Capital letters

Capital letters are used with the following:

1. Personal names and nationalities.

2. All words in the name of a firm or organization except conjunctions, prepositions, articles.

3. Abbreviations Mr., Mrs., Messrs., Esq. And Miss.

4. All words indicating position:

President

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Chief Accountant

5. All words in the name of department

Accounts Department

Department of Fire Insurance

6. All words of the address

Main Street, Grand Avenue, New York, N.Y.

Bush House, London, W.C.

Hotel Savoy, Room 28

7. Months and days

8. Words of Salutation: Dear Sir …

9. The first letter in the complimentary close

10. All indications to the subject of the purchase or selling

11. Words in subscription: Air Mail, Registered

Foreign learners of English commercial correspondence should beware of drawing a sharp distinction between British and American styles. The fact of the matter is that the similarities are more striking than the differences, and the differences between British and American English in general are fewer and less important now than they were, say, fifteen or twenty years ago. For correspondence purposes it is quite enough to be familiar with one particular layout and one particular set of conventions, since Americans have no difficulty in understanding British business letters, and vice versa. Another point to bear in mind is the fact that the majority of business letters today are written, not by Americans or British people, but by individuals and firms using English as a foreign language. This is another factor which has caused the two styles to merge to a very considerable extent, and provided you follow the advice given in this chapter and elsewhere, your letters will conform to modern business practice.

Abbreviations used in business letters:

inst. (instant)

ult. (ultimo)

prox. (proximo)

BTW (by the way)

F2F (face to face)

FCOL (for crying out loud)

FWYW (for what it’s worth)

FYI (for your information)

GG (got to go)

GOK (God only knows)

IMHO (in my humble opinion)

IMO (in my opinion)

OTOH (on the other hand)

PLS (please)

TAFN (that’s all for now)

TTFN (ta-ta for now)

Note the abbreviation usage in the following sentences:

1. We are in receipt of your esteemed letter of the 27th ultimo.

2. We beg to acknowledge receipt of your favour of the 15th inst.

3. Your favour of the 25th ult. has come to hand this morning.

4. We have before us your esteemed favour of the 10^th inst.

5. Your letter of the 19th ult. came into our possession yesterday.

CHAPTER 2.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16