Formal Letters

Welcome! Here are the notes for today. They are due by the end of class period today.

What to Say:

• Be formal and courteous.
• Make your point briefly and clearly.
• Include all the information the person will need.

Correct Form:

1. Heading: Contains your address and the date. Pay careful attention to capitalization and punctuation.
2. Inside Address: This address is the same address that you will use on the envelope. It appears at the left-hand margin. Include the name and title, if you know it, of the person to whom you are writing. Follow the same punctuation and capitalization rules that you use for the heading. You may use standard abbreviations.
3. Greeting: Skip a line or leave space between the inside address and the greeting. Use a colon (:) after the greeting. If you do not know the name of a person to write to, use Dear Sir or Madam:, or use the company's name after Dear.
4. Body: Write your message. Indent each paragraph unless you are using block style.
5. Closing: Skip a line or leave space before the closing and line it up with the heading. Use a formal closing such as Yours truly, or Sincerely yours. Capitalize only the first word of the closing.
6. Signature: Write your full name under the closing. Then print or type it under the signature.