There are two sorts of formal letters which every one has occasion to write: bus iness or professional

letters, and social notes of invitation, acceptance, regre t, congratulation, acknowledgment, and the like. Experience has proved that many college freshmen have not learned from high school instruction or from observat ion how to write either business or social letters properly. The directions in W oolley's Handbook of Composition, Chapter IV, Rules 304-350, should be carefully studied and followed, not only in the practice letters written in this course, but in all regular correspondence. Business letters. In business letters it is best to avoid all abbreviation, exce pt of such words as Mr. and Mrs., spelling out the names of months and states, a nd such words as street, avenue, company. Figures, however, should always be use d for the day of the month, the date of the year, and house numbers. It is an un desirable affectation to write dates entirely in words, as illustrated in the in correct example in Woolley, Rule 311. Excessive abbreviation implies haste and c arelessness, but the use of figures for dates is not abbreviation; it is establi shed usage. The only exception is in the case of formal engraved or written soci al invitations in the third person. The inside address in a business letter, as indicated in Woolley, Rules 330-334, should include the complete name of the person, firm, or company addressed, wit h the proper title before the name of a person, and the word Messrs. before the name of a firm; together with at least the name of the city of the addressee's r esidence, and preferably the street address. It is extremely crude to begin any kind of letter thus: Mr. Andrew Jackson. Dear Sir: Another point in connection with the inside address in letters to individuals is that the first name or initials of the person addressed must always follow the title. To begin a letter Prof. Wilson, Simpson University, Dear Sir: is inexcusable. If one does not know the initials, courtesy demands that a direc tory or catalogue be consulted in order to find them; unless, indeed, the acquai ntance of the writer with the addressee, as pointed out in the next section, jus tifies the salutation My dear Professor Wilson, in which case the initials are o f course not needed. They will, however, be needed for the outside address, in a ny case. The salutation in letters to professional men. The salutations Dear Sir, Dear Ma dam, and Gentlemen are appropriate for all business letters. On the other hand, letters written to a professional man with whom one has even a slight acquaintan ce more often begin My dear Professor James, My dear Doctor Merriam, with the in side address transferred to the end of the letter, or omitted. Such letters as t he following should begin in this way: letters to a college teacher in regard to college business; letters to a minister, physician, or lawyer with whom one has some acquaintance or official relation; letters even to strangers under such ci rcumstances as arranging for a debate with another college, inviting judges, req uesting literary contributions to college publications. These are all business l etters in the sense that they deal with definite transactions and arrangements n ot of a social character; but they rest upon a personal basis or relation which demands the less formal salutation. On the other hand, an athletic manager order ing goods for a team, a solicitor requesting advertising for a student publicati on, a student ordering books from a publisher, or applying for a summer position as canvasser, would of course begin with the complete inside address followed b y Dear Sir or Gentlemen. The difference between the strictly commercial letter a nd the formal yet personal letter addressed to professional men is not easy to d efine precisely. Perhaps it will suffice to remember that one should use Dear Si

r if a money consideration is the principal thing involved on the part of the ad dressee; and My dear Mr. ... if the element of professional skill, courtesy, or accommodation is dominant. Style in business letters. In the body of a business letter all the principles o f exposition apply: unity, in that the paragraphing should show at a glance the several subjects or parts of a subject of which the letter treats; coherence, in that the order of words and phrases within the sentence, and of sentences withi n the paragraph, should be logical and clear j emphasis, in that the most import ant points should be dealt with in the emphatic positions, the beginning and the end, and with such fullness as may be necessary. In all these respects the mode rn practice of dictating letters to an amanuensis has caused a great deteriorati on in the business correspondence of all but the best firms and corporations. Di ctation as a form of oral composition is the most important of all uses of Engli sh for the successful business man and for many professional men. For obvious re asons no practice in dictation can be given in college classes. Inasmuch as most college men have to write their own business letters for some years before they are able to employ a secretary, the best way to learn to dictate well is to wri te well.