Business Letters

Table of Contents:

ContenT - B.P. Dog…..………...……………………..…3

Format of a Business Letter….………………4

Format – Visual……………………….…………...….…5

Sample Business Letter ..…………………..……6

Addressing an Envelope…….………………….…7

Content – B.P.DOG

Opening Paragraph: / Background
•Who are you?
Not your name, but your title or position
•What qualifies you to write them?
•Why should they care about your inquiry?
Purpose
/ •What is the purpose of the letter?
•What are you trying to accomplish?
•Why are you writing?
Body Paragraph(s): / Details
•What information can you provide that will draw the reader’s attention to your letter?
•Discuss supporting details or evidence that back up your reason for writing
Operations
•Follow your details by inviting a meeting/phone call/email/letter
•Provide a date, time, place to further discuss your concern
•Provide your phone number and email address
Concluding Paragraph: / Goodwill Statement
•End with 3-4 sentences that leave the reader with a positive, motivated feeling.
•Even if you are writing to complain, you should ALWAYS end on a positive note.
•The reader should be convinced to act
Putting it all together: / •Your business letter should have 3 paragraphs
Paragraph 1: Background and Purpose
Paragraph 2: Details
Paragraph 3: Operations and Goodwill Finish

Format

Parts of a Business Letter

1. / Heading / Sender’s address and the date
2. / Inside Address / Name (title) and address of the addressee
3. / Salutation / Dear:
4. / Body / B.P. DOG
5. / Closing / Yours truly, or Sincerely,
6. / Signature / Your full name signed in ink
7. / Your Name Printed / Your full name printed below the signature

Format of a Business Letter

Note: Students should double-space word-processed work in order to make revisions more easily. This should be applied only to the body of the letter and not to the other parts.
Parts of the Business Letter(see illustrations on next page)
1. Heading
The heading consists of your address and the date.
PO Box 8207 905-12963 61 Street
Edmonton AB L2R 3V6 Edmonton AB L2R 3V6
May 13, 2012 May 13, 2012
2. Inside Address
The inside address consists of the name and address of the person to whom you are writing. It usually appears two lines below the heading if typed or one line below if it is handwritten.
Sam Hunt, Director
The Knitting Mill
1409 3 Avenue
Toronto ON L3V 7O1
3. Salutation
The most traditional salutation or greeting for a business letter is Dear followed by Mr., Ms., Mrs., or Miss, and the person’s last name, followed by a colon.
Dear Mr. Smith: Dear Mrs. Brown:
Dear Ms. Black: Dear Miss Green: / 4. Body – B.P.D.O.G.
The body is the main part of the letter in which you write what you have to say to the addressee. Skip one line after the salutation.
Be concise. Ensure that sufficient informationis given so that your purpose is clearly understood and your request is well received.
Business letters are usually formal, so thelanguage that you use should also be formal.
5. Closing
The closing is the ending to your letter. It appears at the bottom of the letter, directly under the body. Only the first word in the closing should be capitalized. It is always followed by a comma.
Yours truly,
Sincerely,
6. Signature
The signature is your full name signed. Your signature should appear directly below the closing. It should always be written in ink.
7. Your Name Printed
8. Commonly Used Abbreviations for Provinces and Territories
Alberta AB Nova Scotia NS
British Columbia BC Nunavut NU
Manitoba MB Ontario ON
New Brunswick NB Prince Edward Island PE
Newfoundland NL Quebec QC or PQ
Northwest Territories NT Saskatchewan SK
Yukon YT

Sample Business Letter

1520 87 Avenue

EdmontonAB T5C 2A3

May 1, 2012

Ms. Valerie Sanchez,Principal

RedwoodSchool

870 Broadmoar Boulevard

edmontonAB T5C 2A7

Dear Ms. Sanchez:

I am a ninth-grade student at RedwoodSchool. I think that students in our school should be allowed to wear uniforms. We need to spend less time and money worrying about our school clothes and spend more time and energy on our studies, especially in our PAT year.

If students were allowed to wear uniforms, parents would spend less money on clothes. Parents could then spend money on more important things that kids need like food, books and medical care.

If students wore uniforms, it would make it easier for them to get to school on time. I spend a lot of time in the morning deciding what clothes to wear. But if I wore a uniform, then I wouldn’t waste my time thinking about clothes. I could focus more on getting to school.

Students wouldn’t worry so much about fitting in if they wore uniforms. Kids are under a lot of pressure to wear the right clothes, brands and styles. Uniforms would show kids that it’s more important to be judged on who they are rather than on what they wear.

I really think this is an important issue. Students in our school should be allowed to decide if they want to wear uniforms or not. Thank you, Ms. Sanchez, for reading my letter. I hope you will consider my suggestion.

Sincerely,

Thomas James

Addressing an Envelope

Parts of an Envelope

1. / Return Address / Name and address of sender
2. / Mailing Address / Name (title) and address of addressee

Envelope Format

  • Address should be written in upper-case letters.
  • All lines of the address must be aligned to the left.
  • No punctuation marks are used unless they are part of a place name (ex: ST. JOHN’S).
  • The postal code should be on the same line as the city and province, and should be separated from the province by two spaces.
  • The two-letter abbreviation for the province name should be used.