Standard Phrases to use in business writing:
The start
Dear Sir / Madam;
Dear Mr Smith / Mrs Smith / Miss Smith / Ms Smith;
Dear Jane.
The Reference
With reference to your letter of 12th May, 2014;
With reference to your phone call today (yesterday);
With reference to your advertisement in the newspaper.
The reason for writing
I am writing to confirm …;
I am writing to apologize for …;
I am writing to comment on …;
I am writing to apply for … .
Enclosing documents
I am enclosing …;
Please find enclosed … .
Closing remarks
Thank you for your help.
Please contact us if you have any questions / problems.
Please contact us if we can help in any way.
Reference to future contact
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
I look forward to meeting you next week.
I look forward to seeing you next Monday.
The finish
Yours faithfully / Yours sincerely;
Sincerely yours / Yours truly (AmE);
Best wishes.
The thanks (gratitude)
Thank you for …;
I feel I must write to thank you for …;
I am very grateful for …;
I am truly grateful for …;
I wish to say how grateful I am for … .
The congratulation
Permit me to congratulate you on …;
May we congratulate you on …;
We congratulate you on …;
Please accept our sincere congratulations on … .
Reading
and Speaking (2)
1. What is an email?
2. What is the purpose of a fax message?
Email and Fax Communication
E-mail writing has become a large part of modern communication, particularly in business. The world has become much smaller now that we have the ability to send and receive e-mail messages over great distances at an incredible speed. However e-mail was originally used as an informal means of communication. Therefore business e-mail letters are less formal in style than ordinary business letters.
E-mail is short for electronic mail. E-mail correspondence gets from one place to another in a matter of minutes. Connecting to the Internet provides you with e-mail services and an e-mail address which looks like this: nickname@someplace.com (@ means at, and com indicates the domain, in this case, a company). The Internet is a communication network that links computers all around the world via modems. Companies send documents from one place to another in minutes. E-mail is an up-to-date method of transmitting data, text files, and digital photos from one computer to another over the Internet. And now e-mails have become one of the most widely used forms of business and personal communication. E-mails are quick, so they are good for chatting, inviting people out, keeping in touch and doing business.
E-mails do not necessarily contain all the elements important for business letters. So e-mails are usually shorter and it takes less time to compile and send them. The e-mail language is much closer to spoken English than traditional business correspondence style.
Information about the sender and the receiver (addressee) appears at the top in a special frame – so the writer doesn’t have to use traditional greetings. Mr Black, Dear Peter, Peter are all acceptable ways of starting an e-mail.
As e-mails are designed for speed, they usually avoid the formal expressions used in letters, and people often do not write in complete sentences using abbreviations. A message should be short to fit on one screen, whenever possible, thus keeping all important information visible at once. Be sure your message is easy to answer.
You can end your e-mail with:
Best wishes
All best wishes
Best regards
Regards
Yours
To people you know well, you can end with:
All the best
Best
People often sign e-mail with their first name.
There are a few important points to remember when composing e-mail, particularly when the e-mail’s recipient is someone who does not know you.
Include a meaningful subject line; this helps clarify what your message is about.
Open your e-mail with a greeting like Dear Dr. Jones, or Ms. Smith.
Use standard spelling and punctuation.
Don’t write unnecessarily long e-mails (4 or 5 paragraphs). Write clear, short paragraphs.
In business e-mails, try not to use abbreviations such as PLS (please) and BTW (by the way).
Finish with a closing decision, hope or apology.
Include a Signature Block in every e-mail – your name, title, business address, telephone number, fax numbers, e-mail address and website address. Be polite and give as many contact details as possible so that the reader can contact you in different ways.
Even in today’s modern age of the Internet, it is still necessary to send and receive faxes. Most companies, large or small, have a fax machine. This allows them to send facsimiles of any document. A fax message is the message that is sent or received over a fax machine (phone lines are used) or online fax service. The word fax comes from the word facsimile standing for perfect copy.
The original document is scanned with a fax machine; the information is then transmitted as electrical signals through the telephone system. A fax message is often sent when particular official correspondence needs to be sent or received urgently and it is not possible to send the documents via email.