Page 187 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes 13.1 the Basic format of a Business letter

The major parts of a business letter are discussed briefly as under:

figure 13.1: Parts of Business letter

Heading: Heading is the name of the firm printed in the letter pad in an attractive form. A
good and beautiful heading attract the receiver of the letter to go through thoroughly. Heading
contains the name of the firm, nature of business, address of registered office, telephone number,
telegraphic address etc. The heading is usually printed in attracting colours.
!

Caution According to the view of experts the heading portion should not cover more than
1/5th of the letter paper. Suitable measurement for heading is 2” to 2.5”.
Date: Date is important part of a letter. It should be written clearly with date, month and year.
There are different ways of writing the date in a letter, like 1-8-2008 or 1/8/2008, etc. But this
way of writing the date becomes very old-fashioned and at present the old forms are changed
over in this way.

Example: Sept. 1, 2003 or 1 Sept., 2003 and so on.

Reference number: Reference number is the number and date of the previous correspondence
held in this behalf. If the reference number and date is given, there will be no need to write the
previous letter again or to send a copy of it. Only the letter number and date of the previous
letter is sufficient for the receiver of the letter to refer back his file to understand the details of
previous letter. This is the reason that the letters received and the replies sent against each letter
are maintained in a file.

Example: Reference number is given in continuation of a code number; as RAC/
96-97/101 or 96-97/101.

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