The form of an English business letter

Table of contents – form of English business letters

On this page you will find the following:

1. Structure of a business letter
2. Further explanations

How is an English business letter structured?

Regarding the structure of business letters, there are small differences between British and American English. In both of the two language varieties, however, a business letter consists of the following parts:

• Letterhead
• Reference
• Date
• Special markings
• Inside address
• Subject line
• Salutation
• Body of the letter
• Complimentary close
• Signature
• Enclosures
• Carbon copy (cc, bcc)

The main difference between American and British arises in the position of individual elements, spelling, and punctuation.

• In detail, the subsequent variations in American correspondence are unique:
  • The reference sign appears at the end of the letter.
  • The subject line usually comes before the salutation.
  • The spelling of the date follows the American style of writing.
  • More characters and punctuation marks are used, such as comma, colon, and full stop, for abbreviations, etc.

The particular articles linked above describe the usage of each subitem in the list comprehensively. For direct comparison, see these example letters:

• Sample of a British business letter
• Sample of an American business letter

Further explanations relating to the ‘Structure of an English business letter’

The following explanations are related to the topic ‘Form and different parts of English business letters’ and may also help you:

• Business titles in English
• Common phrases in business English