PARTS OF A BUSINESS LETTER

A business letter has both obligatory parts and optional parts.

The Obligatory parts are:

1. Senders address / Letter head
- It appears at the head of a letter.
- It introduces the sender to the receiver.
- It provides a return address for communication.

2. Date
- Legal significance - the contents of the letter become valid from the date of the letter.

3. Receivers address / Inside address
- It contains the name and address of the receiver.

4. Salutation
- This is a courtesy and a formality.
- This depends on the relationship between the letter writer and the reader / receiver.

5. Body of the letter
- This is the most important part of the letter as it contains the message to be conveyed.
- Without the body the other parts of the letter are meaningless.
- This should contain one or two ideas which must be well planned and presented keeping in mind positive expressions and the C's of communication.

6. Complimentary Close
- This too is a courtesy and a formality
- In the full block form it is left aligned and in the modified block form and the semi block form it is right aligned.

e.g. Yours faithfully
Yours sincerely
Yours truly... etc.

7. Signature Block
- A signature has legal value as the person who signs the letter takes responsibility for the contents of the letter
- The signature block contains
a. The signature
b. The full name of the signatory
c. The designation of the signatory

The Optional parts are:

1. Confidential / Private Notation
- It is used when the business matter contained in the letter is exclusively to be read by the person to whom it is addressed.
- The word 'Confidential' must also be typed on the envelope.

2. Reference Number
- This is usually typed on the same line as the date line.
- It helps in filing documents systematically.
- It is generally used by organisations and not individuals.

3. Attention Line
- It is positioned just below the inside address.
- It contains the name of the particular person in the organisation whose attention the letter writer would like to draw.

4. Subject
- Tells the reader what the letter is about.
- It should be to the point.
- In the full block form it is left aligned.
- In the semi block form and modified form it is center aligned.

5. Reference Line
- This refers to previous correspondence or any other written / printed document.

6. Enclosure
- It is a checklist of documents, cheques, etc., enclosed along with the letter.

7. C.C. (Copy Closed), B.C.C (Blank / Blind Copy Closed)
- Copies of the letter may be sent to several people.
- When a copy is sent to a second party without informing the original recipient of the letter the b.c.c. notation is used.

8. Superscription
- This includes whatever is written on the envelope such as 'Registered A.D.', 'Speed post', 'Private', 'Confidential', etc.