How to Write Letters (Formerly The Book of Letters) | Page 4

that letters should be elegant--that if
one merely expresses oneself simply and clearly, it is because of some
lack of erudition, and that true erudition breaks out in great, sonorous
words and involved constructions. There could be no greater mistake.
The man who really knows the language will write simply. The man
who does not know the language and is affecting something which he

thinks is culture has what might be called a sense of linguistic
insecurity, which is akin to the sense of social insecurity. Now and
again one meets a person who is dreadfully afraid of making a social
error. He is afraid of getting hold of the wrong fork or of doing
something else that is not done. Such people labor along frightfully.
They have a perfectly vile time of it, but any one who knows social
usage takes it as a matter of course. He observes the rules, not because
they are rules, but because they are second nature to him, and he
shamelessly violates the rules if the occasion seems to warrant it. It is
quite the same with the letter. One should know his ground well
enough to do what one likes, bearing in mind that there is no reason for
writing a letter unless the objective is clearly defined. Writing a letter is
like shooting at a target. The target may be hit by accident, but it is
more apt to be hit if careful aim has been taken.
CHAPTER III
THE PARTS OF A LETTER
The mechanical construction of a letter, whether social, friendly, or
business, falls into six or seven parts. This arrangement has become
established by the best custom. The divisions are as follows:
1. Heading 2. Inside address (Always used in business letters but
omitted in social and friendly letters) 3. Salutation 4. Body 5.
Complimentary close 6. Signature 7. Superscription
1. THE HEADING
The heading of a letter contains the street address, city, state, and the
date. The examples below will illustrate:
2018 Calumet Street or 1429 Eighth Avenue Chicago, Ill. New York,
N.Y. May 12, 1921 March 8, 1922
[Illustration: In the business letterhead appear the name of the firm, its
address, and the kind of business engaged in]

When the heading is typewritten or written by hand, it is placed at the
top of the first letter sheet close to the right-hand margin. It should
begin about in the center, that is, it should extend no farther to the left
than the center of the page. If a letter is short and therefore placed in
the center of a page, the heading will of course be lower and farther in
from the edge than in a longer letter. But it should never be less than an
inch from the top and three quarters of an inch from the edge.
In the business letterhead appear the name of the firm, its address, and
the kind of business engaged in. The last is often omitted in the case of
widely known firms or where the nature of the business is indicated by
the name of the firm.
In the case of a printed or engraved letterhead, the written heading
should consist only of the date. The printed date-line is not good. To
mix printed and written or typed characters detracts from the neat
appearance of the letter.
In social stationery the address, when engraved, should be about three
quarters of an inch from the top of the sheet, either in the center or at
the right-hand corner. When the address is engraved, the date may be
written at the end of the last sheet, from the left-hand corner, directly
after the signature.
[Illustration: Letterheads used by a life insurance company, a law firm,
and three associations]
[Illustration: In the case of widely known firms, or where the name of
the firm itself indicates it, reference to the nature of the business is
often omitted from letterheads]
2. THE INSIDE ADDRESS
In social correspondence what is known as the inside address is omitted.
In all business correspondence it is obviously necessary. The name and
address of the person to whom a business letter is sent is placed at the
left-hand side of the letter sheet below the heading, about an inch from
the edge of the sheet, that is, leaving the same margin as in the body of

the letter. The distance below the heading will be decided by the length
and arrangement of the letter. The inside address consists of the name
of the person or of the firm and the address. The address should
comprise the street number, the city, and the state. The state may, in the
case of certain very large cities, be omitted. Either of the following
styles may be used--the straight edge or the diagonal:
Wharton