How to Structure an English Business Letter

Sender's Address in a Business Letter

Don't write your address if you use paper with a ready-printed sender's address.
If you write your own address, only give the following information: house number, street, area code, place, country,
telephone. (Don't include your name here; in nglish the name is only put at the end of the letter.!
Note: "he order for sender's addresses in nglish is: house number, street, area code, place. If the order is different in your
culture, #eep to the structure used in your country, don't adopt the nglish way.
British English
Position: In $ritish nglish, the sender's address is usually placed in the top right corner of the letter.
American English
Position: In %merican nglish the sender's address is usually placed in the top left corner, below the date, or at the end of the
letter, below the signature..
&ender's address below the date:
&ender's address below the signature:
Date in a Business Letter
British English
Write: '( )ctober *(+(
Position: on the right, one line below the sender's address (in letters with a ready-printed sender's address, the date can also
be put in the top left corner!
American English
Write: )ctober '(, *(+(
Position: top left corner (sometimes centred!
Dates in Written English
British English
In $ritish nglish the day is usually put before the month. If you wish, you can add the ending of the ordinal number. "he
preposition of before the month is usually dropped. ,ou can put a comma before the year, but this is not common anymore in
$ritish nglish.
-ample: .(th! (of! )ctober(,! *((/
American English
In %merican nglish the month is usually put before the day. If you wish, you can put the definite article before the day. It is
common to write a comma before the year.
-ample: )ctober (the! .(th!, *((/
,ou can also write the date by using numbers only. "he most common forms are:
-ample: .0+(0(/ or .-+(-(/
1ote, however, that .0+(0(/ usually means . )ctober *((/ in $ritish nglish and 2ay +(, *((/ in %merican nglish. "o
avoid any possible confusion, you should spell out the month or use the abbreviation.
Months and Days of the Wee
1ote that the months and days of the wee# are always capitalised. If you don't want to write the whole words, you can use
the abbreviations. In $ritish nglish, abbreviations are usually written without full stops (%pr!, full stops are normal,
however, in %merican nglish (%pr.!.
2onths are abbreviated as follows:
2onth %bbreviation 2onth %bbreviation
3anuary 3an 3uly -
4ebruary 4eb %ugust %ug
2arch 2ar &eptember &ept
%pril %pr )ctober )ct
2ay - 1ovember 1ov
3une - December Dec
Days of the wee# are abbreviated as follows:
Day %bbreviation
2onday 2on
"uesday "ue
5ednesday 5ed
"hursday "hu
4riday 4ri
&aturday &at
&unday &un
Dates in S!oen English
If you put the day before the month, use the definite article before the day and the preposition of before the month.
. )ctober *((/ - the fifth of )ctober, two thousand and four
If you put the month before the day, use the definite article before the day in $ritish nglish. In %merican nglish, the
definite article can be dropped.
)ctober ., *((/ - )ctober (the! fifth, two thousand and four
"ears
4rom *((( onwards, years are pronounced li#e ordinary cardinal numbers.
*((( - two thousand
*((' - two thousand and three
arlier years are pronounced differently: the first two figures are a number and the last two figures are a number. "hey can
be 6oined by hundred and, which is only necessary, however, if the last two figures are (( through (7.
+777 - nineteen (hundred and! ninety-nine
+8(9 - eighteen hundred and si- 0 eighteen oh si-
If you want to give the year without an e-act date, use the preposition in:
I was born in +7:*.
"o distinguish between dates before and after the birth of ;hrist, use $; und %D:
$; < '$efore ;hrist'
%D < '%nno Domini' (in the year of the =ord!
#eci!ient's Address in a Business Letter
Ms / Miss / Mrs / Mr / Dr ...
house number, street
place
area code
COUNTRY (in capital letters)
In %merican nglish, the area code is usually at the same level as the place, separated by a comma.
Position: on the left
British English
In $ritish nglish, the recipient's address starts on the same line as the date or one line below the date.
American English
In %merican nglish, the recipient's address starts two lines below the sender's address (or two lines below the date if the
sender's address isn't placed in the top left corner!.
Salutation in a Business Letter
$f you now the !erson's name%
Dear 2s 0 2iss 0 2rs 0 2r 0 Dr > surname
Dear 2r 2iller
,ou can also write the person's full name. In this case, leave out the title (2r02rs!. "his way of writing the salutation is very
handy if you don't #now the gender of the person.
Dear ;hris 2iller
$f you don't now the !erson's name%
"here are several possibilities to address people that you don't #now by name:
salutation when to use
Dear &ir 0 Dear &irs male addressee (esp. in $ritish nglish!
?entlemen male addressee (esp. in %merican nglish!
Dear 2adam female addressee (esp. in $ritish nglish!
=adies female addressee (esp. in %merican nglish!
Dear &ir or 2adam gender un#nown (esp. in $ritish nglish!
=adies and ?entlemen gender un#nown (esp. in %merican nglish!
"o whom it may concern gender un#nown (esp. in %merican nglish!
$usiness partners often call each other by their first names. In this case, write the salutation as follows:
Dear &ue
Punctuation
In $ritish nglish, don't use any punctuation mar# or use a comma.
Dear 2r 2iller or Dear 2r 2iller,
In %merican nglish, use a colon:
Dear 2r. 2iller:
4or e-amples see @ &ub6ect.
Ms& Miss or Mrs'
2rs A to address a married woman
2iss A to address an unmarried woman (rarely used now!
2s A to address a woman whose marital status you don't #now; also used to address an unmarried woman
Note: "he abrreviations 2r, 2rs etc. are usually written without full stops (2r! in $ritish nglish and with full stops (2r.!
in %merican nglish.
Su()ect Line in a Business Letter
% sub6ect line is not really necessary. ,ou may want to use one, however, so that the reader immediately #nows what your
letter is about. "here are three common methods to distinguish the sub6ect line from the body of the letter:
Bse C&ub6ect:C or CDe:C
"ype the sub6ect in bold letters
"ype the sub6ect in capital letters
British English
"he sub6ect line is usually placed between the salutation and the body of the letter (with a blan# line in between!.
American English
In %merican nglish, the sub6ect line can also be placed between the recipient's address and the salutation (with a blan# line
in between!.
Body of a Business Letter
;apitalise the first word of the te-t (even if the salutation ends with a comma!. "he te-t is left-6ustified and a blan# line is
put after each paragraph. It is not common to indent the first line of a paragraph.
*ontent
first paragraph: introduction and reason for writing
following paragraphs: e-plain your reasons for writing in more detail, provide bac#ground information etc.
last paragraph: summarise your reason for writing again and ma#e clear what you want the recipient to do
Note: ,our te-t should be positive and well structured.
+reeting in a Business Letter
British English
If you used the recipient's name in the salutation, use 'sincerely'.
If you did not use the recipient's name in the salutation, use 'faithfully'.
American English
Bse 'sincerely', no matter if you used the recipient's name in the salutation or not ('faithfully' is not common in %merican
nglish!.
Salutation , +reeting
British English
&alutation ?reeting
Dear 2s 5e-ley
Dear 3ane 5e-ley
,ours sincerely 0 &incerely yours
Dear 3ane
Dear &ir
Dear &irs
Dear 2adam
Dear &ir or 2adam
,ours faithfully 0 4aithfully yours
American English
&alutation ?reeting
Dear 2s. 5e-ley:
Dear 3ane 5e-ley:
Dear 3ane:
&incerely, 0 &incerely yours,
?entlemen:
=adies:
=adies and ?entlemen:
"o whom it may concern:
&incerely, 0 &incerely yours,
In emails you could also write:
Degards
Eind regards
$est wishes
Note: If you end the salutation with a comma or colon, use a comma after the greeting. If you didn't punctuate the salutation,
don't punctuate the greeting.
Position: 5rite the greeting two lines below the last paragraph and left-6ustify it. If the date is centre-6ustified, however, do
also centre-6ustify the greeting.
=eave / blan# lines after the greeting (space for the signature! and write the sender's name below that space.
Enclosure in a Business Letter
If you wish to enclose documents, you can either list all enclosed documents separately or 6ust write the word 'nclosure'
below the signature.