Other proper Complimentary Closings are:
Yours truly,
Yours respectfully,
Stick close to the forms of the model above. A very slight departure will make you appear crude. For instance, to say
D. C. Johnson,
Boston, Mass.
Messrs.—
would be entirely wrong.
As to the Body of the letter, however, write it your own way so long as you use words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs, of a kind we have striven to attain throughout this work. Do not make your letter telegraphic; complete your sentences.
The instructions given for the attainment of the proper forms in ordinary business communications are in no sense as rigid as those given for the military communication. Many officers now use the military forms for their correspondence with business firms, and, indeed, many of these firms have themselves adopted the military form.
The third type of official letter is that of the official telegram. It does not differ in principle from the ordinary telegram, and therefore does not require separate practice. Those who have conquered the field message should have no trouble in its composition.
It is written on an official telegraph blank which may be obtained from the Quartermaster. The blank is for the purpose of having the message go at Government expense. Army Regulations state that “telegrams will be followed by official copies sent by the first mail in cases of financial transactions of more than trifling importance, and in cases in which chiefs of bureaus of the War Department may deem it necessary themselves to send, or to require officers serving under their immediate control to send them, such copies.” It is a good thing in any case to mail a copy of a telegram.
The other kinds of official correspondence which need no letters to accompany them are Rolls, Returns, Estimates, Requisitions, and Routine Reports. A study of these forms of communication belongs properly to the subject of administration. They are, therefore, simply mentioned here.