The abbreviation p.p. sometimes appears in signature blocks. It means per pro, i.e. for and on behalf of, and is used by administrators or personal assistants when signing letters on behalf of their managers.
REFERENCES / REFERENCE CODE
references are often quoted in letters to help in filing or to indicate what the letter refers to (Your ref.) and the correspondence to refer to when replying (Our ref.). However, letters are often filed according to the recipient’s name or organisation, which is already included in the rest of the letter, and there is no point in adding a reference code just to make the letter look more businesslike.
The reference code is usually given in the form ‘Ref’, ‘Ref:’ or ‘Ref.’ and may either appear in figures, e.g. 661/17, where 661 may refer to the number of the letter and 17 to the number of the department, or in letters, e.g. ds/mr, as in the letter above, where ds stands for Donald Sampson, the writer, and mr for his assistant, Mary Raynor.
If you are replying to correspondence that included a reference code you should reply as follows:
Our ref:
Your ref:
Note that the Your Ref. in the letter above is a date, as Ms Kaasen did not give anyreference in her original letter.