1.5　Different Styles of Business Letters

There are three different styles for business letters according to the writer’s preferences.They are blocked style，indented style and blended style.

1.5.1　Blocked style

It is a modern style and increasingly adopted in Britain and is popular in the United States.Its main feature is that all typing lines，including those for the letter head or heading，date，inside name and address，salutation，subject line or caption（sometimes in the middle），the body of the letter，complimentary close，the writer’s signature and his job title or position or designation，enclosure and postscript begin at the left-hand.That is，if this style is preferred，every line of the business letter starts from the very left margin.Please see Exhibit 1.2.

1.5.2　Indented style

Indented style is a traditional style.The second and succeeding lines of heading，inside name and address，the beginning of every paragraph in the body of the letter are all indented several spaces.Note that for one letter，the indented spaces should be uniformed，say，four spaces.Please see Exhibit 1.3.

1.5.3　Blended style

This style is the one combined with the full blocked style and the indented style.When this style is adopted，the heading and the inside name and address are typed in block form，but the first line of paragraphs forming the body of the letter are all indented four or more spaces.Please see Exhibit 1.4.