s a form of courtesy, but
is obsolete. "Favor," used to mean "communication" or "letter," is
obviously inaccurate.

"Replying to your letter, would say," or "wish to say." Why not say it
at once and abolish the wordiness?

"State" gives the unpleasant suggestion of a cross-examination. Use
"say."

"And oblige" adds nothing to the letter. If the reader is not already
influenced by its contents, "and oblige" will not induce him to be.

The telegraphic brevity caused by omitting pronouns and all words not
necessary to the sense makes for discourtesy and brusqueness, as:

Answering yours of the 21st inst., order has been delayed, but
will ship goods at once.

How much better to say:

We have your letter of 21st October concerning the delay in
filling your order. We greatly regret the delay, but we can
now ship the goods at once.

"Same" is not a pronoun. It is used as such in legal documents, but it
is incorrect to employ it in business letters as other than an
adjective. Use instead "they," "them," or "it."

_Incorrect:_

We have received your order and same will be forwarded.

_Correct:_

We have received your order and it will be forwarded.

"Kindly"--as in: "We kindly request that you will send your
subscription." There is nothing kind in your request and if there were,
you would not so allude to it. "Kindly" in this case belongs to "send,"
as "We request that you will kindly send your subscription."

The word "kind" to describe a business letter--as "your kind favor"--is
obviously misapplied. There is no element of "kindness" on either side
of an ordinary business transaction.

The months are no longer alluded to as "inst.," "ult.," or "prox."
[abbreviations of the Latin "instant" (present), "ultimo" (past), and
"proximo" (next)] as "Yours of the 10th inst." Call the months by name,
as "I have your letter of 10th May."

"Contents carefully noted" is superfluous and its impression on the
reader is a blank.

"I enclose herewith." "Herewith" in this sense means in the envelope.
This fact is already expressed in the word "enclose."

Avoid abbreviations of ordinary words in the body or the closing of a
letter, as "Resp. Yrs." instead of "Respectfully yours."

The word "Company" should not be abbreviated unless the symbol "&" is
used. But the safest plan in writing to a company is to write the name
exactly as they write it themselves or as it appears on their
letterheads.