Unit 4. The abc of business correspondence
Text 1. Study the structure of a typical business letter.
Structure of a business letter
Company’s name Address
To whom:
When you know the name of the reader: Mr./Ms/Mrs.Peng When you don’t the name: Dear Sir/Madam
For formal letters it’s a good idea to put the topic of the letter as a heading.
Use the pronoun “we” when writing for your company. This is more formal than “I”.
End: When you know the name of the reader – Yours sincerely. When you don’t know the name of the reader- -Yours faithfully Sign the letter with your first and second names above your typed name and position.
Common abbreviations: Re: regarding (about) Enc. Documents are enclosed with the letter Cc: copies (the names of the people who receive a copy of the letter) |
Tilly’s Trinkets Ltd 62 Wardour Street Ms Jing Peng London WC1 36 Hersham Rd Alton-on-Thames Surrey KT13JR 3 May 2012 Dear Ms. Peng
Re: Job application
We are pleased to inform you that you have been successful in your application for the position of secretary to the managing director at Tilly’s Trinkets. As we agreed in the interview, we would like you to start on October 1 in our Wardour Street office. Your starting salary will be $25000 per annum (в год). You can take 20 days annual leave.
Please sign and return a copy of the contract enclosed to confirm acceptance of this offer.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely Karen Gilbert Karen Gilbert HR Manager
Enc. Contract Cc: Elaine de Groove Managing Director |
Text 2. Read and translate some more information about writing a business letter.
There are many ways to lay out a business letter. The letter bellow is an example of a modern way, called “block style”.
Business letter layout
T
T
T
Be careful with the date!!! In Britain they write the day first:
In the USA they write the month first:
There are different ways to open a letter:
!!! It is wrong to open a letter with “Dear Mr John or Dear Mr John Smith”
The way we close the letter depends on how we open it.
The writer’s name and position are placed under the signature.
ATTENTION!!! The paragraphs start at the margin (с новой строки) and there are line spaces (междустрочный пробел) between them.
There is no punctuation in the address or after “Yours faithfully/sincerely” or Dear….” |
UNTERCITY BANK Plc 58 Jalan Thamrin · Jakarta · Indonesia Telephone 376018 · Telex · 6756
Mr. S Basuki Jakarta Furnishings 7 Jalan Arjuna Jakarta 12 January 2012
Dear Mr. Basuki
Re: Office furniture
We are expanding our office in Jakarta and we will need extra desks, lights, chairs and filing cabinets.
Please send your catalogues with your prices, sizes and colours for these items.
Yours sincerely
Peter Woods
Peter Woods Manager
|
he
name and contact information of the company writing a letter are
at the top on the right or in the centre
he
name and address of the addressee are at the top on the left (the
addressee is the person you are writing to)
he
date is on the right.
2
06 12 – 12 June 2012 (the twelfth of June)
ear
Madam - to a woman if you don’t know her name