Drafting Of Correspondence

Other Important Elements to be Considered
in Writing Correspondence

Abbreviations

In formal correspondence, the use of abbreviations is never allowed except for particular words which are generally spelled in abbreviated form. However, if one uses the term "Philippines" as an adjective, as in the case of Philippine ships, service ranks, technical papers, legal work, tabular work, footnotes and citations of authority, one may use "R.P.". Dates, titles of any kind and organization names should not be abbreviated in formal writing.

In informal communication, the abbreviation of the name of an organization is acceptable when frequent reference is made to it and provided that the full name of the organization has already appeared at last once in the same document.

Punctuation

This i an important device in giving clarity to communications. Grammatical and typographic rules on punctuation are to be followed.

Underscoring

This serves the same purpose as italic type in printing which is to denote emphasis but its use has to be restricted.

In manuscripts prepared for publication, names and titles contained in the text or footnotes are not quoted but are underscored for printing in italics. However, the following items are to be quoted, not underscored:

names of vessels and aircrafts;
the titles of publications including newspapers and periodicals and the titles of articles;
the titles of speaches;
chapter headings.

Two exceptions to this rule are:

a. In abbreviated legal citations the titles of publications are neither quoted nor underscored.
b. In lists or columns consisting entirely of the names of vessels, aircrafts or publications, such names and titles are to be neither quoted nor underscored.

Division of Words

In general, avoid the division of words at the end of lines, especially in headings. Resort to division of words only when it is necessary to prevent a very irregular margin. In such a case, division should be made between syllabes and according to pronounciation rather than derivation.

A. Never divide

the last word of a page.
a single letter from the rest of the word.
a two letter ending syllable. Words of three or four letter should not be divided, and words of five or six letter are seldom divided.
a date between month and the day, but the year may be carried over to the next line.
abbreviations and contractions such as M.D., Il.D., B.C., etc.
abbreviations such as Mr., Mrs., Sr., and J.R., from the names they accompany.

B. Avoid dividing