- •Introduction
- •Unit 1 First impressions count!
- •Think quality
- •Paper quality
- •Paper size
- •Headed notepaper
- •Continuation sheets
- •Setting out your letter
- •Sender’s address / outside address
- •Inside address / receiver’s address / recipient’s address
- •Surname known
- •Job title known
- •Department known
- •Company known
- •Order of inside address
- •Attention line / ‘for the attention of’ line
- •Salutation / opening greeting
- •Body of thr letter
- •Complimentary close / complimentary ending
- •Signature
- •Sender’s name
- •Sender’s office or department
- •Type of company
- •Mary Raynor
- •Board of directors
- •Address
- •Registered number
- •Per pro
- •References / reference code
- •Job title
- •Enclosures
- •Despatch method
- •Private and confidential / classification line
- •Subject title / subject line
- •Copies / copies line
- •Postscripts
- •Common letter layouts
- •Fully blocked layout
- •John Smith
- •Semi-blocked layout
- •17Th May 2000
- •Quotation for extension at 42 Botlcy Close
- •John Smith
- •Fully indented layout
- •Quotation for extension at 42 Botley Close
- •John Smith
- •A few words about envelopes
- •Addressing envelopes
- •Kettering
- •Sender’s address addresses on the envelopes
- •Abbreviated forms on the envelope
- •Writing well length
- •Too long
- •Too short
- •The right length
- •Order and sequence
- •Unclear sequence
- •Clear sequence
- •Planning
- •First paragraph (introductory paragraph)
- •Courtesy
- •Idioms and colloquial language
- •Clarity
- •Abbreviations and initials
- •Numbers
- •Prepositions
- •Words to avoid foreign words
- •Ambiguous words
- •Vogue words
- •Titles, names and addresses
- •Unit 2 types of organizations
- •Organisational structure and communication
- •The purpose of organisation charts
- •Relationships in a business organisation
- •Rayco ltd
- •Unit 3 enquiry letters
- •Figure 19
- •Figure 21 Quotation of terms
- •Unit 5 follow-up and sales letters
- •Figure 23
- •Figure 24
- •Figure 25
- •Unit 6 orders and execution of orders
- •Figure 27 Order
- •Figure 28
- •Marking
- •Specimens of marks
- •Kent, clarke & co. Ltd
- •Figure 33 Advice of shipment to importer
- •Unit 8 letters of complaints
- •Unit 9 replies to complaints
- •Unit 10 overseas payments
- •Invoice
- •Figure 45
- •Bank draft
- •Bank transfer
- •Bill of exchange
- •Introductory paragraph (sender’s) address
- •Into English:
- •Hierarchy
- •Organization chart Rossomon plc
- •John sutton
- •Linda Gabbiadini
- •Padryg Burne
- •Unit 3 enquiry letters language practice
- •Unit 4 replies to enquiries language practice
- •Paper Products plc
- •16 Rushthorne Way, Bolton, Lancashire bl63 6sg
- •Unit 5 follow-up letters language practice
- •In stock out of stock under separate cover
- •Into effect (come into effect)
- •Unit 6 orders and execution of orders language practice
- •Inconvenience reference terms
- •In touch with in (your/our) favour of assistance
- •Unit 7 packing and despatch language practice
- •Packing
- •Goods and transport
- •International trade finance documents
- •In our/your own interest in due course on the way
- •In transit on arrival to the letter
- •Unit 8 letters of complaint language practice
- •In good time with the exception of on schedule
- •Issue passed reply
- •Unit 9 replies to complaints language practice
- •In advance up-to-date
- •Unit 10 overseas payments language practice
- •Talking about letters of credit
- •Importer
- •Importer’s bank
- •Barklays
- •Dispatch V., n.(dispatch method)
- •Receiver’s address
- •Recipient’s address
- •Unit 2
- •Unit 3
- •Unit 4
- •Unit 5
- •Unit 6
- •Unit 7
- •Unit 8
- •Unit 9
- •Unit 10
- •Post Office Giro (International Post Office Giro)
- •Postal order
- •Promissory note (p-note)
Setting out your letter
It is important to achieve a good balance between the size of the sheet of paper and what is to be written on it. It will detract from the overall appearance if the first sheet is closely spaced, and only one or two short lines go over on to the second sheet. Try to space the letter more generously, so that more text appears on the second sheet.
Remember that a draft will make it easier to refine and correct the content before you begin to write or type your letter. The final letter, whether it is handwritten or typed, should be free of corrections and errors.
If you use a word processor – especially one of the newer word-processing programs available for use on personal computers, and incorporating some of the features of desk-top publishing – much of the setting-out and formatting can be done automatically by the machine.
The letter below is from a private individual in Denmark to a company in the UK. It shows the basic features of a simple business letter.
Figure 2
1Sender’s
addressBredgade 51
DK 1260
Copenhagen K
DENMARK
2 Date
26 May 20—
3Inside
addressCompuvision Ltd
Warwick House
Warwick Street
Forest Hill
London SE23
1JF
UK
4Attention lionFor the
attention of the Sales Manager
5 SalutationDear
Sir or Madam
6Body of the letterPlease
would you send me details of your
DVD video
systems. I am particularly
interested in
the Omega range.
7Complimentary closeYours faithfully
8SignatureB.
Kaasen
(Ms) B. Kaasen
The text of your letter should be positioned on the page with appropriate spacing. The print or handwriting should be neither too cramped nor too widely spaced. Use a two line space between paragraphs or individual lines if this will improve the general appearance. If the letter is short, the text should not be pushed up to the top of the sheet with a large area left blank at the bottom – leave some space at the top to balance that at the bottom of the sheet.
Sender’s address / outside address
In correspondence that does not have a letterhead, the sender’s address is placed in the top right-hand corner of the page. It is also acceptable, but less common, to place it in the top left-hand corner. Punctuation is rarely used in addresses these days.
The blocked style is the most widely used, i.e. each line starts directly below the one above.
In contrast with practice in some other countries, in the UK it is not usual to write the sender’s name before his or her address.
DATE
The date is written directly below the sender’s address, separated from it by a space. In the case of correspondence with a letterhead, it is usually written on the right-hand side of the page.
The month in the date should not be written in figures as this can be confusing; for example 11.3.03 means 11 March 2003 in British English, where the sequence is day-month-year, but 3 November 2003 in American English, where the sequence is month-day-year.
It is acceptable to write the date with or without the abbreviations -th and -nd, e.g. 24th October or 24 October, and to transpose the date and the month, e.g. October 24 or 24 October. These are matters of personal preference, but whatever you choose you should be consistent throughout your correspondence.
The year should always be included as it may be important for both you and the recipient if you need to refer back to your correspondence in the future.
Avoid using the term ‘Date as Postmark’ as the envelope is usually soon discarded, especially where companies have a post room that opens the mail and just delivers the letters to the recipients, so no one will know exactly when it was sent.