Business Letter Writing Style Examples
The ability to write a business letter is an important skill. Even in today's email and text-centered world many occasions arise when informal communication is not appropriate, and a formal business letter is required. Most everyone learned the basics of writing a business letter back in school. But there is more to writing a business letter than just the structure and format; you also have to consider content and style.
Content and style really just mean what you say in the letter and how you say it. Most business letters are relatively formal, requiring the use of one of a small set of greetings or closings, written at a difficulty level appropriate for a college level reader, and an overall tone reflecting a combination of confidence and courtesy.
A formal business letter needs to be formal enough to show all due respect to the correspondent, but not so formal as to impede communication. You should mention job titles, but try to use neutral job titles, and try to only use a title once in a letter. Avoid overusing masculine pronouns and try to stay away from phrases that reflect age or gender. Try to use active voice as much as possible, and carefully structure your letter to emphasize the important points and get your message across.
In terms of a continuum, it is probably best to think of less formal business letters rather than informal business letters, because even a relatively informal business letter is still quite structured and is expected to comply with conventions compared to a personal letter. If you choose a less formal tone that leaves you some room to use more enthusiastic and positive language as appropriate, and a little more leeway in structuring the main content of your letter to be as communicatively effective as possible. Bolding, italics, underlining and so forth is acceptable in a less formal business letter, but should still be used sparingly.
Business letters run the gamut from invitations to join the board of directors of a company to a notice of termination of a contract, and a few conventions apply to special situation business letters like a letter of application for a school or internship program or a cover letter when applying for a job. Most special situation business letters are requesting something from the addressee, so this kind of business letter needs to be courteous, positive and provide all of the information necessary for the other party to move forward with the request of the sender. Be specific. Do not tell your life story. Get to the point, make your case as eloquently as possible including any necessary information, and move on. The main body of the letter should be no more than three or four paragraphs in most cases.