1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565
566
567
568
569
570
571
572
573
574
575
576
577
|
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
This file is part of groff, the GNU roff type-setting system.
Copyright (C) 2004-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Written by Peter Schaffter (peter@schaffter.ca).
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts.
A copy of the Free Documentation License is included as a file called
FDL in the main directory of the groff source package.
-->
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8"/>
<title>Mom -- Writing letters</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" />
</head>
<body style="background-color: #f5faff;">
<!-- ==================================================================== -->
<div id="top" class="page">
<!-- Navigation links -->
<table style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td><a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><a href="macrolist.html#top">Next: Quick reference guide</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
<h1 class="docs">Writing letters</h1>
<div style="width: 33%; margin: auto;">
<ul class="no-enumerator">
<li><a href="#letters-intro">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#letters-tutorial">Tutorial</a></li>
<li><a href="#letters-defaults">Mom’s default letter style</a></li>
<li><a href="#index-letters-macros">The letter macros</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
<h2 id="letters-intro" class="docs">Introduction</h2>
<p>
Mom’s simple but effective letter-writing macros are a subset
of the
<a href="docprocessing.html#docprocessing">document processing macros</a>,
designed to ease the creation of correspondence.
</p>
<p>
Because the letter macros are a subset of the document processing
macros, you can use
<a href="definitions.html#controlmacro">control macros</a>
to design correspondence to your own specifications. However,
mom makes no pretence of providing complete design flexibility in
the matter of letters, which are, after all, simple communicative
documents whose only real style requirements are that they be neat
and professional-looking.
</p>
<div class="examples-container" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.5em;">
<h3 id="letters-tutorial" class="docs">Tutorial – writing letters</h3>
<p>
Mom letters begin, like all mom-processed documents, with
<a href="docprocessing.html#reference-macros">reference macros</a>
(in this case,
<a href="docprocessing.html#author">AUTHOR</a>),
a
<a href="docprocessing.html#doctype">DOCTYPE</a>
(LETTER, obviously), the essential
<a href="docprocessing.html#printstyle">PRINTSTYLE</a>
macro, and
<a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>,
like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
.DOCTYPE LETTER
.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
.START
</span>
PRINTSTYLE, above, could also be <kbd>TYPEWRITE</kbd>. Mom has no
objection to creating letters that look like they were typed on an
Underwood by a shapely secretary with 1940s gams.
</p>
<p>
Please note that if you choose <kbd>PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE</kbd>,
there’s no need to give the <kbd>SINGLESPACE</kbd> option, as
this is the unalterable default for letters.
</p>
<p>
After the START macro, you enter headers pertinent to your letter:
the date, the addressee (in business correspondence, typically both
name and address), the addresser (that’s you; in business
correspondence, typically both name and address), and a greeting
(in full, e.g. “Dear Mr. Smith,” or “Dear
Mr. Smith:”).
</p>
<p>
The macros for entering the headers are simple (they’re not even
<a href="definitions.html#toggle">toggles</a>):
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.DATE
.TO
.FROM
.GREETING
</span>
You may enter them in any order you like, except for GREETING, which
must come last. Mom ignores any headers you omit and spaces the
letter’s opening according to what you do include. See
<a href="#letters-defaults">Default for letters</a>
to find out how mom formats the headers.
</p>
<p>
Once you’ve filled in what you need to get a letter started,
simply type the letter, introducing each and every paragraph,
including the first, with the
<a href="docelement.html#pp">PP</a>
macro.
</p>
<p>
At the end of the letter, should you wish a closing (“Yours
truly,” “Sincerely,” “Hugs and
kisses”), invoke the macro <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd> on a line
by itself, and follow it with the text of the closing. <b>N.B.</b>
Don’t put your name here; mom supplies it automatically from
<a href="docprocessing.html#author">AUTHOR</a>),
with enough space to leave room for your signature. If you omit the
closing, mom simply adds your name (from AUTHOR), again with enough
space for your signature.
</p>
<p>
Assuming our tutorial letter is for business correspondence,
here’s what the complete letter looks like.
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
.DOCTYPE LETTER
.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
.START
.DATE
August 25, 2010
.TO
GUILLAUME BARRIÈRES
Minidoux Corporation
5000 Pannes Drive
Redmond, Virginia
.FROM
Y.P. GUIQUE
022 Umask Road
St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
.GREETING
Dear Mr. Barrières,
.PP
It has come to my attention that you have once again been
lobbying the US government to prohibit the use of open source
software by endeavouring to outlaw so-called "warranty
free" applications.
.PP
I feel it is my duty to inform you that the success of your
operating system relies heavily on open source programs and
protocols, notably TCP/IP.
.PP
Therefore, in the interests of your corporation’s fiscal health,
I strongly advise that you withdraw support for any US
legislation that would cripple or render illegal open source
development.
.CLOSING
Sincerely,
</span>
This produces a letter with headers that follow the North American
standard for business correspondence. If you’d prefer another style
of correspondence, for example, British, you’d set up the same
letter like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.AUTHOR "Yannick P. Guique"
.DOCTYPE LETTER
.PRINTSTYLE TYPESET
.START
.FROM
.RIGHT
Y.P. GUIQUE
022 Umask Road
St-Sauveur-en-dehors-de-la-mappe, Québec
.TO
GUILLAUME BARRIÈRES
Minidoux Corporation
5000 Pannes Drive
Redmond, Virginia
.DATE
.RIGHT
August 25, 2004
.GREETING
Dear Mr. Barrières,
</span>
Notice the use of <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd> after <kbd>.FROM</kbd> and
<kbd>.DATE</kbd> in this example, used to change the default quad
for these macros.
</p>
</div>
<h2 id="letters-defaults" class="docs">Default letter style</h2>
<p>
In letters, if the order of header macros is
</p>
<ol style="margin-top: -.5em;">
<li><kbd>.DATE</kbd></li>
<li><kbd>.TO</kbd> (the addressee)</li>
<li><kbd>.FROM</kbd> (the addresser)</li>
<li><kbd>.GREETING</kbd> (“Dear Whoever,” “To Whom It May Concern,” etc.)</li>
</ol>
<p style="margin-top: -.5em;">
mom sets
</p>
<ul style="margin-top: -.5em;">
<li>the date flush right, page right, at the top of page one,
with a gap of two linespaces underneath
</li>
<li>the addressee (<kbd>.TO</kbd>) in a block flush left, page
left, with a gap of one linespace underneath
</li>
<li>the addresser (<kbd>.FROM</kbd>) in a block flush left, page
left, with a gap of one linespace underneath
</li>
<li>the greeting flush left, with a gap of one linespace
underneath
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-top: -.5em;">
which is the standard for North American business correspondence.
</p>
<p>
If you switch the order of <kbd>.DATE</kbd>, <kbd>.TO</kbd> and/or
<kbd>.FROM</kbd>, mom sets all the headers
flush left, with a gap of one linespace underneath each. (The
default left quad of any header can be changed by invoking the
<kbd>.RIGHT</kbd> macro, on a line by itself, immediately before
inputting the text of the header.)
</p>
<p>
Following the headers, mom sets
</p>
<ul style="margin-top: -.5em;">
<li>the body of the letter justified</li>
<li>in multi-page letters:
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em;">
<li>a footer indicating there’s a next page (of the form <kbd>.../#</kbd>)</li>
<li>the page number at the top of every page after page one</li>
</ul></li>
<li>the closing/signature lines flush left, indented halfway across the page</li>
</ul>
<p>
Other important style defaults are listed below, and may be changed
via the
<a href="typesetting.html#top">typesetting macros</a>
or the document processing
<a href="definitions.html#controlmacro">control macros</a>
prior to
<a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
Assume that any style parameter not listed below is the same as for
any document processed with
<a href="docprocessing.html#typeset-defaults">PRINTSTYLE <kbd>TYPESET</kbd></a>
or
<a href="docprocessing.html#typewrite-defaults">PRINTSTYLE <kbd>TYPEWRITE</kbd></a>.
</p>
<div class="defaults-container" style="padding-bottom: 8px;">
<span class="pre defaults">
PARAMETER PRINTSTYLE TYPESET PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE
Paper size 8.5 x 11 inches 8.5 x 11 inches
Left/right margins 1.125 inches 1.125 inches
Header margin 3.5 picas 3.5 picas
(for page numbers)
Header gap 3 picas 3 picas
(for page numbers)
Family Times Roman Courier
Font roman roman
Point size 12 12
Line space 13.5 12 (i.e. singlespaced)
Paragraph indent 3 ems 3 picas
Spaced paragraphs yes no
Footers* yes yes
Footer margin 3 picas 3 picas
Footer gap 3 picas 3 picas
Page numbers top, centred top, centred
*Footers contain a "next page" number of the form .../#
</span>
</div>
<div class="rule-medium"><hr/></div>
<div class="macro-list-container">
<h3 id="index-letters-macros" class="macro-list">The letter macros</h3>
<p style="margin-left: 9px; margin-top: -1.5em;">
All letter macros must come after
<a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>,
except NO_SUITE, which must come after
<a href="docprocessin.html#start">PRINTSTYLE</a>
and before
<a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
</p>
<ul class="macro-list" style="margin-top: -.75em;">
<li><a href="#date">DATE</a></li>
<li><a href="#to">TO</a></li>
<li><a href="#from">FROM</a></li>
<li><a href="#greeting">GREETING</a></li>
<li><a href="#closing">CLOSING</a>
<ul style="margin-left: -.5em;">
<li><a href="#closing-indent">CLOSING_INDENT</a></li>
<li><a href="#signature-indent">SIGNATURE_INDENT</a></li>
</ul></li>
<li><a href="#no-suite">NO_SUITE</a> – turn the “next page” footer off</li>
</ul>
</div>
<!-- -DATE- -->
<div id="date" class="box-macro-args">
Macro: <b>DATE</b>
</div>
<p>
Invoke <kbd>.DATE</kbd> on a line by itself, with the date
underneath, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.DATE
October 31, 2012
</span>
If you wish to change the default quad direction for the date,
enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
immediately after <kbd>.DATE</kbd>.
</p>
<p>
If you wish to insert additional space between the date and any
letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the date,
not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.DATE
October 31, 2012
.SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
</span>
If you wish to remove the default space,
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
</span>
will do the trick.
</p>
<!-- -TO- -->
<div id="to" class="box-macro-args">
Macro: <b>TO</b>
</div>
<p>
Invoke <kbd>.TO</kbd> on a line by itself, with the name and address
of the addressee underneath, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.TO
JOHN SMITH
10 Roberts Crescent
Bramladesh, Ont.
</span>
If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
immediately after <kbd>.TO</kbd>.
</p>
<p>
If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.TO
JOHN SMITH
10 Roberts Crescent
Bramladesh, Ont.
.SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
</span>
If you wish to remove the default space,
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
</span>
will do the trick.
</p>
<!-- -FROM- -->
<div id="from" class="box-macro-args">
Macro: <b>FROM</b>
</div>
<p>
Invoke <kbd>.FROM</kbd> on a line by itself, with the name and
address of the addresser underneath, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.FROM
JOE BLOW
15 Brunette Road
Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
</span>
If you wish to change the default quad direction for the address,
enter <kbd>.LEFT</kbd> or <kbd>.RIGHT</kbd>, on a line by itself,
immediately after <kbd>.FROM</kbd>.
</p>
<p>
If you wish to insert additional space between the address and
any letter header that comes after it, do so after inputting the
address, not at the top of the next header macro, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.FROM
JOE BLOW
15 Brunette Road
Ste-Vieille-Andouille, Québec
.SPACE \"Or, more simply, .SP
</span>
If you wish to remove the default space,
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.SPACE -1v \"Or, more simply, .SP -1v
</span>
will do the trick.
</p>
<!-- -GREETING- -->
<div id="greeting" class="box-macro-args">
Macro: <b>GREETING</b>
</div>
<p>
Invoke <kbd>.GREETING</kbd> on a line by itself, with the full
salutation you want for the letter underneath, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.GREETING
Dear Mr. Smith,
</span>
</p>
<!-- -CLOSING- -->
<div id="closing" class="box-macro-args">
Macro: <b>CLOSING</b>
</div>
<p>
Invoke <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd> on a line by itself after the body of
the letter, with the closing you’d like (e.g. “Yours
truly,”) underneath, like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.CLOSING
Yours truly,
</span>
</p>
<div class="box-tip" style="background-color: #E3D2B1;">
<p class="tip">
<span class="tip" style="display: inline-block; padding-bottom: .5em; color: #000056;">CLOSING control macros and defaults</span>
<br/>
Two macros control the behaviour of <kbd>.CLOSING</kbd>:
</p>
<ul style="margin-top: -1.25em;">
<li>CLOSING_INDENT</li>
<li>SIGNATURE_SPACE</li>
</ul>
<p id="closing-indent" style="margin-top: -.25em;">
The first, CLOSING_INDENT, indicates the distance from the left
margin you’d like to have your closing indented. It takes a
single
<a href="definitions.html#numericargument">numeric argument</a>
and must have a
<a href="definitions.html#unitofmeasure">unit of measure</a>
appended to it, unless you want an indent of 0 (zero). Mom’s
default is one half the width of the letter’s line length
(i.e. halfway across the page). If you wanted, instead, an indent of
6
<a href="definitions.html#picaspoints">picas</a>,
you’d do it like this:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.CLOSING_INDENT 6P
</span>
Or, if you wanted to have no indent at all:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.CLOSING_INDENT 0
</span>
</p>
<p id="signature-space" style="margin-top: -1.25em;">
The second, SIGNATURE_SPACE, controls how much room to leave for the
signature. It takes a single
<a href="definitions.html#numericargument">numeric argument</a>
and must have a
<a href="definitions.html#unitofmeasure">unit of measure</a>
appended to it. Mom’s default is 3 line spaces, but if you
wanted to change that to, say, 2 line spaces, you’d do:
<br/>
<span class="pre-in-pp">
.SIGNATURE_SPACE 2v
</span>
</p>
</div>
<!-- -NO_SUITE- -->
<div id="no-suite" class="box-macro-args" style="margin-top: 2em;">
Macro: <b>NO_SUITE</b>
</div>
<p>
If you don’t want mom to print a “next page”
number at the bottom of multi-page letters, invoke
<kbd>.NO_SUITE</kbd>, on a line by itself, prior to
<a href="docprocessing.html#start">START</a>.
</p>
<div class="rule-long"><hr/></div>
<!-- Navigation links -->
<table style="width: 100%; margin-top: 12px;">
<tr>
<td style="width: 33%;"><a href="toc.html">Back to Table of Contents</a></td>
<td style="width: 33%; text-align: center;"><a href="#top">Top</a></td>
<td style="width: 33%; text-align: right;"><a href="macrolist.html">Next: Quick reference guide</a></td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>
<div class="bottom-spacer"><br/></div>
</body>
</html>
|
