A letter of reply

[NeedAdvice]

Looking for advice on how to word a letter of reply, just received a letter from the defendant whom I hope to take to the small claims court for the recovery of money owed to me, however the letter of reply has some serious false accusations and untruths surrounding the event and I need to respond to it to put the record straight.

So, just wondering how do you quote what the defendant has said in their letter in mine to make it clear what I am responding to, do you use quotation marks or would it be better to scan the defendants letter onto word and copy and paste each paragraph or sentence and highlight them in Bold writing, which would look more professional so a judge could make sense of my letter without too much confusion.

Any help would be great, sorry for sounding stupid but English wasn't my best subject at school and it's 35 years since I left, also only have basic computer skills but my lad can do anything technical.

Cheers, NeedAdvice.

[MissFM]

Re: A letter of reply

Looking for advice on how to word a letter of reply, just received a letter from the defendant whom I hope to take to the small claims court for the recovery of money owed to me, however the letter of reply has some serious false accusations and untruths surrounding the event and I need to respond to it to put the record straight.

So, just wondering how do you quote what the defendant has said in their letter in mine to make it clear what I am responding to, do you use quotation marks or would it be better to scan the defendants letter onto word and copy and paste each paragraph or sentence and highlight them in Bold writing, which would look more professional so a judge could make sense of my letter without too much confusion.

Any help would be great, sorry for sounding stupid but English wasn't my best subject at school and it's 35 years since I left, also only have basic computer skills but my lad can do anything technical.

Cheers, NeedAdvice.

Hi NeedAdvice

If it were me I'd do it as in red above.

Remember that the judge will only know what he is told of the case so everything must be made both crystal clear and easy to read.

Make sure that what you say and what you dispute is unambiguous and to the point.

Rest assured that any ambiguity will be twisted and exploited by the other side.

There are experienced Beagles on here who are really good at this sort of thing so don't hesitate to post up any drafts (personal details removed) for help.

[NeedAdvice]

Re: A letter of reply

Hi MissFM and thank you for your prompt reply.

The Red looks good, is this what everyone else would do under the circumstances as it was always drummed into us at school not to write in red ink, is it more accepted now?

Thanks again MissFM.

[MissFM]

Re: A letter of reply

Hi MissFM and thank you for your prompt reply.

The Red looks good, is this what everyone else would do under the circumstances as it was always drummed into us at school not to write in red ink, is it more accepted now?

Thanks again MissFM.

Sorry NA - I meant to do as you described (cut-paste-highlight-answer) and as I'd highlighted in red in your post , although I don't see there's anything wrong with using different coloured highlights to make different points if it makes things clearer.

Others will advise!

xx

[NeedAdvice]

Re: A letter of reply

ha ha sorry about that, I get what you mean now, any ideas how you would make the quoted words stand out on Microsoft Word, as I say I'm a novice at this.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: A letter of reply

ha ha sorry about that, I get what you mean now, any ideas how you would make the quoted words stand out on Microsoft Word, as I say I'm a novice at this.

It has always been customary to indicate quoted text as below:

• Surrounding the text with quotation marks ("..."), this is generally used to quote text within a paragraph, as in "I told him..."
• Using Italics/oblique text for the quotes. Can be used in conjunction with quotation marks, as in "he said he wasn't going to...".
• Indenting the quoted text, most commonly from the left, but you can do both left and right indented paragraphs in Word.

"You can also use a mixture of the above, as I have done here."

Using the above methods means the quoted text will still stand out if the document is printed in B/W or photocopied. :thumb:

The three dots ... are commonly used in quotes where you just want to quote part of the text, leaving the start and/or the end of the sentence, out. :nerd:

[MissFM]

Re: A letter of reply

erm...if you post up some examples of what you want to say we can help with suggested layouts etc..

There is a little bird on here who is particularly good at this kind of thing (have a look at any of Flaming Parrot's posts (although you might want to lose the smileys...:caked

x

[MissFM]

Re: A letter of reply

Posts crossed! Great minds.....:tinysmile_twink_t2:

[FlamingParrot]

Re: A letter of reply

Hi MissFM and thank you for your prompt reply.

The Red looks good, is this what everyone else would do under the circumstances as it was always drummed into us at school not to write in red ink, is it more accepted now?

I use purple. :grin:

I don't think it would be acceptable to write a whole letter or document in red ink, unless you were working for a DCA, they love their bright, red letters. :lol: In general, red should be used sparingly, with the purpose of highlighting specific text as MissFM did above.

[FlamingParrot]

Re: A letter of reply

erm...if you post up some examples of what you want to say we can help with suggested layouts etc..

There is a little bird on here who is particularly good at this kind of thing (have a look at any of Flaming Parrot's posts (although you might want to lose the smileys...:caked

x

Of course I wouldn't use smileys in a letter, I use them on here because this is like 'chatting' only you can't use intonation, body language, etc. hence the smileys.

Posts crossed! Great minds.....:tinysmile_twink_t2:

[NeedAdvice]

Re: A letter of reply

Many many thanks to you both for your kind input, you are all stars on this forum and nothing is too much trouble.

I will type it out and let you have a look before posting, love your sense of humour btw Flaming Parrot.