Business Letters

Proper business letter writing is very important for normal commer-cial activity. In spite of the development of telephone and electronic ways of communication and the increasing personal contacts, the writing of letters continues. In fact, most telephoned and E-mailed messages have to be confirmed by letters.

The subject of the routine business letters lacks variety. Therefore, first, Form letters (standard letters) maybe used and, secondly, certain standard phrases are in general use: it facilitates the communication be-cause the repetitive nature of many business transactions and situations makes the use of standard letters a time-saving device.

Business letters are usually written on printed company-forms (letter-papers). The letterhead (the heading) gives the name of the company, the postal, telegraphic and E-mail addresses, the telephone numbers and the number of the telefaxes. Sometimes, other information is added: the names of important officials to whom the company may wish to have all communications addressed and spaces for letter indexes (references).

The headings are usually underlined to distinguish between heading and text. If more pages than one are written, they should be numbered. The second and following pages are typed on blank sheets (without the letterhead).

The ordinary business letter comprises the following principle parts:

(1) The Date. (2) The Inside Address. (3) The Opening Salutation. (4) The Subject Heading. (5) The Opening Paragraph. (6) The Body of the Letter. (7) The Closing Paragraph. (8) The Complimentary Closing. (9) The Signature. (10) Enclosures, Postscripts and Copies Sent.

Certain details of business letter writing make them sound up-to-date and friendly. In the Opening Salutation, if the sender does not know the name of the recipient the best way to address him/her is: Dear Sir/Madam (Br. E.) or Ladies and Gentlemen (Am. E.). When the name of the recipi-ent is already known Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss Winch (Br. E., Am. E.) are appropriate. But in the US Mr and Mrs. include a full stop/period, e.g. Mr Winch. In the Complimentary Closing in case of the unknown recipientthe proper way to end the letter is: Yours faithfully {Br. E.) or Sincerely yours (Am. E.), otherwise– Yours sincerely (Br. E.) and Sincerely (Am.E.).

Business letters should be simple and clear, polite and sincere, con-cise and brief. That means using simple, natural, short words and sen-tences; admittance of mistakes openly and sincerely; using concise phrases and sentences instead of wordy ones; and avoiding repetition of needless words and information. To make a letter easier to read and to a certain extent more attractive, one should divide it into paragraphs, each paragraph dealing with one idea, one aspect of the subject or giving one detail. Consider a sample of the layout of a business letter and its parts:

5^h Feb., 2007

(The Date)

The Secretary,

The Western Wheat Co. Pic, (= Public limited company) 59, Darwin Road,

LIVERPOOL, 71,

England (The Inside Address)

Dear Sir, (The Opening Salutation)

Abt: Order № 1386 (Abt = about = re. The Subject Heading)

We thank you for your letter of 15"' of January and are writing to in-form you that... (The Opening Paragraph)

(The Body of the Letter)

We hope that these alterations will be acceptable to you and expect your reply as soon as possible. (The Closing Paragraph

)

Yours faithfully, (The Complimentary Closing)

Per pro THE ORIENTAL TRADING CO. LTD (per pro = on behalf of a company) J. Brown (The Signature)

Manager (Position)

Enc. Above Alterations (1 page) (Enclosures and Postscripts)

{Postscript should be used as an emergency not as a normal conclu-sion only when information to be conveyed comes to hand after the letter proper has been completed. Otherwise it is a sign of bad construction of the letter.)

Common abbreviations used in business letters are: re. – regarding; abt. – about; pp. – on behalf of when the letter is signed by another per-son; encs – documents are enclosed with the letter; cc – copies, the names of the people who receive a copy are included in the letter.

Report

Another compositional pattern in business writing is that of report. A report should be well organized with information presented in a logical order. The layout of a report depends on: a) the type of report; b) the company style. The most commonly used format is as follows:

Дата добавления: 2015-08-13