Business Letters

A business letter is usually written to someone you don’t know. You might write a business letter to request information or to let someone know about a problem.

There are six main parts of a business letter: the heading, inside address, greeting, body, closing, and signature.

The heading tells the sender’s street address, their city, state and zip code, and the date the letter was written.

The inside address has the name and title of the person or company who will receive the letter, and their address.

The greeting usually starts with "Dear", and is followed by the person’s name or title. If you don’t know the name of the person you’re writing to, you can write Dear Sir, or Dear Madam. The greeting always has a colon after it.

The body is where you explain why you’re writing. It’s the main part of the business letter. This is where you would explain what you are requesting or what the problem is. Most people in businesses are really busy, so try to keep this part pretty short.

The closing is where you are ending the letter. Yours truly or Sincerely are good to use. The closing always has a comma after it.

The signature is the last part of the letter. You should sign your first and last names.

Here is a SAMPLE BUSINESS LETTER. We used this letterfor all the authors we wrote (but we changed the questions!)