Letter Layout

Many organisations now have templates for writing letters which automatically put the addresses, the date, the heading, etc. in the correct place. This introductory unit on letter layout is for those who would like to brush up their knowledge on laying out letters in formal English, or for those working away from the office, but who still need to write letters in a more formally correct way.

Run your mouse over the boxes to get some quick information about the various layout components. Click on the box to move down the page to get some greater detail.

Previously printed stationary will usually be available. The letterhead includes:

• The trading name, name of ministry, etc.
• The postal address
• The telephone number
• The fax number
• Logo
• Modern organisations now include website and e-mail addresses
• ‘Our reference’ and ‘Your reference’ may be included in the letterhead.

The date on a business letter is displayed in the order day, month, year. For example, 16th July, 2002. Sometimes a comma separates the month from the year, but increasingly, the date is written without the ‘th’, ‘st’, ‘rd’, or ‘nd’ after the day and also without a comma: 16 July 2002 Neither the month nor the year should be abbreviated as 'Jan'. or '02'.

In American English the date is written month, day, year. For example, July 16 2002.

The International system used in Sweden is: year, month, day. With such a mixture of ways of showing the date, it is clear that misunderstandings can arise. For this reason we strongly recommend that the date is written out in FULL. Then the possibility for misunderstanding is very much reduced.

Letters may be addressed to entire organisations or departments, as well as to a personally named individual. But when the letter is to a governmental ministry an important question of protocol is involved.

A letter should never be addressed to an individual officer in a ministry, i.e. the Permanent Secretary. When the letter is intra- rather than inter-ministerial, that is to a department within the same ministry, the letter is addressed to the Director or the Commissioner or whatever their title. It is never addressed to an individual you happen to know.

The rationale behind this is that the executive head is ultimately responsible for all decisions, statements, etc. in which their institution is involved and therefore has in theory to be given the opportunity to be completely up to date on all correspondence received by their institution.

 Where contact has been made with the individual either orally, or through previous correspondence, this can be indicated by the (Attn. Mr. X) device.

The recipient's postal address can be written with open or closed punctuation:

The rule to remember when writing with closed punctuation is: comma, comma, comma, full-stop.

Closed punctuation is, however, falling out of all but the most formal of correspondence.

Note that the town or city name in the receiver’s address should be written in CAPITAL letters.

The need to file correspondence for future reference requires that each letter carry two reference entries. ‘Our ref’ prefaces the outgoing letter, while 'Your ref' indicates the reference given to an incoming letter that is being acknowledged. Commonly both references have the following components.

• The letter writer's initials
• The letter typist's initials
• A coded reference

There is no fixed rule as to where on the letter the references should be placed. In our example we have put them in one of the more common placements.

How a letter is opened and closed is determined by how well the writer knows the person being written to.

Give the letter a title that clearly indicates the main content of the letter. This is important in helping filing clerks to make appropriate registration and to ensure continuity of subject matter.

The heading is often introduced with the preposition ‘re’ which means regarding.

The opening paragraph puts the message into context by:

• acknowledging the date, receipt and subject of any received correspondence.
• supplying the reason for the letter being written
• providing essential names dates or other data to put the message into context.

The middle paragraph or paragraphs develop the detailed message. In complex letters there may be several middle paragraphs. Some data might be displayed in tabular form.

The closing paragraph states the action needed.

For the same reasons of protocol mentioned in ’the letter’s recipient’ above, an officer never signs a piece of official correspondence on their own behalf but always for the officer ultimately responsible for the officer's actions, i.e. for the Permanent Secretary where the letter is inter-ministerial, or for the Director where the letter is intra-ministerial.

 Where the subject matter of the letter relates to a policy decision or is in any other respect of a delicate nature, it is wise to show the letter to the director of the division and possibly request him to sign it. It is always better to be cautious when dealing with anything that is even a remotely sensitive issue, or not well defined.

In more formal situations, the typewritten name will be the person responsible for any decisions or actions taken by the department. For this reason, and as mentioned above, the signature may be made by another person.

The designation will be position of the person with the responsibility to make decisions at that level.

The most common other items commonly seen in letters are c.c. and enc.

c.c. is the abbreviated form of ‘carbon copy’ and is used to show where other copies of the letter have been sent.

enc. is the last piece of information that is presented in a formal letter. It shows how many accompanying sheets of paper have been sent together with the cover letter.

Move to the next page to see an example letter.