FORM AND LAYOUT OF BUSINESS LETTERS The appearance of business letters should be impressive. The stationery should be of qual- ity that speaks to the status of the company and the individual writing the letter. The layout should be neat, with proper margins on all sides. The text should be carefully positioned on the letterhead. In addition, there should be a sufficient margin (at least half an inch) on the left side to allow for binding or filing. The typeface should be attractive and easy to read. Proper line spacing (double spacing instead of single) helps readability. Business-letter Styles A business organization usually selects one of the following formats for its business letters: 1. The full-block style 2. The semi-block style 3. The simplified style Usually, the full-block style is preferred. It is convenient to set left-hand margins for paragraphs and other parts of the letter, such as the date, address, salutation, text, close, signature, and notations. It also looks simple and clear. Every line begins at the same distance from the left margin, which results in each paragraph looking like a distinct block. The convention of open punctuation further simplifies the use of the full-block style. Earlier, the address, salutation, and closing followed close punctuation and used a comma after each line and a full stop at the end. The full-block style has a disadvantage when following close punctuation, as it looks heavy on the left side. However, the trend now is to leave the choice of open or close punctuation to the writer, as long as the writer is consistent with his or her choice. In the semi-block style, the beginning of the paragraph is not left aligned; only the lines are left aligned. The first line of each paragraph is indented. The date, closing, sig- nature, name, and title are indented to the right half of the page. In the simplified style, the letter has neither a salutation nor a closing. A subject line takes the place of the salutation. All lines begin from the left margin. Exhibit 9.14 illustrates each of these styles. A business organization can use any of the styles, but it should use a consistent format for all business correspondence.