What is RSVP or R. S. V. P.

RSVP or R.S.V.P. comes from French (réspondez s-il vous plait) and means "please answer". If you receive an invitation with R.S.V.P., Regrets only, it means that you answer only in the case you have to decline the invitation. You do not need to send any confirmation of your presence if you want to come.

Refusing (declining) an invitation

Here is a sample letter to refuse an invitation

Dear Sirs,

I am pleased and honoured by the invitation to participate in your conference. I very much
regret to say that it will not be possible for me to participate this time. Between 20th and 30th June 2012. I am giving a series of

Invitation to a conference

Here is a sample business invitation letter. This letter is for reference only.


Dear Mr Smith,

I am writing on behalf of the Organising Committee of the 5th International Conference on Information Technology.  The conference will take place from 25 to 28 June 2012.

Please find enclosed the programme and

Points to keep in mind while writing letters

Modern media like fax or e-mail are mostly used to send messages. But letters, especially official, still have not lost their importance although they are not sent by post so frequently as a few years ago. Here are some dos and donts about writing official letters.

Keep to the layout given below if you use unheaded paper. Some companies use a different format, but by using the format presented on

Some Important Points To Keep In Mind While Writing Official Letters

• On your official letter your name should appear at the bottom of the letter

• If you start your letter with Dear Sirs, you end it with “Yours faithfully”

• The abbreviation Enc. should appear at the bottom, on the left in the letter.

• Senders address should appear at the top, on the right of the leffer.

• The complimentary close of an

Dos And Dont's About Writing Official Letters - Part 1

Don'ts About Writing Official Letters - Part 2

• Write the date in this form: 23/1/2001 or 1/23/2001. It might cause confusion, e.g. 2/1/2001 Is 2 January 2001 in Britain, but 1 February in USA?

• Write town name in the date

• Start your letter with Dear MS Judith Jameson. You start an informal letter with Dear Judith and a formal letter with Dear MS Jameson, but never mix up both.

• Write an exclamation mark (!) in the

Dos And Dont's About Writing Official Letters

Dos About Writing Official Letters - Part 1

• Write the date in dd/mmm/yyyy format to avoid confusion between dd/mm/yyyy and mm/dd/yyyy formats. Eg. 21 Jan 2012

• Use our ref. and your ref. only if you and the recipient use a letter filing system

• Start your letter with Dear Sir/Madam if you do not know the recipient by name. Or Dear Sirs if you write to an institution. Then close your letter with yours faithfully

• Start your letter with e.g. Dear Mr. Brown or Dear MS Jameson if you know the recipient by name. Then close your letter with yours sincerely

• Preferably use MS when writing to a female recipient unless otherwise stated in the letter you have already received from her

• Write Enc. or Encl. in the bottom left corner of your letter if you want to send something else together with your letter

• Write your letter clearly, politely and concisely