A Guide to Formal Letter Writing

Formal letters have the following basic elements:

1 ) Heading. The writer’s full address and the date appear here. The writer’s name should not be included in the heading, because it will appear at the end of the letter. Stationary with a letterhead may include the address. If so, type the date two spaces beneath the letterhead, against the left margin. If you need to type the entire heading, place it just to the right of center.

2) Inside address. This includes the recipient’s name, title or department, organization, and address. Place the inside address two spaces beneath the date, against the left margin.

3) Salutation. This politely addresses the recipient by title and last name. The titles Mr, Mrs, Dr may be abbreviated, but Professor and Colonel may not. Ms is generally preferred for women whether they are married or not, unless they go by another title.

Dear Mrs Smith: (if you know the person’s name)

Dear Sir or Madam: (if you don’t know the person’s name)

When you do not know the name of the person you should direct your letter to, you may write to an organization by using one of these alternatives:

Dear Personnel Director:

Dear Credit Card Manager:

Use a colon rather than a comma after the salutation in business letters.

4) Body. Begin the text of your letter two spaces beneath the salutation. Single-space within paragraphs and double-space between them. Do not indent paragraphs.

5) Complimentary closing. Two spaces beneath the body of the letter begin the closing, place it either against the left margin or aligned with the heading, just to the right of center. Most formal letters end with this sentence. Learn it!

I look forward to hearing from you.

Standard closing include:

Yours sincerely, (if your letter starts with Dear Mrs Smith)

Yours faithfully, (if your letter starts with Dear Sir / Madam)

Sincerely, Sincerely yours,

Cordially, Best regards,

Capitalize only the first letter of the first word, and end with a comma.

Sign your name and print it clearly.

Exercise 27. Correct the following letter.

583 west 32^nd avenue

apartment 1d

new york n y 10025

september 5 2005

dear sir or madam

i am writing to ask for more information about the youth debating competition which i saw advertised in the international student/ i am the chairperson of my schools debating team and we would be very interested in participating but require further details/

first of all could you let us know whether there is an age limit for participants/ our team consists of twenty five students aged between thirteen and seventeen/ would it be possible for all of us to take part/ and if so would we need to be accompanied by a teacher/

we would also be grateful if you could tell us when the deadline for application is as well as the exact dates of the competition so that we can make the necessary travel arrangements/ finally we would appreciate some information concerning accommodation in the area where the competition is going to take place/

i look forward to receiving your answer/

yours faithfully

anna milton

ANNA MILTON

Exercise 28. Read the following letter of complaint. In some lines there are punctuation mistakes. For each numbered line 1-30, show the correct punctuation. Some lines are correct. Indicate these lines with a tick (√).

A Letter of Complaint

45 Milton Street,

Cambridge.

25 October, 2002.

Fitness Products Ltd,

St Helier,

Jersey JE6 9NY.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing to you about a Tour de France exercise bike serial number 39879) which I bought from Mogul Megastores on 29^th September for ₤499.99. I enclose copies of the guarantee and receipt.   In your advertising you claim that, by using the exercise bike for ten minutes a day, you would lose at least two kilos a week I have been using the bike for a month now and it is as though I have done no exercise at all. In fact the more I use the bike, the more weight I seem to put on, despite following the instruction manual carefully   Even worse than that the bike is extremely badly made. The speedometer stopped working after a week and the machine that measures heartbeats must also have broken since it gave readings of over two hundred beats per minute when I was cycling at full speed I was so worried that I went to the doctor, who told me not to worry as my heartbeat was perfectly normal. However the final straw came when the pedals broke just as I was cycling at full speed. As well as falling off the bike and nearly breaking my arm I pulled a muscle in my thigh, which has caused me considerable pain and meant that I have had to take three days off work.   When I took the exercise bike back to Mogul Megastores not only did the manager refuse to refund the money but said that he would not repair the bike either. He was also extremely rude and treated me as if I was stupid to have bought the bike in the first place. I would like you to refund my money as soon as possible and I suggest that you pay compensation for the injuries that I have received. Unless I receive a satisfactory reply within the next three weeks I will have to take further action I have already been in contact with my local consumer protection office in order to ask for advice and they have recommended me to take legal action, if I do not get full satisfaction.   I look forward to hearing from you.   Yours faithfully   A. N. Jeffreys   A.N. Jeffreys (Mr)

(serial …√…. ………   ……….……..……… ……….……..   ……… ……………… ……………… ……………… ….…..………………   ……………… ……………… ……………… ……………… ………………   ……… ……… ………   ………   ………

Now it’s your turn. Write your own letter of complaint. Imagine you bought one of the following products (a CD player; a pair of shoes or boots; a jacket; a mobile phone; a portable television; a digital watch) and something went wrong with it. Write a letter of complaint to the firm which produced this product. In your letter answer the following questions:

● What went wrong with the product?

● What claims did the advertisement make?

● What happened when you took it back to the shop?

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