Business and private letters 3.

Business and private letters 3.

The date – It can be written in one of the following ways:

March 13 2002
13 March 2002
March 13th 2002
Some firms insists on a comma before the year, but it is not necessary. In Britain the name of the town is not repeated before the date as is usual in Europe.

The salutation – The usual salutation in British business letters is Dear Sirs. In the USA the most common salutation is Gentlemen with a colon. The difference from the Czech writing is that in English we start the text of the message with a capital letter. When you write to an individual within the firm addressed, the salutation is Dear Sir – Dear Madam, Dear Mr…,Dear Mrs…, Dear Miss…In the USA the use of the form Ms is common, because it doesn’t indicate whether the person is married or unmarried.

The complimentary close – If the salutation is Dear Sirs or Dear Sir, the complimentary close will be Yours faithfully or Yours truly. If the salutation is Dear Mr… / and a name / , the complimentary close will be Yours sincerely.

The signature – The signature is made by hand and is usually followed with the typed name and the position in the firm.

Enclosure – If any enclosures are sent under the same cover, the fact is indicated at the bottom of the letter by the word Enclosure / often reduced to Enc. or Encl. /