Transcript The Business Letter

The business letter is a letter format that requires you to be
formal.
 There is no slang and abbreviations used except for the
province
 Typically this letter would be used for resumés and formal
letters of complaint
 You could also use this letter to resign from a job or perhaps
when you are moving out of an apartment
 You will need to know this functional piece of writing for
many occasions in your life
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The parts of the business letter are as follows:
 The heading
 The Inside Address
 The Salutation
 The Body
 The Closing
 The Signature
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The heading of a business letter is the address of the writer
(namely you)
It is at the top left of your letter but it does not have your
name, it starts with your address
It will look like this
501 Spring Street
Regina SK R3T 4N7
January 3, 2002
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Notice that the postal code is right beside the province and
not on another line.
You will also put the date under your address
The inside address is of the person you are writing to
If you are typing your letter then you must leave 4 spaces
in between the heading and the inside address
 If you are hand writing the address, you only have to leave
one
 It will look like this:
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Sam Hunt, Director
The Knitting Mill
1409 3 Avenue
Toronto ON L3V 7B1
Notice that you use the person’s name and their position
in the company
 Again the postal code is on the same line as the province
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Leave one or two lines after the inside
address
This is the formal greeting to the person you
write to
It will look like this:
Dear Mr. Smith:
Dear Ms. Black:
Dear Mrs. Brown:
Dear Miss Green:
 Please notice how you will use a colon after the last name
and NOT comma
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Leave one space after the salutation
Do NOT indent
Start letting the person you know what you’re
talking about
There are 3 body paragraphs
 1st says who you are and why you are writing
 2nd gives more details and any information
important about meetings, prices etc.
 3rd paragraph is the formal goodwill statement
thanking them for reading the letter
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Leave one space
Here is the final chance for you to be polite to
the person you are writing to
You have two options
 Yours truly,
OR
 Sincerely,
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After writing the closing, leave 4 spaces
In those 4 spaces you will sign your name or
sign the name of the person you are writing
as
On the 5th line you print either your name or
the name you are writing as
The letter
part is all done!
JEAN BROWN
501 SPRING ST
REGINA SK S3T 4N7
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Every letter must have an envelope
The envelope that goes with is very simple
It looks like this: notice how everything is written in
capital letters and there is no punctuation
JEAN BROWN
501 SPRING STREET
REGINA SK S3T 4N7
SAM HUNT
DIRECTOR
THE KNITTING MILL
1403 3 AVENUE
TORONTO ON L3V 7O1
501 Spring Street
Regina SK R3T 4N7
January 3, 2002
(1 space if hand
writing
4 spaces if typing)
Sam Hunt, Director
The Knitting Mill
1409 3 Avenue
Toronto ON L3V 7B1
(One or two spaces)
Dear Mr. Hunt:
(One space)
The 1st body paragraph.
(1 space)
The 2nd body paragraph.
(1 space)
The 3rd body paragraph.
One space
Yours truly, OR Sincerely,
4 spaces whether you are typing or
handwriting and here is where you
handwrite the signature
Printed or typed name
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There is a very specific way to prepare for a
business letter and it’s called
 BPDOG
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It stands for
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B=background
P=purpose
D=details
O=operations
G=goodwill statement
Use this method to help you organize your
information
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Here is some information about what information
might look like organized like this:
Opening Paragraph
Background
Purpose(s)
The opening paragraph explains why you are writing.
This is where you supply background information and
explain your purpose in writing your letter.
My name is John Smith and I am President of Crystal Park
School Council. I am writing on behalf of the student
council to invite you to our volunteer luncheon.
2nd Body Paragraph(s)
Details
Operations
The body paragraph(s) explains any details or
operations that the addressee would need to
know.
The luncheon will be held on Wednesday, June 5th at
11:30 AM in the school gymnasium. Please
contact the school secretary to RSVP by June 1st.
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In any formal letter, no matter how angry, upset or
enraged you might be, you must remain polite!
Concluding Paragraph
Goodwill Statement
The concluding paragraph is a good will statement. This
is a short statement thanking the addressee for
his/her time and attention.
Finally, I want to thank you for your contribution to our
school. We look forward to your presence at the
volunteer luncheon.
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Here is your chance to write a formal business
letter!
Information you will need
(WRITE THIS DOWN)
You are writing as:
Isabelle Carrier
4823 45 Avenue
Lavalle QC N8V 9J7
You are writing to:
Mr. George Eaton, President
Eaton Company
220 Yonge Street 110
Toronto ON M5B 2H1
You are writing as Mrs. Carrier to Mr. Eaton to order Roch’s sweater
Please use the information from your text as well as organize that
information in the BPDOG format
 REMEMBER: be formal and NO slang…oh, and don’t forget the envelope!!
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