Business Letters in English.docx

Business Letters in English.docx

《Business Letters in English.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Business Letters in English.docx（23页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

BusinessLettersinEnglish

BusinessLettersinEnglish

Businesslettersareformalpapercommunicationsbetween,toorfrombusinessesandusuallysentthroughthePostOfficeorsometimesbycourier.Businesslettersaresometimescalled"snail-mail"（incontrasttoemailwhichisfaster）.Thislessonconcentratesonbusinesslettersbutalsolooksatotherbusinesscorrespondence.Itincludes:

∙letter

∙memo

∙fax

∙email

WhowritesBusinessLetters?

Mostpeoplewhohaveanoccupationhavetowritebusinessletters.Somewritemanyletterseachdayandothersonlywriteafewlettersoverthecourseofacareer.Businesspeoplealsoreadlettersonadailybasis.Lettersarewrittenfromaperson/group,knownasthesendertoaperson/group,knowninbusinessastherecipient.Herearesomeexamplesofsendersandrecipients:

∙business«»business

∙business«»consumer

∙jobapplicant«»company

∙citizen«»governmentofficial

∙employer«»employee

∙staffmember«»staffmember

WhywriteBusinessLetters?

Therearemanyreasonswhyyoumayneedtowritebusinesslettersorothercorrespondence:

∙topersuade

∙toinform

∙torequest

∙toexpressthanks

∙toremind

∙torecommend

∙toapologize

∙tocongratulate

∙torejectaproposaloroffer

∙tointroduceapersonorpolicy

∙toinviteorwelcome

∙tofollowup

∙toformalizedecisions

SampleBusinessLetters

BusinessLetterEnvelopeComponents

Thissamplebusinessletterenvelopeincludesformalcomponents,someofwhichareoptionalfortypical,employment-relatedbusinessletters.

ThegraphicbelowrepresentstheUSPostalServiceautomationguidelinesforastandardbusinessenvelopethatis4-1/8x9-1/2inches.

Tips:

∙Replacethetextinbrackets[]withthecomponentindicated.Don'ttypethebrackets.

∙Ifyourenvelopedoesnothaveapreprintedreturnaddress,typeitintheupperleftcorner,inanareanottoexceed50%ofthelengthand33%oftheheightoftheenvelope.Leavealittlespacebetweenyourreturnaddressandthetopandleftedges.Howmuchdependsonthemarginlimitationsofyourprinterortypewriter.Forexample,laserprinterstypicallyrequiremarginsofatleast1/8inch（9points）.1/4（18points）to1/2inch（36points）looksgood.

∙TypetheSpecialMailingNotationunderthepostagearea.Itdoesn'thavetolineupperfectlywiththestampasshown,butitlooksprofessional.Typeinalluppercasecharacters,ifappropriate.Examplesinclude

▪SPECIALDELIVERY

▪CERTIFIEDMAIL

▪AIRMAIL

∙TypetheOn-ArrivalNotationsothatitsrightedgelinesupwiththeleftedgeoftherecipient'saddress.Thisisnotapostofficerequirement,butratherstandardformatting.Typeinalluppercasecharacters,ifappropriate.Youmightwanttoincludeanotationonprivatecorrespondence,suchaswhenmailingaresignationletter.Examplesare

▪PERSONAL

▪CONFIDENTIAL

∙Thegrayshadedareaiswheretheopticalcharacterreader（OCR）atthepostofficescansfortherecipient'saddress.Typetherecipient'saddresswithintheshadedarea,belowotherinformation.Don'ttypeanythingtotheleft,rightorbelowtherecipient'saddress.It'sagoodideatoincludealineortwoofspacebelownon-addressinformation（suchasthenotationsshown）,beforetypingtherecipient'saddress.ItmakesiteasierfortheOCRtodistinguishtheaddress.

▪Includingtherecipient'sjobtitleafterhisorhernameisoptional.

▪Ifyouknowtherecipient'sdepartmentormail-stopnameornumber,includeitafterhisorhername.

▪IncludetheabbreviationUSAaftertheZip+4code,ifmailingtotheUnitedStatesofAmericafromanothercountry.

Readthroughthefollowingpagestolearnmoreaboutthedifferenttypesofbusinessletters,andhowtowritethem.Youwilllearnaboutformatting,planning,andwritingletters,aswellashowtospotyourownerrors.Thesepagesaredesignedtohelpyouwritebusinesslettersandcorrespondence,buttheywillalsohelpyoulearntoread,andthereforerespondto,thelettersyoureceive.Youwillalsofindsamplesthatyoucanuseandalterforyourownneeds.

∙Vocabulary

∙VocabularyQuiz

∙LetterFormats

∙Planning

∙Writing

∙Proofreading

∙TesttoCheckYourUnderstanding

∙BusinessLetterVocabulary

attachment

extradocumentorimagethatisaddedtoanemail

blockformat

mostcommonbusinessletterformat,singlespaced,allparagraphsbeginattheleftmargin

body

thecontentoftheletter;betweenthesalutationandsignature

bullets

smalldarkdotsusedtosetoffitemsinanunnumberedlist

certifiedmail

importantlettersthatsenderpaysextrapostageforinordertoreceiveanoticeofreceipt

coherent

logical;easytounderstand

concise

getstothepointquickly

confidential,personal

private

diplomacy,diplomatic

demonstratingconsiderationandkindness

directmail,junkmail

marketinglettersaddressedtoalargeaudience

doublespace

formatwhereoneblanklineisleftbetweenlinesoftext

enclosure

extradocumentorimageincludedwithaletter

formal

usessetformattingandbusinesslanguage,oppositeofcasual

format

thesetupororganizationofadocument

heading

awordorphrasethatindicateswhatthetextbelowwillbeabout

indent

extraspaces（usually5）atthebeginningofaparagraph

informal

casual

insideaddress

recipient'smailinginformation

justifiedmargins

straightandeventext,alwaysbeginsatthesameplace

letterhead

specializedpaperwitha（company）logoornameprintedatthetop

logo

symbolorimagethatidentifiesaspecificorganization

margin

ablankspacethatborderstheedgeofthetext

memorandum（memo）

documentsentwithinacompany（internal）,presentedinshortform

modifiedblockformat

leftjustifiedasblockformat,butdateandclosingarecentered

onarrivalnotation

noticetorecipientthatappearsonanenvelope（e.g."confidential"）

postage

thecostofsendingaletterthroughthePostOffice

proofread

readthroughafinisheddocumenttocheckformistakes

punctuation

marksusedwithinoraftersentencesandphrases（e.g.periods,commas）

reader-friendly

easytoread

recipient

thepersonwhoreceivestheletter

rightragged

formatinwhichtextontherightsideofthedocumentendsatslightlydifferentpoints（notjustified）

salutation

greetinginaletter（e.g."DearMrJones"）

sensitiveinformation

contentinaletterthatmaycausethereceivertofeelupset

semi-blockformat

paragraphsareindented,notleft-justified

sincerely

termusedbeforeanamewhenformallyclosingaletter

singlespaced

formatwherenoblankslinesareleftin-betweenlinesoftext

spacing

blankareabetweenwordsorlinesoftext

tone

thefeelingofthelanguage（e.g.serious,enthusiastic）

transitions

wordsorphrasesusedtomakealetterflownaturally（e.g."furthermore","ontheotherhand"）

BusinessLetterFormats

Therearecertainstandardsforformattingabusinessletter,thoughsomevariationsareacceptable（forexamplebetweenEuropeanandNorthAmericanbusinessletters）.Herearesomebasicguidelines:

∙UseA4（European）or8.5x11inch（NorthAmerican）paperorletterhead

∙Use2.5cmor1inchmarginsonallfoursides

∙UseasimplefontsuchasTimesNewRomanorArial

∙Use10to12pointfont

∙Useacommaafterthesalutation（DearMrBond,）

∙Layoutthelettersothatitfitsthepaperappropriately

∙Singlespacewithinparagraphs

∙Doublespacebetweenparagraphs

∙Doublespacebetweenlastsentenceandclosing（Sincerely,Bestwishes）

∙Leavethreetofivesspacesforahandwrittensignature

∙cc:

（meaning"copiesto"）comesafterthetypedname（ifnecessary）

∙enc:

（meaning"enclosure"）comesnext（ifnecessary）

∙Foldinthree（horizontally）beforeplacingintheenvelope

∙Userightraggedformatting（notjustifiedonrightside）

FormattingBusinessLetters

Blockformatisthemostcommonformatusedinbusinesstoday.Withthisformat,nothingiscentred.Thesender'saddress,therecipient'saddress,thedateandallnewparagraphsbeginattheleftmargin,likethis:

WickedWaxCo.Ltd

22CharltonWay

London,SE108QY

5thDecember,2006

Ms.MaggieJones

AngelCosmeticsInc.

110East25thStreet

NewYork,NY,10021

USA

Yourref:

123

Ourref:

abc

DearMs.Jones,

ForthcomingExhibition

Firstparagraph...

Secondparagraph...

Thirdparagraph...

Sincerely,

MorrisHoward

MorrisHoward,President

cc:

BrianWaldorf

Enc:

catalogue

SENDER'SADDRESS

maybeprintedcompanylogoandaddress

DATE

RECIPIENT'SADDRESS

RECIPIENT'SREFERENCE（IFANY）

SENDER'SREFERENCE（IFANY）

SALUTATION

SUBJECT

BODYOFLETTER

CLOSING

SIGNATURE（HAND-WRITTEN）

NAME,TITLE（TYPED）

COPYTO

ENCLOSURE

Thisareother,slightlydifferentwaysofformattingabusinessletter,whereforexampleparagraphsareindentedorthedateistypedontherighthandside.Youcanseeexamplesoftheseinthesampleletters.

FormattingEnvelopesforBusinessLetters

Itisbesttotypeanenvelopeforabusinessletter.Mostworddocumentprogramscontainanenvelopelabellingfunctiontohelpyou.Allyouneedtodoisindicatethesizeofenvelopeyouareusingandtypethecorrectinformationintheappropriatefields,forexample:

Sendingcompany'snameandaddress

issometimesprintedhere

Postage

stamp

Ms.MaggieJones

AngelCosmeticsInc.

110East25thStreet

NewYork

NY10021

USA

FormattingBusinessMemos

Memosareshortinternalbusinessletters,senttootherstaffwithinthesamecompany.Amemo（ormemorandum）mayalsobepostedsomewhereinsideacompanyforalltosee.Memosarebecominglesscommonas