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Elena a. Danilova

Business English

Part II

Business Letter Writing

Simferopol, 2001

The Contents.

Introduction……………………………………………………….2

1. Business Letter Writing………………………………………....3

2. Enquiries and Replies to Enquires……………………………...10

3. Orders and Execution of Orders………………………………..16

4. Packing and Despatch…………………………………………..22

5. Invoicing, Accounting and Settlement of Accounts……………27

6. Shipping and Forwarding……………………………………….39

7. Banking and Payments in Foreign Trade……………………….46

8. Insurance………………………………………………………..60

9. Complaints and Replies to Complaints…………………………66

Secretarial…………………………………………………………75

Vocabulary…………………………………………………………85

Exercises…………………………………………………………..94

INTRODUCTION.

Communication is a critical part in any sphere of a human activity. But first of all it is important to business. Businesses want and need people with good communication skills. All too often they do not get them, however, because most employees in the country, even university trained, do not communicate well.

The communication success of employees and the significance of communication explain why students need work in order to improve their communication skills, especially business letter writing.

Communication takes three main forms: oral, written and computer. Major part of the information consists of different forms of written communication – business letters, memorandums (MEMO) and reports. Written communication offers a major advantage of providing documentation and allows receivers to review information several times before responding.

Writing is considered a critical success factor by many successful leaders. Direct, clear and relevant writing can make the difference between a god and stagnant career. Anyway, writing should be direct, brief, well organized and easy to understand.

Good writing is “you-centered”, not “I-centered”. Rather than thinking about demonstrating what you know, you should think about what your potential reader need to know or can gain from reading your writing. Good writing also involves knowing when to rewrite and when to stop. Usually, the reader can tell when a letter is dictated and when a letter is actually written and then edited.

The ability of clear writing begins with the so-called “adaptation”. Adaptation is fitting the message to concrete person or to a specific reader. Usually, readers do not have the same knowledge of a subject, the same vocabulary, the same education, or the same mentality, etc. One should form his message to fit a person’s mind.

Selecting the right words, use of active voice, non-sexy words, and neutral expressions is a part of the process, we call “adaptation”. Right words are the words that communicate best – that have correct and clear meanings in the reader’s mind. Selecting the right words depends on your ability to use the language, knowledge of the reader, and your good judgement. Clear writing involves using a simpler sentence structure to reach people with lower communication skills.

As you move along, you should view these basics as work tool in communication.

CHAPTER 1.

BUSINESS LETTER LAYOUT.

Letter writing is an essential part of business. Most telephoned and telegraphed communications have to be confirmed in writing. The letter is often the evidence of an arrangement or a contract and thus must be written with care.

Business letters are usually typed on notepaper bearing a specially designed heading which provides the reader of the letter with essential information about the organization sending it. Normally the heading will include company’s name and address, its telephone number and telegraphic addresses, the type of business it is engaged in, its telex code, e-mail address, Web-site and in many cases the names of directors. It is becoming increasingly common for firms to print an emblem or trademark on their stationery.

Telegrams Telephone

BROWN LONDON 01 486 0517

Registered number (2 lines)

725716

H.Brown & W.Pink

LIMITED

Home & Overseas Merchants

DIRECTORS 18 HILL ST

H.BROWN LONDON WIM 5RN

W.PINK

You should always remember that the simplicity of word and phrase usually gives the impression of sincerity, and your style of writing carries your personality to the reader.

A good vocabulary is necessary, both in your own and foreign languages; repetitions should be avoided as much as possible, except where the exact meaning does not allow any change of word. Every one has a characteristic way of writing, but it must be remembered that the subject of the routine business letter lacks variety and certain accepted phrases are in general use. This is of great help to the foreigner, who can rely on them to compose a letter that will be understood.

One should take special care to the layout of business letter. Currently there are several ways of setting out a business letter, and policy in this respect differs from company to company. The form in which a business letter appears has not been standardized in the U.K. to the extent it has in the USA as in most European countries. And many English firms still indent the first line of each paragraph, and use more punctuation in the inside name and address and in the date. Nevertheless there is a growing tendency in Britain, due largely to foreign influences and widespread use of the electronic typewriter, to use the block paragraphing – in other words, to begin every line at the left hand margin – and to dispense with unnecessary punctuation in the date and the name and address of the person or organization written to. It is still considered necessary to put a full stop after abbreviations, as in the case for Co. (company), Ltd. (limited) and St. (Street). However it is becoming more and more common to type Mr and Mrs – i.e. without a stop – and this practice may well be extended to other abbreviations in the near future.

The Parts of the Letter

a) The Heading. This has already been mentioned.

b) The reference. This is typed on the same line as the date, but on the left

and consists of the initials of the person who signatures the letter (in this case JAS) and those of the typist (DS). Sometimes other initials or figures are added according to whatever may suit the filing system of the firm in question.

It is usual to quote the reference initials of the addressee company in reply.

Telegram Telephone

(a) Grajo Leeds GARDEN & JONES Leeds 978653

LIMITED

Home & Overseas Merchants

Directors Upper Bridge St.

L.L. Graden, P.G. Jones Leeds 2

(b) JAS/DS (c) 13 July 1978

(d) Oliver Green and Co. Ltd.

25 King Edward VII St.

Manchester M24 BD

(e) Dear Sirs

We understand from several of our trade connections in Bolto that you are the British agents for Petrou and Gapitopoulos AE of Athens.

Will you please send us price lists and catalogues for all products manufactured by this company, together with details of trade discounts and terms of payment?

We look forward to hearing from you.

(f) Yours faithfully

Graden and Jones Ltd.

(g) J.A.Stevene

Chief Buyer

c) The date. The form in which the date is written in this letter

- 13 July 1998 - is probably the simplest and clearest of all current forms used in the English speaking world, out there are alternative ways of writing the date, for example July 13 1998 (Americans put the name of the month first) 13th July 1998 and July 13th 1998

Some still insist on a comma before the year, but others consider this unnecessary. It is important to note that the name of the town or city where the letter originates is not repeated before the date, although this is normally done on the continent. Another practice widely used in Europe is to write the date in a highly abbreviated form - 12.7.98, for example - but this should not be done in letters written in English, since in Britain

12.7.1998 means 12 July 1998, whereas in the USA it means December 7 1998. It is obvious that the use of such forms could result in confusion.

d) The inside address. A few points concerning the name and address

of the firm written need to be made. Firstly, they are typed on the left, normally against the margin. The diagonal grading of the name and address is rare nowadays, and the style shown in the example is neater, as well as being quicker for the typist.

Secondly, the use of Messrs. (an abbreviated form of Messieurs), the French word for - Gentlemen) should not be used in front of the names of firms which indicate their line of business and do not consist of family names. It follows therefore, that Messrs. will be used mostly when a partnership is being addressed e.g. Messrs. Hamilton and Jacobs 265 High Holborn London WC1 7GS

Note that the number of the street in the address always precedes the name of the street, and that in the case of large towns and cities in the UK the name of the county is not required. It is not necessary to add "Lancashire" to the address in the example. However, when the firm addressed is situated in a smaller town, the county name is necessary , and it should be remembered that in Britain there are 2 Richmonds, one in Surrey and another in Yorkshire, and several Newports, for example.

e) The salutation. Below the address a double space at least is left, and the words "Dear Sirs" are typed. This is the usual salutation in British business letters addressed to a company rather than to an individual within the company. Very often a comma is typed after the salutation, out an increasing number of firms are eliminating this, considering the spacing to fulfil the function of traditional punctuation. Once again, there are no hard-and-fast rules, but every firm will have its own policy. In the USA the most common salutation is “Gentlemen:” Note that the salutation is typed against the left-hand margin. When writing to an individual within the firm addressed, the salutation is Dear Sir (Dear Madam, if the recipient is known to be a woman), or Dear Mr ....", Dear Mrs . . . , Dear Miss or Dear Ms if the addressee is addressed by name rather than by position. In recent years the use of the form Ms has become quite common. It originated in the USA and, like its male equivalent Mr, it does not indicate whether the person addressed is married or unmarried

f) The complimentary close

This is typed above the name of the firm sending a letter, then the space is left for the signature. If the salutation is Dear Sir(s), the complimentary close will read "Yours faithfully" or less commonly "Yours truly". If the correspondent is addressed by his or her name - "Dear Mr Brown" etc. - the complimentary close will take the form "Yours sincerely"

TABLE OF POLITE PHRASES

Addressee	Salutation	Complimentary close
Messrs. A.Smith & Co., Ltd.	Dear Sirs, Gentlemen:	Yours faithfully Yours truly, Yours very truly
Mr. A.Smith A. Smith, Esq	Dear Sir,	Yours faithfully Yours truly, Yours very truly
Mr. A.Smith A. Smith, Esq	Dear Mr. Smith,	Yours sincerely, Yours very sincerely
Mrs. B. Brown Miss C. White	Dear Madam,	Yours faithfully Yours truly, Yours very truly
Mrs. B. Brown Miss C. Brown	Dear Mrs. B. Brown, Dear Miss C. White	Yours sincerely, Yours very sincerely

If you address letter to some definite person the letter is marked:

For the Attention of Mr. D. Robinson

Attention of Mr. D. Robinson

Attention: Mr. D. Robinson

Salutation in this case is in plural, i.e. Dear Sirs etc., as the letter is addressed to the organization and not to a separate person.

Esq. is abbreviation of the word esquire and is never written as a whole word, but as Esq. with a full stop at the end, before his surname there should be either his name or initials. Capital letters following the name could indicate university education etc. For example: A.B.Smith, M.P., (Member of Parliament), C.D. Brown, M.I.C.E. - Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers,

A.F. White, LL. D. - Doctor of Laws,

G.H. Black, K.C.V.O. - Knight Commander of the Victorial Order.

These letters are mentioned in the address.