January 28, 2000                           (Put date on Line 13.  Remember, six lines, which is one inch, are hidden in the top margin default; therefore, you will enter down seven times to type the date.)

 

 

Mr. Don Brown, Vice-President                   (Leave 3 blank lines before this inside address.)

Carlisle Company

1234 Rhodes Avenue

Jackson, TN  38305

 

Dear Mr. Brown:                   (Leave 1 blank line before and 1 blank line after the Salutation—include a title.)

 

Leave one (1) blank line and start the body of the letter—single space the letter with double spacing between the paragraphs.  Don’t tab in the first line of each paragraph for a block style letter.  In a block style letter everything begins at the left margin.

 

You can either choose to have punctuation after the Salutation and Complimentary Closing (called mixed punctuation) or not have punctuation (called open punctuation).   If you have punctuation on one, you must have punctuation on the other.  If you have punctuation, you would put a colon (:) after the Salutation and a comma (,) after the Complimentary Closing.

 

Put a blank line between paragraphs in a letter.  Remember, there is one empty space in double spacing so you will enter two times.

 

Sincerely yours,                                           (Leave 1 blank line before this.)

 

 

 

Writer’s typed name                            (Leave 3 blank lines before this.   Include a title like Mr. or Miss)

 

Reference initials                              (Leave 1 blank line before the reference initials.  These are the writer’s initials followed by the typist’s initials, like DC:lyt)

Enclosure                                             (Leave 1 blank line before this—put only if there is something else in the letter other than the letter itself.)

 

 

                                                                                ****Important—When you finish typing the letter, look at it in Print Preview to make sure that it looks vertical centered on the page.  You don’t want it top heavy or bottom heavy.  If it is, you can make some spacing adjustments.