Never use "oblige" in the place of the complimentary close.
Do not double titles, as "Mr. John Walker, Esq." Write either "Mr. John Walker" or "John Walker, Esq."
A woman should never sign herself "Mrs." or "Miss" to a social letter. In business letters (See [Chapter 3]) it may be necessary to prefix "Mrs." or "Miss" in parentheses to show how an answer should be addressed to her.
Never omit "Yours" in the complimentary close. Always write "Yours sincerely," "Yours truly," or whatever it may be. Never write a letter in the heat of anger. Sleep on it if you do and the next morning will not see you so anxious to send it.
In some business offices it has become the custom to have typed at the bottom of a letter, or sometimes even rubber-stamped, such expressions as:
Dictated but not read.
Dictated by but signed in the absence of ——.
Dictated by Mr. Jones, but, as Mr. Jones was called away, signed by Miss Walker.
While these may be the circumstances under which the letter was written and may be necessary for the identification of the letter, they are no less discourtesies to the reader. And it cannot improve the situation to call them to the reader's attention.
In the matter of abbreviations of titles and the like a safe rule is "When in doubt do not abbreviate."
Sentences like "Dictated by Mr. Henry Pearson to Miss Oliver" are in bad form, not to speak of their being bad business. They intrude the mechanics of the letter on the reader and in so doing they take his interest from the actual object of the communication. All necessary identification can be made by initials, as: L. S. B.—T.
Do not write a sales letter that gives the same impression as a strident, raucous-voiced salesman. If the idea is to attract attention by shouting louder than all the rest, it might be well to remember that the limit of screeching and of words that hit one in the eye has probably been reached. The tack to take, even from a result-producing standpoint and aside from the question of good taste, is to have the tone of the letter quiet but forceful—the firm, even tone of a voice heard through a yelling mob.
Do not attempt to put anything on paper without first thinking out and arranging what you want to say.