Some formal letters require addresses. Sometimes, an address would take up a handful of lines, depending on how many places you need to include. Other times, you might find that a single line is needed. This article will explain how to write an address on one line.
How to Write an Address on One Line
You should keep things short and concise when writing a postal address on one line. It’s best to include only your name, the street name, the city, and the postal code. The best practice is to write something like “John Smith, 123 Way Street, Big City, NC 23939.”
If you want to see an address on one line in action, you can refer to this example:
- Sam Stevens, 121 Street, The City, NY 23134
This is the rough idea behind including an address on one line.
Most outlets don’t require more information than that. It’s easy to remember as long as you include your name, the street name, the city, and the postal or zip code.
Anything more than that is an unnecessary addition. Some things might require it, but they will ask for it specifically if that’s the case.
How to Write an Address on One Line on a Resume
Let’s look at some examples to figure out how to write an address correctly. Firstly, we’ll look at how it might work in a resume.
If you want to save space, you can include your address in one line. It’s best to keep things short and sweet when you do this. Do not include more information than necessary.
The general formula is as follows:
- Your name, Street name, City, Postal/Zip code
As long as you stick to this formula, you’ll get your address right every time.
There are slight alterations depending on whether you’re in the US or the UK, so you can refer to these examples to help you:
- US: Tom Mean, Yes Street, Paulson, CA 29382
- UK: Jack Waltz, Peter Road, Devon, DT1 2DJ
How to Write an Address on One Line With Country
Sometimes, you might need to get more specific. You might be required to include your country, especially if you’re writing to another country and it isn’t immediately clear you’re from a different one.
To include a country, you should write the country name directly after you’ve written the zip code. The country name should be the last thing in the address.
It would look like this:
- Your name, Street name, City, Postal/Zip code, Country
Again, it would help to look at UK and US examples to clear things up:
- US: Sarah Catford, Wallaby Way, Syd City, MA 23934, United States
- UK: Jon Bear, Green Wrythe, Carshalton, SM5 2TE, United Kingdom
For countries like the US and the UK, it’s best to write the full name of the country rather than the acronym form.
How to Write an Address on One Line With Apartment Number
Some addresses require extra information to make your location clearer. For example, you might live in an apartment, and it’s worth including your apartment number to narrow things down.
To do this, you must include your apartment number after the name of your street to specify your location. You could also include the number before the street name, but only if the street name is also the name of your apartment building.
For example:
- Your name, Street name, Apartment number, City, Postal/Zip code
If you wanted a proper example, it would look like this:
- US: George Washington, Tanner Street, Apartment 13, Lakefield, NY 12039
- UK: Terri-anne Barker, Clairemont Street, Apartment 20A, Petersborough, SE1 3DK
How to Write a Business Address on One Line
Business addresses are slightly different. You need to include an extra name before getting into the main address. This is usually the company representative’s name and the company’s name, depending on what you’re looking for.
If you’re sending a letter to someone within a company, include the representative’s name and then the company name.
It should look like this:
- Company representative’s name, Company name, Street name, City, Postal/Zip code
- US: Tom Jenkins, Waltzon Co., Bill Corner, Sim City, RE 20939
- UK: Perry Taylor, Craig LTD., West Street, Bournemouth, BO3 4DH
If you’re only sending the letter to the company, you can remove the representative name and treat the company name as the main address.
This is how it works:
- Company name, Street name, City, Postal/Zip code
How to Write a PO Box Address on One Line
PO Box addresses typically allow you to remove the street name. Instead, you can rely on the postal code and the name of the PO Box owner.
The typical format for a PO Box address is the recipient’s name, the PO Box location, and the rest of the address. It’s common to use “PO Box location” in place of “street name.”
These examples should help you with it:
- US: Tammy Towers, PO Box 2393, Mega City, SE 20339
- UK: George Parker, PO Box 5969, The City Block, TR3 3DF
How to Punctuate an Address on One Line
It would help to learn how to punctuate addresses on one line. Hopefully, you’ve seen enough examples to better understand this, but we’ll still run you through it.
You should place a comma after every break in the address. So, if you’re writing an address, it should look like this:
- Paul Matthews, 132 Canterbury Square, Croydon, CR0 2DT
As you can see, a comma comes after every break in the address.
If you want a more simplistic view, you could refer to the following:
- Your name, street name, city, postal code
As long as you include the commas after each break, you’ll punctuate it correctly.
When Can I Write an Address on One Line?
Some formal letters require addresses to be written on one line. It’s usually made clear in the letter.
Generally, you should write an address on one line when it looks better or helps to save space. It’s most common in a resume, though other places allow this as well.
The only official time you should include an address across multiple lines is when you’re sending a letter or parcel. Most postal services recommend splitting the address across multiple lines to make it much clearer to who you want to send a package.
Final Thoughts
Writing an address on one line is simple. “Maxwell Powers, 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA” is a great example of writing a simple address on one line. Only include the most important information. Everything else is extra and is often unnecessary.