Below are common rules for formatting business letters.
You are expected to follow all listed rules when composing letters for
class.
|
2 spaces after a |
||
| . | (period) | |
| ? | (questions mark) | |
| ! | (exclamation point) |
that ENDS a sentence. |
Everything else has 1 space after it except for a : (colon) which has 2 spaces after it.
| Open Punctuation | Mixed Punctuation |
| This term means that there is NO punctuation after the Salutation or the Close. | This term means that there is a colon ( : ) after the Salutation and a comma ( , ) after the Close. |
| Example | Example |
| Dear Mr. Pitt
Sincerely |
Dear Mr. Pitt:
Sincerely, |
| In the example above the Salutation (Dear Mr. Pitt) does NOT have a colon following it and the Close (Sincerely) does NOT have a comma following it. | In the example above the Salutation (Dear Mr. Pitt) DOES have a colon following it and the Close (Sincerely) DOES have a comma following it. |