7 Business Correspondence a business letter

There are certain rules of writing letters. The paper for a letter must be absolutely pure, with even edges. It is desirable to have the firm form of the letter with an emblem of the firm, with its complete name, the post and telegraphic address, with a telephone number, fax and bank properties.

The business letters are printed on a computer on a face side of the sheet. The pages are numbered in the Arabian figures, except for the first. Width of a field from the left side of a sheet must be not less than 2 cm. The text is printed through 1,5-2 intervals. The paragraph begins with a red line, with a deviation of 5 intervals from the edge. It is desirable to avoid division. In the right top corner under the address of the organization which sends the letter the date of departure should be put.

If it is not the first letter to your partner it must begin with the polite reference to the last letter received from him.

If you write to the partner for the first time, it is necessary to begin with the performance of the firm, its purposes and tasks. The text of this material must be in the language of your partner or in English. The letter ends with the words of gratitude for the cooperation. And of course with: "Sincerely yours", etc.

The signature is put on the right party under the formula of politeness. The surname of the signing man is printed under his hand-written signature.

About envelopes. Abroad all large firms have envelopes, on which the same items of information as on the form are repeated. The firm envelope relieves you of the necessity to inform the return address. Abroad the order of writing of an address is as following: first comes "whom", then "where". The first position of the address is the surname of the addressee with the initials before it and one of reductions: Mr (if it is a man) or Mrs (if it is a woman). The second position of the address is the post of your addressee. It indicates that the letter was not accepted as personal. If the addressee at the given moment is absent, the letter will be opened by his assistant. If you want to keep the content of the letter in a confidence, after the surname it is necessary to specify: private (personal, confidential). The following position of the address is the name of the firm. Here it is possible to apply the following reductions:

Company - Co.

Corporation - Corp.

Department - Dept.

Incorporated - Inc.

The number of the house and the name of the street, the name of the city, the name of the state (for the USA, India, etc.) come after. The address ends with the postal index and the name of the country.

The letter to a foreign partner has some canons. For example, the letter begins with recurrence in the left top comer of the address written on an envelope. From the right side and a little below of the address they write the date of departure of the letter. For example:

12 December 1997

December 12, 1997

12th December 1997

December 12th, 1997

Reductions of dates such as 12/XII1997 or 12.12.1997 which are accepted by us in the international correspondence are not used. Here and in the text of the letter only the reductions of some months are accepted:

January - Jan.

February - Feb.

April - Apr.

September - Sept.

October - Oct.

November - Nov.

December - Dec.

From the left side they write an appeal Dear Mr. or Dear Mrs. and the surname of the addressee. After the introductory reference in the English correspondence comma is put, and in the correspondence with the addressee from the USA colon and hyphen are put (Dear Mr. ... / Gentleman : -).

By the following line after a designation "Re" (Reference) in business correspondence briefly the theme of the letter is designate, for example: Re: 1997 Moscow Book Fair. In business letters it is accepted to write with the large letter:

• proper nouns, and also adjectives designating the national and state accessory (Russian, English, French etc);

• words in the names of firms and organizations, departments of organizations; words in a designation of a borrowed post (Chief Engineer, Director etc);

• words designating names of cities, republics, streets, areas, areas, hotels, and also numeration of floors, apartments, rooms (12 Wall Street, London, Hotel International, Room 346 etc);

• the complete and reduced names of months and days of week (Saturday, March, Dec. etc);

• the names of the goods, trade marks and some documents (Iron, Coal, Bills of Lading, Charter Party etc).

To write long letters in the business correspondence is not accepted. If your letter is not located in one page, at the end of the sheet it is necessary to put: (continued over) or (see overleaf),

Usually letters end by words Sincerely Yours or Yours and signature with the indication under it of your surname and post.

If you are, for example, on nonresident business trip and have dictated the answer to the urgent letter to your assistant on the phone, he must put the letters pp (per procurationem) against your surname, sign the letter himself and attribute below: Dictated by Mr. <... > and signed in his absence.