PART II

The letters

A basic structural design underlies every kind of writing.
The writer will in part follow this design, in part deviate from it,
according to his skill, his needs, and the unexpected events
that accompany the act of composition.

—William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, The Elements of Style

You have learned the basics. From planning and structure to appearance and grammar, you have learned what it takes to write a good letter.

Part II of The AMA Handbook of Business Letters takes you a step further. In the chapters that follow you will see the basics of letter writing at work in more than 370 sample business letters, also available to customize at www.amacombooks.org/go/AMAHbkBizLts4.

These letters, which show you the application of the basics discussed in Part I, were chosen for two major reasons. First, this sampling of letters gives you access to many of the more common letters written in everyday business. Second, the letters are particularly well-written examples upon which you can model effective business letters.

You can use many of the letters in Part II as form letters or as prototypes for your own letters. Change the names and addresses in these letters, tweak them a little, and use them with your own customers.

The caption at each of the sample letters gives you a concise description of its purpose. The narrative interspersed among the letters gives you a brief analysis of each letter’s strong points.

We don’t expect you to diligently read through every sample letter in every chapter of Part II. Read those sample letters that can best help you improve or increase the scope of your letter writing. Study them and, if you apply the basics learned in Part I, you’ll be well on your way to writing better, more effective letters.