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41 <h1 class="docs">Writing letters</h1>
43 <div style="width: 33%; margin: auto;">
44 <ul class="no-enumerator">
45 <li><a href="#letters-intro">Introduction</a>
46 <li><a href="#letters-tutorial">Tutorial</a></li>
47 <li><a href="#letters-defaults">Mom’s default letter style</a>
48 <li><a href="#index-letters-macros">The letter macros</a>
52 <div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
54 <h2 id="letters-intro" class="docs">Introduction</h2>
57 Mom’s simple but effective letter-writing macros are a subset
59 <a href="docprocessing.html#docprocessing">document processing macros</a>,
60 designed to ease the creation of correspondence.
64 Because the letter macros are a subset of the document processing
66 <a href="definitions.html#controlmacro">control macros</a>
67 to design correspondence to your own specifications. However,
68 mom makes no pretence of providing complete design flexibility in
69 the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple communicative
70 documents whose only real style requirements are that they be neat
71 and professional-looking.
74 <div class="examples-container" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
75 <h3 id="letters-tutorial" class="docs">Tutorial – writing letters</h3>
78 Mom letters begin, like all mom-processed documents, with
79 <a href="docprocessing.html#reference-macros">reference macros</a>
81 <a href="docprocessing.html#author">AUTHOR</a>),
83 <a href="docprocessing.html#doctype">DOCTYPE</a>
84 (LETTER, obviously), the essential
85 <a href="docprocessing.html#printstyle">PRINTSTYLE</a>
87 <a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>,
90 <span class="pre-in-pp">
91 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
96 PRINTSTYLE, above, could also be <kbd>TYPEWRITE</kbd>. Mom has no
97 objection to creating letters that look like they were typed on an
98 Underwood by a shapely secretary with 1940s gams.
102 Please note that if you choose <kbd>PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</kbd>,
103 there's no need to give the <kbd>SINGLESPACE</kbd> option, as this
104 is the unalterable default for letters.
108 After the START macro, you enter headers pertinent to your letter:
109 the date, the addressee (in business correspondence, typically both
110 name and address), the addresser (that’s you; in business
111 correspondence, typically both name and address), and a greeting
112 (in full, e.g., “Dear Mr. Smith,” or “Dear
117 The macros for entering the headers are simple (they’re not even
118 <a href="definitions.html#toggle">toggles</a>):
120 <span class="pre-in-pp">
126 You may enter them in any order you like, except for GREETING, which
127 must come last. Mom ignores any headers you omit and spaces the
128 letter’s opening according to what you do include. See
129 <a href="#letters-defaults">Default for letters</a>
130 to find out how mom formats the headers.
134 Once you’ve filled in what you need to get a letter started,
135 simply type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph,
136 including the first, with the
137 <a href="docelement.html#pp">PP</a>
142 At the end of the letter, should you wish a closing (“Yours
143 truly,” “Sincerely,” “Hugs and
144 kisses”), invoke the macro <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd> on a line
145 by itself, and follow it with the text of the closing. <b>N.B.</b>
146 Don’t put your name here; mom supplies it automatically from
147 <a href="docprocessing.html#author">AUTHOR</a>),
148 with enough space to leave room for your signature. If you omit the
149 closing, mom simply adds your name (from AUTHOR), again with enough
150 space for your signature.
154 Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence,
155 here’s what the complete letter looks like.
157 <span class="pre-in-pp">
158 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
172 St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
176 It has come to my attention that you have once again been
177 lobbying the US government to prohibit the use of open source
178 software by endeavouring to outlaw so-called "warranty
181 I feel it is my duty to inform you that the success of your
182 operating system relies heavily on open source programs and
183 protocols, notably TCP/IP.
185 Therefore, in the interests of your corporation’s fiscal health,
186 I strongly advise that you withdraw support for any US
187 legislation that would cripple or render illegal open source
192 This produces a letter with headers that follow the North American
193 standard for business correspondence. If you’d prefer another style
194 of correspondence, for example, British, you’d set up the same
197 <span class="pre-in-pp">
198 .AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
206 St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
218 Notice the use of <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd> after <kbd>.FROM</kbd> and
219 <kbd>.DATE</kbd> in this example, used to change the default quad
224 <h2 id="letters-defaults" class="docs">Default letter style</h2>
227 In letters, if the order of header macros is
229 <ol style="margin-top: -.5em;">
230 <li><kbd>.DATE</kbd></li>
231 <li><kbd>.TO</kbd> (the addressee)</li>
232 <li><kbd>.FROM</kbd> (the addresser)</li>
233 <li><kbd>.GREETING</kbd> (“Dear Whoever,” “To Whom It May Concern,” etc.)</li>
235 <p style="margin-top: -.5em;">
238 <ul style="margin-top: -.5em;">
239 <li>the date flush right, page right, at the top of page one,
240 with a gap of two linespaces underneath
242 <li>the addressee (<kbd>.TO</kbd>) in a block flush left, page
243 left, with a gap of one linespace underneath
245 <li>the addresser (<kbd>.FROM</kbd>) in a block flush left, page
246 left, with a gap of one linespace underneath
248 <li>the greeting flush left, with a gap of one linespace
252 <p style="margin-top: -.5em;">
253 which is the standard for North American business correspondence.
257 If you switch the order of <kbd>.DATE</kbd>, <kbd>.TO</kbd> and/or
258 <kbd>.FROM</kbd>, mom sets all the headers
259 flush left, with a gap of one linespace underneath each. (The
260 default left quad of any header can be changed by invoking the
261 <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd> macro, on a line by itself, immediately before
262 inputting the text of the header.)
266 Following the headers, mom sets
268 <ul style="margin-top: -.5em;">
269 <li>the body of the letter justified</li>
270 <li>in multi-page letters:
271 <ul style="margin-left: -.5em;">
272 <li>a footer indicating there’s a next page (of the form <kbd>.../#</kbd>)</li>
273 <li>the page number at the top of every page after page one</li>
275 <li>the closing/signature lines flush left, indented halfway across the page</li>
279 Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed
281 <a href="typesetting.html#top">typesetting macros</a>
282 or the document processing
283 <a href="definitions.html#controlmacro">control macros</a>
285 <a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
286 Assume that any style parameter not listed below is the same as for
287 any document processed with
288 <a href="docprocessing.html#typeset-defaults">PRINTSTYLE <kbd>TYPESET</kbd></a>
290 <a href="docprocessing.html#typewrite-defaults">PRINTSTYLE <kbd>TYPEWRITE</kbd></a>.
293 <div class="defaults-container" style="padding-bottom: 8px;">
294 <span class="pre defaults">
295 PARAMETER PRINTSTYLE TYPESET PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE
297 Paper size 8.5 x 11 inches 8.5 x 11 inches
298 Left/right margins 1.125 inches 1.125 inches
299 Header margin 3.5 picas 3.5 picas
301 Header gap 3 picas 3 picas
303 Family Times Roman Courier
306 Line space 13.5 12 (ie singlespaced)
307 Paragraph indent 3 ems 3 picas
308 Spaced paragraphs yes no
310 Footer margin 3 picas 3 picas
311 Footer gap 3 picas 3 picas
312 Page numbers top, centred top, centred
314 *Footers contain a "next page" number of the form .../#
318 <div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
321 <div class="macro-list-container">
322 <h3 id="index-letters-macros" class="macro-list">The letter macros</h3>
323 <p style="margin-left: 9px; margin-top: -1.5em;">
324 All letter macros must come after
325 <a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>,
326 except NO_SUITE, which must come after
327 <a href="docprocessin.html#start">PRINTSTYLE</a>
329 <a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
332 <ul class="macro-list" style="margin-top: -.75em;">
333 <li><a href="#date">DATE</a></li>
334 <li><a href="#to">TO</a></li>
335 <li><a href="#from">FROM</a></li>
336 <li><a href="#greeting">GREETING</a></li>
337 <li><a href="#closing">CLOSING</a>
338 <ul style="margin-left: -.5em;">
339 <li><a href="#closing-indent">CLOSING_INDENT</a></li>
340 <li><a href="#signature-indent">SIGNATURE_INDENT</a></li>
342 <li><a href="#no-suite">NO_SUITE</a> – turn the “next page” footer off</li>
348 <div id="date" class="box-macro-args">
353 Invoke <kbd>.DATE</kbd> on a line by itself, with the date
354 underneath, like this:
356 <span class="pre-in-pp">
360 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the date,
361 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
362 immediately after <kbd>.DATE</kbd>.
366 If you wish to insert additional space between the date and any
367 letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the date,
368 not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
370 <span class="pre-in-pp">
373 .SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
375 If you wish to remove the default space,
377 <span class="pre-in-pp">
378 .SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
385 <div id="to" class="box-macro-args">
390 Invoke <kbd>.TO</kbd> on a line by itself, with the name and address
391 of the addressee underneath, like this:
393 <span class="pre-in-pp">
399 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
400 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
401 immediately after <kbd>.TO</kbd>.
405 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
406 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
407 address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
409 <span class="pre-in-pp">
414 .SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
416 If you wish to remove the default space,
418 <span class="pre-in-pp">
419 .SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
426 <div id="from" class="box-macro-args">
431 Invoke <kbd>.FROM</kbd> on a line by itself, with the name and
432 address of the addresser underneath, like this:
434 <span class="pre-in-pp">
438 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
440 If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
441 enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
442 immediately after <kbd>.FROM</kbd>.
446 If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
447 any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
448 address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
450 <span class="pre-in-pp">
454 Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
455 .SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
457 If you wish to remove the default space,
459 <span class="pre-in-pp">
460 .SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
467 <div id="greeting" class="box-macro-args">
468 Macro: <b>GREETING</b>
472 Invoke <kbd>.GREETING</kbd> on a line by itself, with the full
473 salutation you want for the letter underneath, like this:
475 <span class="pre-in-pp">
483 <div id="closing" class="box-macro-args">
484 Macro: <b>CLOSING</b>
488 Invoke <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd> on a line by itself after the body of
489 the letter, with the closing you’d like (e.g., “Yours
490 truly,”) underneath, like this:
492 <span class="pre-in-pp">
498 <div class="box-tip" style="background-color: #E3D2B1;">
500 <span class="tip" style="display: inline-block; padding-bottom: .5em; color: #000056;">CLOSING control macros and defaults</span>
502 Two macros control the behaviour of <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd>:
504 <ul style="margin-top: -1.25em;">
505 <li>CLOSING_INDENT</li>
506 <li>SIGNATURE_SPACE</li>
509 <p id="closing-indent" style="margin-top: -.25em;">
510 The first, CLOSING_INDENT, indicates the distance from the left
511 margin you’d like to have your closing indented. It takes a
513 <a href="definitions.html#numericargument">numeric argument</a>
515 <a href="definitions.html#unitofmeasure">unit of measure</a>
516 appended to it, unless you want an indent of 0 (zero). Mom’s
517 default is one half the width of the letter’s line length
518 (ie halfway across the page). If you wanted, instead, an indent of
520 <a href="definitions.html#picaspoints">picas</a>,
521 you’d do it like this:
523 <span class="pre-in-pp">
526 Or, if you wanted to have no indent at all:
528 <span class="pre-in-pp">
533 <p id="signature-space" style="margin-top: -1.25em;">
534 The second, SIGNATURE_SPACE, controls how much room to leave for the
535 signature. It takes a single
536 <a href="definitions.html#numericargument">numeric argument</a>
538 <a href="definitions.html#unitofmeasure">unit of measure</a>
539 appended to it. Mom’s default is 3 line spaces, but if you
540 wanted to change that to, say, 2 line spaces, you’d do:
542 <span class="pre-in-pp">
550 <div id="no-suite" class="box-macro-args" style="margin-top: 2em;">
551 Macro: <b>NO_SUITE</b>
555 If you don’t want mom to print a “next page”
556 number at the bottom of multi-page letters, invoke
557 <kbd>.NO_SUITE</kbd>, on a line by itself, prior to
558 <a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
561 <div class="rule-long"><hr/></div>
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