Writing

Task 1. Study the information below and answer the following questions.

1. Where is a business letter usually used?

2. How many typical parts of a business letter do you know? Name them.

3. Which word do you usually use when greeting a person?

4. What does Enc.mean at the end of the letter?

A business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. There are nine typical parts of a business letter:

1) Return Address

Your address (or the address of the company you represent). If you are using preprinted stationary, there is no need to retype the information.

2) Date

Leave two blank lines after the return address. Always spell out the month and include the day, a comma, and the year.

3) Inside Address

Leave two blank lines after the date. Then type the address of the person or company to whom you are writing.

4) Salutation

Type Dear, followed by the person's name. If you don’t know the name of the person, use a title instead (e.g.: Dear Editor, Dear Madam).

5) Body

Align your message on the left margin. Skip a line before starting a new paragraph, but do not indent the paragraph's first line. Make sure that each paragraph is clear and concise.

6) Closing

Leave two lines of space after your last body paragraph, then use a

conventional closing, followed by a comma (i.e., Sincerely, Sincerely Yours, Respectfully).

7) Signature

Your signature should appear below your closing. Unless you have established a personal relationship with the person you are writing, use both your first and last name.

8) Name and Position

Four lines after the closing, type your full name. Do not include a title (Mr. or Mrs.).

9) Abbreviations at the end of a letter

If you send a copy of a letter to someone other than the person addressed, use cc: and the person’s name. Use Enc. or Enclosure if you enclose something with the letter.

Task 2. Match the parts of the envelope with the headings.

(1) Benedetta’s Boutique

18 (2) Equator Avenue

(3) Irving, Texas 75060

(4) Mr. A. Dale

Grand Office Supplies

(5) 457 Broome Street

Boulder, Colorado (6) 80306

A. the addressee

B. the ZIP Code in the mailing address

C. the house number in the mailing address

D. the street name in the return address

E. the town the letter comes from

F. the sender

Task 3. Fill in the missing information.

A. Dear B. Sincerely yours

C. Susy Avenue D. Newcastle

E. connection F. forward

New computer Subway Ltd.

234 (1)

Austin, BC9257NP

April 28, 2005

Ms J. Conway,

Sales Manager,

Magazine on networking,

89 Bear Street

(2), JP786P

(3), Ms Conway

We are writing in (4) with your advertisement in a yesterday’s newspaper. We would like to co-operate with you and would appreciate it if you have time to arrange a meeting with us in our office.

We look (5) to hearing from you.

(6),

____________

Alan Khan

R&D Manager

Task 4.To which type is the letter in Task 3 referred?

a) simple commercial letter c) letter of request / enquiry

b) letter of complaint d) letter of application

Task 5. Put the parts of the letter into the correct order and define each part according to the information given in Task 1.

1) Dear Customer Service Representative,

2) Super International

Mr. Sumeet Khanna No. 606, Chiranjiv Tower, No. 43, Nehru Place

New Delhi, Delhi - 110 019, (India)

3) Our university recently purchased one of your clinostats for our laboratory. Unfortunately, after viewing the components that came with the product, I discovered that four motorised discs were missing. Also, the instructions that came with the clinostats are in German and Russian, but not in English or French, the two languages our students speak. These two unforeseen problems have resulted in the clinostat remaining unassembled and unacceptable as a laboratory piece of equipment.

I am writing to request replacements for the missing parts, and a copy of the full set of assembly instructions (in English or French) for the model I purchased. If reasonable arrangements are not made within ten business days, I will return the clinostat to your company and expect a full refund.

I sincerely hope this is a one-time incident, and that any future purchases I make will live up to the standard our university has come to expect from your company.

4) Sincerely,

Clara Winters

5) September 13, 2010

6) Mrs. Clara Winters

Director of Science laboratory School of Biological Sciences University of Bristol Woodland Road, Bristol,

BS8 1UG, UK

Task 6. To which type is the letter in Task 4 referred?

a) letter of apology c) letter of request / enquiry

b) letter of complaint d) letter of credit

Task 7. Write a reply to Mrs. Clara Winters’ letter as if you are a customer service representative. Which type of the letter is it going to be? Mind all rules of writing a business letter.