Learn English – n appropriate word to refer to “the letter to which this letter is responding”

single-word-requests

Given that…

  1. If Jeremy is a "parent" to Sarah, then Sarah is a "child" to Jeremy.
  2. If archaeopteryx is an "ancestor" to chicken, then chicken is a "descendent" of achaeopteryx.

It seems to me that if a letter is written in response to another, then there is a similar two-way relationship between those two letters, but I'm a bit stuck on coming up with a good word to describe that relationship. Perhaps:

  1. If B is a "reply" to A, then A is an "antecedent" to B.
  2. If B is a "reply" to A, then A is a "precursor" to B.

But I'm not particularly fond of either. Is anybody aware of a term that has been used within the context of such communications?

Note – I have re-worded the above considerably, as it seems that a number of answerers were under the impression that I was looking for correct phrasing to write in a reply, such as "in response to your letter dated…" Hopefully the re-phrasing of the question might help avoid any more folks putting effort into such answers. My apologies if my intent wasn't clear enough previously.

Best Answer

After introducing the letter you are responding to (your letter d.d. April 5th), you can refer to it later simply as your letter - unless there are more letters from the same sender that you address in the same response, then you will need a more elaborate reference at every mention.

But if you refer to the same letter throughout your response, it works fine:

As you have stated in your latter, it is of great concern ...
Furthermore, when your letter addresses the increasing need to...
But sadly I found no mention in your letter as to the implications of...

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