A note about format and font

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 740.

When writing business letters, you must pay special attention to the format and font used. The format of the correspondence is determined by the office policy. The format depends on where you place the margins and how you type the letter. The most common layout of a business letter is known as block format. Using this format, the entire letter is left justified and single spaced except for a double space between paragraphs. Another format is a modified block format. In this type, the body of the letter is left justified and single-spaced, the date and closing are in alignment in the centre of the page or right justified. The final, and least used, style is semi-block. It is much like the modified block style except that each paragraph is indented instead of left justified.

Another important factor in the readability of a letter is the chosen font. The generally accepted font is Times New Roman, size 12, although other fonts such as Arial may be used. When choosing a font, always consider your audience. If you are writing to a conservative company, you may want to use Times New Roman. However, if you are writing to a more liberal company, you have a little more freedom when choosing fonts.

As far as punctuation after the salutation and closing is concerned, the standard is to use a colon after the salutation (never a comma) and a comma after the closing. There is also a less accepted format, known as open punctuation, in which punctuation is excluded after the salutation and the closing.