Closing Paragraphs

As much as we all agonize over creating the first paragraphs of letters, it's our closing paragraphs that are often the worst.  Is it because we get tired at the end of writing letters?  Is it because we believe no one actually reads that last paragraph?

Whatever the reason, our closing paragraphs are often not our best, and yet they're the last ones our readers see.  We think so little about these paragraphs that we often create a template for them – or a macro -- or simply type them mindlessly. 

Here's a typical closing statement:  “If you have any further questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me at . . . ”

Sound familiar?  It should.  And it's fine for most letters, as long as the writer doesn't intend to encourage the reader to respond.  What do I mean?  Well, writing "please don't hesitate" is not an invitation to contact the writer.  Suggesting that a reader not hesitate will often cause hesitation.  It's like telling someone not to think of an ice cold beer on a hot summer's day.   What else then goes through a listener's mind?  Yep, that cold beer.  Telling someone what not to think about usually makes it impossible to think of anything else!

So what can you write instead:  How about, ". . . please feel free to contact me . . ." or " . . . please contact me at . . . ."  See the difference?  These are direct invitations, with no ambiguity.

Run-on sentences are another issue.  It's amazing how many of us write them in a closing paragraph, meaning to be polite but using incorrect grammar. 

"Thank you for your order, we'll fill it immediately."  "Thank you for writing, we'll credit your account as you asked." 

Each of those contains two independent sentences, which cannot be connected with only a comma.  They can be written as two separate sentences, connected with a semicolon, or connected with the comma and a coordinating conjunction.  For more information on this, check out the November 2001 newsletter archived on this site.