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Address a Letter to an American

Edited by Hotelier, Amanda, Eng

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Steps

Video: Address a Letter to an American

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Hello, and thank you for watching VisiHow. In today's tutorial, I will show you how you can address a letter to someone in the United States.

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Steps

1
Get a blank envelope
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We have drawn an outline of an envelope on our whiteboard for reference in this tutorial. For this demonstration, we will be working with the face of the envelope, not the side with the flap.

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2
Leave the top right-hand corner of the envelope blank
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On our diagram, we've drawn a dotted square with an "X" inside. This is where the postage will be placed.

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3
The space in the upper left-hand corner is reserved for the return address
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This is also the sender's address. This can be important in case the mail is not able to be delivered to the recipient.
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4
Place the recipient's address in the center of the envelope
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The recipient's address in the United States will have the same format as the return address. We will use a format for the recipient's address that can be copied for the return address if it is also from the United States.

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5
On the first line, write the first and last name of the recipient
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For this tutorial, we will use, "Suzanne Graham".
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6
On the next line, write the street address
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Begin with the house number. We will write, "1111".

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7
Next to the house number, indicate a direction if applicable
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If we're living north, for example, we can simply put the capital letter "N" for north and then a period. So far, our address line reads, "1111 N.".
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8
Then write the street name
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We will write, "Oak St.". Our address line now reads, "1111 N. Oak St.".

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9
If there is an apartment number, include it next
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Either put a "#" or the abbreviation "Apt." and then the number. In this example, we will use "Apt. 4". Our address line now reads, "1111 N. Oak St. Apt. 4".
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10
On the third line, write the city, followed by a comma and the abbreviation for the state
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Each state has a two-letter capital abbreviation. In this example, we will use "Peoria, IL".
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11
On the same line, add the zip code
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We don't need any punctuation between the state and the zip code. A space will suffice. In the United States, a zip code is usually five numbers. For this example, we will use, "61606". Our third line now reads, "Peoria, IL 61606".
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12
This concludes today's tutorial on how to address a letter to a recipient in the United States
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If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please leave them in the space below.
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