanced arrangement of the
obligatory parts of a letter. A Letter may follow any suitable layout
but care should be taken to ensure that the layout is correct and
complete. The following are some of the layouts used by firms for
correspondence.
i. The Indented Format:
This is the traditional style of letter writing and in this style the
lines are indented 5 to 10 spaces inside the left hand margin. The
date and subscription are written on the right hand side towards
the middle of the paper. The reference number is written on the
left hand side. The subject heading is written towards the middle
while the inside address is also indented. The letter becomes well
balanced after all the setting of the matter. The writer of the
letter should be careful about the full-stops, commas and other
punctuation marks.
The main characteristics of INDENTED STYLE are as follows:
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32. (a) A margin of about 1½” is adopted on both sides left and right
of the paper.
(b) The paragraphs and inside address in the body of letter are
indented 5 to 10 spaces inside. The first line of the inside address
starts from the left hand margin and the rest of other lines are
indented.
(c) The date and subscription are written on right hand side of
paper.
(d) All the paragraphs in a letter are separated by double line
spacing.
(e) The first line of each paragraph is indented and the rest of the
lines are blocked on the left hand margin.
ii. MODIFIED INDENTED STYLE:
It is the new form of INDENTED STYLE and in this all things are like
fully indented. The inside address is written as fully blocked and
there is no indentation in the inside address while all the other
things remain the same.
The main characteristics of MODIFIED STTLE are as follow:
a. The date, complimentary close and signature sections begin at
the horizontal centre of the page or are placed so that they
end near the right –hand margin.
b. Attention, and subject lines may be indented, centered or
begin at the left margin, where all other parts begin.
c. Thus, in this format, most parts in this letter begin at the left
margin but the date and the complimentary closing and
signature lines end at right margin.
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33. d. When this letter is filed, it is easy to see the data and the
name of the letter writer, by quickly going through the right
side of the pages. The page also looks balanced and neat.
e. In this style every line starts from the left hand margin. The
reference number, date, complimentary close of all letter are
written or typed on the left hand margin and this style is called
fully blocked. In this style the entire left hand margin is
blocked by writing the matter on left hand side and there are
no indentations inside the margin. This style is the most
modern style of letter writing in business.
iii. Fully Blocked:
In this style every line starts from the left hand margin. The
reference number, date, complimentary close of all letter are
written or typed on the left hand margin and this style is called
fully blocked. In this style the entire left hand margin is blocked by
writing the matter on left hand side and there are no indentations
inside the margin. This style is the most modern style of letter
writing in business.
The main characteristics of FULLY BLOCKED STYLE can be described in
the following points:
(a) Each and every part of the letter is written towards the left
hand margin of the paper. Every line starts from the left hand
margin.
(b) The full stops and commas (pattern of punctuation) are
implied only where these are absolutely necessary to maintain the
accuracy of the letter.
iv. Semi-Blocked:
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34. In this style of letter writing there are neither too many
indentations nor the matters blocked on the left hand margin of
the paper. The inside address and paragraph commence on the
left hand side and the date and subscription or complimentary
close are written on the right hand side. So the letter is neither
one sided heavy or fully blocked nor fully-indented so it is called
SEMI-BLOCKED.
The main characteristics of SEMI BLOCKED STYLE are as follows:
(1) The reference number, inside address, salutations, subject-
Heading and all paragraphs of letter commence from the left-
hand margin, similar to fully blocked style.
(2) The date and subscription are written or typed on the right
hand side of the paper.
(3) Like in fully blocked letter, the open pattern of punctuations
(meaning not using full stops and commas strictly) is used in this
style of letter writing.
v. Hanging Paragraph:
In this style of letter writing, the paragraphs are displayed in such
a way that they appear to be hanging on a peg. In this style, the
first line of paragraph is fully blocked and the remaining lines are
continuously indented 5 to 7 spaces inside the left hand margins.
It is just reverse to the Indented style of letter writing because in
this style the first line is not indented and the remaining lines are
indented.
The main characteristics of HANGING PARAGRAPH are as follows:
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35. (1) The reference number is written or typed on the left hand side
and the date is typed or written towards the right of the paper,
below the letter heading. The inside address is in fully blocked
form.
(2) The first few words of each paragraph are typed or written
from the left hand margin, similar to fully blocked style. The
remaining lines of paragraph are indented 5 to 7 spaces inside.
(3) The complimentary close or subscription is written or typed in
the normal position on right hand side towards the middle and is
indented.
The style is used rarely and is preferred for letter containing many
topics or paragraphs. The disadvantage of this style is that it is
time consuming due to many indentations. Secondly the
appearance of the letter is not attractive as compared to letters
written in other styles.
vi. Norma-Simplified or Memorandum:
This style of letter writing is implied in inter office correspondence
or internal written communication in offices. In this style there is
no salutation, no subscription as in business letters and the
matter is written directly in a simplified manner. In writing or
typing the body of a letter, fully blocked style is generally used.
The main characteristics of MEMORANDUM style of writing can be
described as:
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36. (1) The formal salutation “Dear Sir”, “Dear Sirs, “Sir” etc and the
complimentary close like “Yours faithfully” or “Yours truly” etc are
not used.
(2) The subject heading of the letter is written or typed in fully
blocked style.
(3) In this style, the body of a letter is generally typed or written
with fully blocked style of letter writing by starting every line from
the left hand margin. The usual spacing of double line is left
between the paragraphs.
(4) The sender’s name and address are typed or written towards
the right hand side at the end of the letter in bold capital letters
and the typist’s initials are written at the left hand bottom corner.
The typist’s initial are written for record purposes and for
establishing as to who had typed the letter.
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37.  CONCLSION:
A successful business letter is characterized by country,
clarity and conciseness. Writing letter becomes a necessity
for business transaction. While writing, the reader’s
interest should be kept in mind. This would ensure quick
transmission of message and evoke the desired response.
Let each letter have one main idea or point and this should
be communicated in plain and easy to understand
language.
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38.  Bibliography
1. Manan Prakashan
2. Vipul Prakashan
3. Rishabh Prakashan
4. Business Communication and Report Writing-R.C. Sharma
and Krishna Mohan
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