has said, life is not so short but there is always time enough for courtesy. Moreover, there is sure to be occasional confusion or misunderstanding on account of this slovenliness. The complimentary close (5) is today only formal. In business letters we write almost without exception, "Yours truly," " "Yours very truly," or, when appropriate, "Yours respectfully." It should be noted that only the first word of the complimentary close begins with a capital letter and that "Yours," like most other pronouns, does not form its possessive by the use of an apostrophe. Here, as elsewhere, of course, abbreviations are unnecessary. "Yrs etc." is inexcusable. The signature (6) ordinarily concludes the business letter. This should in all cases be legible, neither careless nor ornate. If the letter is signed by another person than the writer, he should add under the signature the word by or the Latin word per, which means "by," and his own name or initials. By or per, when so used, is not begun with a capital letter. When a woman signs her name to a business letter it is not clear to a stranger whether she is married or single, and so he does not know how to address her in reply. Consequently a woman should prefix to her signature Miss or Mrs. in parentheses; as, Yours very truly, Or she may sign her name Yours very truly, Mary Jones and then write below, beginning at the left-hand margin : Please address Mrs. George T. Jones The words Please address may be omitted. A married woman should give her husband's name preceded by Mrs.; a widow, usually her own name, as Mrs. Mary Jones. In other words, a woman should indicate how she wishes letters to her addressed. In answering a business letter, address the writer by the name signed. After the heading, the address, the complimentary close, and the signature no punctuation is ordinarily used, but it is still considered good form to place a period after the signature and a comma after each other full line. A comma should always be used between the name of a city and its state; as, Erie, Pennsylvania. If a letter consists of more than one sheet, the sheets should be carefully arranged in order, preferably being numbered at the top. If letter paper, usually 8 by 10 inches in size, has been used, it should be folded once from the bottom, the crease being not quite halfway up the paper, then folded from the right, and finally from the left to fit the envelope. If note paper, approximately 5 by 8 inches in size, has been used, the first fold should be up from the bottom, the second down from the top. This may seem a trivial matter, but it saves the time and patience of the recipient. When inclosing a stamp, never, as many people do, attach it to the paper by a part of its mucilage. It too frequently tears and is ruined when one tries to detach it. With a sharp knife cut two parallel slits in the paper, and through these slip the stamp; or, better still, wrap it in oiled paper and inclose it in the folded letter. Always inclose a stamp when requesting a reply from someone who would not be expected, through friendship or business interest, to reply without it. When making an inclosure of any kind, mention the fact, either in the body of the letter or by adding "Inclosure" near the lefthand margin and below the signature. The envelope should be addressed so that the post-office department can with the least possible effort deliver the letter. To this end the stamp must be affixed in the proper place (the upper right-hand corner), the writing must be legible, and the necessary items of the superscription arranged in their proper order,— first the name, then the street and number or post-office box, then the county, if it is necessary to give that, and finally the state. If the letter is sent in care of someone, that fact may be indicated in a line immediately following the name or in the lower left-hand corner. In all of the models (see pp. 185 and 186) notice the position and spacing of the items. The arrangement of details on an envelope often varies; it should, however, be neat and easily read. It is the most approved business practice to omit on envelopes punctuation marks at the ends of lines, except periods after abbreviations. It is wise to write out in full the name of the city and the state. Likewise many titles, when used before a name or on the envelope, should be written out. Write " Professor George J. Benton," "Colonel Benjamin R. Bacon," "Judge Lewis C. Jenkins," "Reverend John C. Overstreet." However, doctor and a few other titles are commonly abbreviated. Titles are usually prefixed to the name if they would be used in addressing the man in speech; otherwise, if the title is to be written at all, it should be placed in a line immediately following the name. Never write Hon. Brown or "Rev. Smith," but " Hon. John Q. Brown" or "Rev. Henry W. Smith." ९९ Be sure in every case that the form is right. Until you write the form correctly as a matter of habit, look over your work to see that you have included all six of the essential parts of a business letter, that they are in the proper order, that the formal punctuation is used, and that capital letters are in the right places. II. FRIENDLY LETTERS In friendly letters the form is varied somewhat from that used in business correspondence. The address is omitted or, if the person addressed is not well known, it is placed at the end of the letter, after the signature, beginning at the left-hand margin. The salutation and the complimentary close may be as informal and as varied as intimacy or ingenuity warrants. Every word of the salutation except the first and the last, and every word of the complimentary close except the first, should be written with a small letter. The signature may be as informal as the salutation. After each line of the heading in friendly letters, and after the complimentary close and signature, end punctuation may be used, but it is correct and increasingly common to omit it. A period must, of course, be used after every abbreviation. After the salutation use a comma or, if the letter is somewhat formal, a colon. Often a dash is unnecessarily added after the comma or colon. Although some variations of form are permitted, it will be well for you to select one and to follow that until you have the habit of writing it with no error whatever. On pages 42-43 is an informal friendly letter, and on pages 175176 there is one somewhat more formal, each correct in its placing and punctuation of its parts. It is considered necessary by some authorities to place a comma after the complimentary close, even though no other end punctuation is used. Envelopes for friendly letters are addressed like those for business letters. It is common, however, to use in social correspondence end punctuation, as shown in the models on page 186. It is correct to use either style, the same for both envelope and letter, but you should adopt one and use it consistently. APPENDIX E GRAMMAR 1. OUTLINE OF GRAMMAR TOPICS1 A. THE SENTENCE I. What a sentence is; definition. (Book I, Problem IV.) A. Declarative (including imperative) and interrogative. (Book I, Problems IV and XIX.) The horse is in the rye. Get him out. Who will do it? B. Affirmative and negative. (Book I, Problem XXV.) I can do it. I cannot do it. C. Exclamatory and non-exclamatory. (Appendix E, II.) Get the boat. Come quick, the fire is spreading! 2 D. Simple (Book II, Problem XI), complex (Book II, Problem XI), and compound (Book I, Problem XXVI). We are going fishing. If the day is fine, we are going fishing. We are going fishing, but they are going hunting. 1 Page references may be found in the Index. 2 In Book I sentences are distinguished simply as single and compound. |