LETTER WRITING 



3389 



LETTER WRITING 



another person. These directions do not ap- 

 pear in the address. A period should follow 

 abbreviations, and a comma should separate 

 town and state when written on the same line; 

 sometimes no other punctuation is used, but 

 the following is considered the best form: 



Mr. Amos Kellogg, 

 540 N. State Street, 



Chicago, Illinois. 



The writer should place his name and address 

 in the upper left-hand corner of the envelope. 

 It may be either written or printed. 



The model on page 3388 shows the arrange- 

 ment of the different parts of a letter. This 

 is a good arrangement for all letters except 

 formal notes. The reader is urged to study 

 carefully the punctuation and capitalization of 

 each part. 



Social Letters. Social letters form the 

 greater part of most people's correspondence. 

 The more intimate the correspondents are, 

 the less formal letters may be. Hpwever, as a 

 means of safety, in case the letter should be 

 missent or lost in the mail, the heading, the 

 introduction and the full name of the writer 

 should each be written in its proper place. 

 The form of salutation may be unconventional 

 when the letter is from one member of a 

 family to another, or when the correspond- 

 ence is between intimate friends, as, Dear 

 Mother; Dear Sister May; Dear John, etc. 

 When the letter is to one with whom the 

 writer is but slightly acquainted the salutation 

 should be more formal, as, Dear Mr. Brown; 

 Dear Miss Jones. What has been said of the 

 salutation applies also to the complimentary 

 close. In case the writer wishes to close with 

 such an expression as, "Your loving son, 

 Henry," he should write his full name in 

 parentheses under the first signature. This will 

 enable the letter to be returned to the writer 

 should it be miscarried and eventually reach 

 the Dead-Letter Office (which see). Perhaps 

 all the directions that might be given to se- 

 cure a good letter may best be summed up in 

 this: Write your social letters when you are 

 in the mood for writing ; then will your thought 

 flow readily and you will wield a facile pen. 



Business Letters. A large volume of busi- 

 ness is transacted by correspondence, and the 

 business letter is yearly becoming of greater 

 importance. A man who can write a good 

 business letter has an advantage over his com- 

 petitor who is a poor correspondent. The for- 

 mer can write convincing letters that hold the 



attention of prospective customers, while the 

 letters of the latter are hastily, glanced at and 

 cast aside. 



Suggestions. The suggestions already given 

 relating to the parts and form of a letter 

 pertain to business as well as to social corre- 

 spondence. Those which follow are especially 

 applicable to business correspondence: 



1. The first impression made by a letter is all 

 important. See that your letter is in good form 

 and on good stationery. 



2. Be sure that the words are correctly spelled, 

 and that the punctuation and capitalization con- 

 form to the rules given in standard authorities. 



3. Use correct English and make your sen- 

 tences short and clear. 



4. Make the letter complete. The letter should 

 contain all that is necessary to its understand- 

 ing without obliging the reader to refer to letters 

 that have preceded it, unless the writer finds it 

 necessary to refer to a special letter of former 

 date. 



5. Be brief. While it is necessary that the let- 

 ter be complete it should contain no unnecessary 

 words and it should pertain to business matters 

 only. 



6. Be courteous. Courtesy costs nothing, but 

 it is one of the correspondent's most valuable 

 assets. Courtesy demands that you treat all 

 with whom you correspond as ladies and gentle- 

 men. However discourteous a correspondent's 

 letter may be, your reply should be couched in 

 courteous language. Sometimes it is wise to 

 delay the reply to a discourteous letter until you 

 have had opportunity to consider all circum- 

 stances connected with the case, then "put your- 

 self in the other fellow's place," and your reply 

 will doubtless be satisfactory. 



7. Be tactful. Tact means ability to discern 

 conditions and to say or do the fitting thing at 

 the right time. Tact is necessary in answering 

 complaints, in making collections and in securing 

 new business. 



Use of Titles. Courtesy demands that some 

 title precede the name of a person or a firm in 

 the introduction. No title is used in addressing 

 corporations, as, The Caxton Company, Chi- 

 cago; D. C. Heath & Company, Boston. The 

 title Messrs, is used in addressing firms com- 

 prising two or more individuals, as, Messrs. 

 Thompson and Brown. In addressing a firm 

 whose members are women Madames is used. 

 In addressing a man without a profession usage 

 requires the abbreviation Mr. before the name. 

 Miss should be used in addressing an unmar- 

 ried woman, and Madam in the salutation of 

 a married woman. This is also an appropriate 

 title for an elderly woman who is single. 

 Reverend is the appropriate title for a clergy- 

 man. The title of a bishop in the Koman 

 Catholic Church is Right Reverend and of an 

 archbishop Most Right Reverend. A physi- 



