Business correspondence is a collective notion. It represents a variety
of writings and business letters are one of its types. Business letter is a type of correspondence between companies or between companies and individuals, such as customers, clients, contractors, or other outside parties. It is considered to be the oldest representative of the business correspondence. Also, it is still written on paper and sent in an envelope. This type of letter has very well established rules and regulations, which usually cannot be ignored. There are two most common letter formats namely block which can sometimes be called full block, and modified block. The two letter formats differ in date and signature block, paragraph indentation, and subject line. In block letter format, its date and signature block can be lined up at left margin while it can be lined up 1/2 or 2/3 over to the right in modified block letter format. As for paragraph indentation, there is none for block letter format and optional for modified block. Lastly, subject lines are optional for block or full block and rare for modified block. Salutation is an expression of greeting, goodwill, or courtesy by word, gesture, or ceremony. It should be written using the same level of formality as someone would use in talking to another on the phone. Also courtesy titles should be used in writing salutations except when the sender of the letter is on a first-name basis with the recipient. Generally, courtesy titles such as Ms. for a woman unless she has a professional title or prefers traditional title, and Mr. for a man unless he has a professional title can be used. However, there are circumstances wherein the sender knows the name of the reader but not the gender, or when the sender knows neither of the readers name nor gender and he or she doesnt know how to address the recipient properly. In such cases wherein the sender knows the name of the reader but not the gender, he or she should either call the company and ask the receptionist or use the readers full name in the salutation. While in cases wherein the sender knows neither the readers name nor gender, he or she may use the readers position or job title, or use a general group to which the reader belongs, or omit the salutation and use a subject line in its place. Complimentary close the part of a letter that immediately precedes the writer's signature, consisting of words such as Sincerely, Cordially, Very truly yours, etc. One may use a less formal close when he or she is writing to
people in special groups or to someone who is a friend as well as a business
acquaintance.
Punctuation is the use of spacing, conventional signs, and certain
typographical devices as aids to the understanding and the correct reading, both silently and aloud, of handwritten and printed texts. It can be mixed or open in writing business letters. In mixed punctuation, a colon and a comma follow the salutation and the close respectively. While in open punctuation, all punctuations are omitted after the salutation and the close. Business letters may also include subject and reference lines. A subject line of a business letter is the portion of the letter where the sender tells the reader about his or her subject. Although a subject line is not always necessary in a business letter, especially if the letter is brief, it can be helpful as it immediately conveys to the reader the subject of the letter. It should be very short and to the point. The reference line on a business letter is a statement describing the main focus of the letter, a number for an account, invoice and others, or a reference to previous correspondence. In business correspondence a number of abbreviations are used, some of which are only suitable for informal communication, some even for electronic communication only. In formal business letters, a clear, formal writing style should be used, however, there exist some instances in which the use of abbreviations is appropriate to save both space and time. A business memo or memorandum is also one type of business correspondence. It is not much different from business letters. It is a document used for internal communication within an organization. Memos omit both the salutation and the close and never indent paragraphs. Subject line are required in memos while headings are optional. However, each heading must cover all the information until the next heading and one should never use separate heading for the first paragraph. Also, it should be noted that memos are usually initialed by the To/From block as initialing tells the reader that the sender has proofread the memo and prevents someone from sending a memo with the senders name on it when the sender did not really write it. Rather than simply initialing, organizations may just ask their employees to sign memos just like what other organizations do. The signature goes below the last line of the memo, starting halfway over on the page, and prevents anyone adding unauthorized information.