Text II. Notes on business correspondence Business Letter Contents

Business letters are formal paper communications between, to or from businesses and usually sent through the Post Office or sometimes by courier. Business letters are sometimes called "snail-mail" (in contrast to email which is faster). This lesson concentrates on business letters but also looks at other business correspondence. It includes:

• letter

• memo

• fax

• email

Most people who have an occupation have to write business letters. Some write many letters each day and others only write a few letters over the course of a career. Business people also read letters on a daily basis. Letters are written from a person/group, known as the sender to a person/group, known in business as the recipient. Here are some examples of senders and recipients:

• business ↔business

• business ↔ consumer

• job applicant ↔ company

• citizen ↔ government official

• employer ↔ employee

• staff member ↔ staff member

There are many reasons why you may need to write business letters or other correspondence:

• to persuade

• to inform

• to request

• to express thanks

• to remind

• to recommend

• to apologize

• to congratulate

• to reject a proposal or offer

• to introduce a person or policy

• to invite or welcome

• to follow up

• to formalize decisions

Before writing (as opposed to speaking), you should usually have time:

• to plan what you want to say,

• to organise the information in a logical manner,

• to decide how you are going to express yourself.

After writing, you should build in time to edit your texts (e.g. make improvements and corrections). You should check your text for of the following:

• organisation,

• register and style,

• grammar,

• vocabulary,

• spelling,

• punctuation.

The level of formality depends on:

• the type, e.g. a letter may be more formal than an email,

• the recipient, e.g. a long-standing customer or someone you do not know,

• the message, e.g. a letter of complaint will be different from a sales letter.

Written texts are divided into paragraphs in order to make them easier to read. Breaks between paragraphs give the reader time to stop and think for a moment. By beginning a new paragraph, the writer may be indicating that a new or contrasting idea is being introduced.

A topic sentence is the sentence in a paragraph containing the main idea, from which the rest of the paragraph develops. The other sentences in the paragraph add details, explanation and build up the argument.

Cohesion can be thought of as all the grammatical and lexical links that link one part of a text to another. This includes use of synonyms, lexical sets, pronouns, verb tenses, time references, grammatical reference, etc. For example, ‘it’, ‘neither’ and ‘this’ all refer to an idea previously mentioned. ‘First of all’, ‘then’ and ‘after that’ help to sequence a text. ‘However’, ‘in addition’ and ‘for instance’ link ideas and arguments in a text.

Coherence can be thought of as how meanings and sequences of ideas relate to each other. Typical examples would be: general → particular; statement → example; problem → solution; question → answer; claim → counter-claim.

Punctuation serves a similar purpose in written texts as features of pronunciation (e.g. intonation, stress) serve in spoken discourse. It helps the reader make sense of a text. A text with no punctuation, or incorrect punctuation, can cause confusion or incomprehension for the reader. Correct punctuation saves the reader time and avoids misunderstandings.

Spelling is an important feature of writing. Most importantly, misspelt words can lead to confusion or even stop the reader from understanding the writer’s message. The impact of misspelt words varies enormously depending on the purpose and register of a document. For instance, misspelt words in a formal letter will probably create a more negative impression on the reader than those in an email.

Check each piece of business correspondence twice!