BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

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BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

• A. Littlejohn Company to Company, Fourth
  Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2005

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LETTER LAYOUT (extra sheet Letter of
Application, T.Trappe New Insights
intoBusiness)

• LETTER (E-MAIL) WRITING CHECKLIST
•   Sender's address (letterhead?)
•   Recipient's (addressees) name and address
• Date
•   Salutation e.g. Dear ...
•   Subject line (heading)
•   Opening e.g. I am writing to ..., Thank you
  for your letter ...
•   Main part (Body of the letter/e-mail)
•   Close e.g. I look forward to ...
•   Ending e.g. Yours sincerely / Yours
  faithfully, ...
•   Signature
•   Name in printed letters John Smith
•   Job title (position) IT Department Manager

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DATE

• CRO 06. 12. 2006.
• UK  16 December 2006
• US  June 12, 2006
• Say the sixteenth of December two thousand and
  six
• December the sixteenth two thousand and
  six
• Prepositions
• With reference to your letter ......... 6
  December 2004
• The order was received
• a) ...........6 Dec 2004 b) ........ December
  c) ....... 2004
• d) .... .the first week of December
• CC ex. 4.3 (p.39)

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DATE

• CRO 06. 12. 2006.
• UK  16 December 2006
• US  June 12, 2006
• Say the sixteenth of December two thousand and
  six
• December the sixteenth two thousand and
  six
• Prepositions
• With reference to your letter of 6 December 2004
• The order was received
• ... on 6 Dec 2004 ...in December in 2004 in
  the first week of December
• Ex C to C p.39 (4.3)

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SALUTATION Dear...?

• to a company
• to a man if you do not know his name
• to a woman if you do not know her name
• to a married or unmarried man
• to a married or unmarried woman
• to a married woman
• to an unmarried woman
• to a friend or someone you know well

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SALUTATION (cont.)

• Dear Ms Smith
• Dear John
• Dear Madam
• Dear Sir or Madam
• Dear Sir
• Dear Miss Smith
• Dear Mrs Smith
• Dear Mr Smith

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SALUTATION (cont.)

• Dear Sir or Madam
• Dear Sir
• Dear Madam
• Dear Mr Smith
• Dear Ms Smith
• Dear Mrs Smith
• Dear Miss Smith
• Dear John
• US Dear Ms Smith
• UK Dear Ms Smith
• NO! Dear Mr John

• to a company
• to a man if you do not know his name
• to a woman if you do not know her name
• to a married or unmarried man
• to a married or unmarried woman
• to a married woman
• to an unmarried woman
• to a friend or someone you know well

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Salutation and closing

• Dear Sir or Madam /Yours faithfully
• Dear Ms Jackson /Yours sincerely
• Dear Mark/Best wishes (Best regards)
• Dear Ms Gonzalez, Dear David, Dear Mrs Wilson,
  Dear Sir or Madam
• CC ex. 1.3 (p.9)

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SUBJECT HEADING CC ex.1.4, p.9-10, ex.3.2,
p.28

• key word(s)
• e-mail
• letters
• Dear Mr Kane Dear Mr Kane
• Order ref.no.2345 Re Late Delivery
• I am writing to enquire about ... I am
  writing to
• complain about ...

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PARTS OF A LETTER

• beginning (opening)
• main message (more paragraphs possible)
• ending (close)

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Beginning CC ex.2.5, p.20

• We are writing in connection with...
• We are writing to enquire about ...
• Thank you for your letter of February 20
  concerning
• Further to our telephone discussion , we would
  like to inform you that ...
• With reference to your enquiry about

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Ending CCex. 2.7, p.21

• I look forward to receiving your reply.
• I look forward to hearing fom you soon.
• We look forward to seeing you soon.
• Please feel free to contact us if necessary.
• CLOSE

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Beginning and Ending

• Dear Mr Hugo
• ..................................................
  ...............................
• We sell three different kinds of water heaters.
  The prices are
• 1,600 (150 litres), 1,750 (200 litres) and
  1,900 (250 litres).
• I enclose some brochures.
• ..................................................
  ..............................
• ................................
• Jan Van Oss
• Sales Department

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Beginning and Ending

• Dear Mr Hugo
• Thank you for your enquiry of April 15 asking
  about the prices
• of our water heaters.
• We sell three different kinds of water heaters.
  The prices 1,600 (150
• litres), 1,750 (200 litres) and 1,900 (250
  litres). I enclose some
• brochures.
• Please feel free to contact me if you need any
  further
• information.
• Yours sincerely
• Jan Van Oss
• Sales Department

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BLOCK STYLE

• punctuation?
• no indentation
• paragraphing and line spacing

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PARAGRAPHING EX.

• I am writing to complain about a management
  motivation training course organised by your
  company that I attended on March 30th of this
  year. The main reason that I was not satisfied
  with the course is that the presenter was totally
  unprofessional. In the first place, he was
  fifteen minutes late and didnt even apologise.
  Secondly, he was obviously unprepared and was
  unable to organise his graphics. On top of
  everything, he finished half an hour early and
  didnt take any questions. I had spent a
  significant amount of money on this course and
  expected to gain some useful insight and tips on
  motivating my team. The only thing that I learned
  was how not to give a presentation. As a minimum,
  I expect a refund from your company to compensate
  me for the money and time I have wasted. If this
  is not forthcoming, I will take the matter up
  with the Professional Management Seminars
  Organisation.

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PARAGRAPHING EX. (CC ex.a-b, p.32.33)

• I am writing to complain about a management
  motivation training course organised by your
  company that I attended on March 30th of this
  year.
• The main reason that I was not satisfied with the
  course is that the presenter was totally
  unprofessional. In the first place, he was
  fifteen minutes late and didnt even apologise.
  Secondly, he was obviously unprepared and was
  unable to organise his graphics. On top of
  everything, he finished half an hour early and
  didnt take any questions.
• I had spent a significant amount of money on this
  course and expected to gain some useful insight
  and tips on motivating my team. The only thing
  that I learned was how not to give a
  presentation.
• As a minimum, I expect a refund from your company
  to compensate me for the money and time I have
  wasted. If this is not forthcoming, I will take
  the matter up with the Professional Management
  Seminars Organisation.

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STYLE

• formal but natural
• avoid contracted forms (Im ? I am)
• polite, clear, accurate, concise
• CC ex.1.5,1.6, 1.7, p.10-11)

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E-MAIL CCex. a-c, p.22-23

• expressions cc, bcc, attach, forward,...
• attachments Please find attached the report. (I
  attach the report.)
• Open and close your e-mails
• Do not write in capital letters
• Do not send the original message back to the
  sender (sometimes ok?)
• Use paragraphs easy to read!

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Assessment (in testing)

• layout (address, date, salutation, ...)
• beginning/ending (and close)
• paragraphing (no indentation)
• appropriate language (words, expressions,
  prepositions, ...)
• content