Conducted by Nguyen Linh Chi- FA1-99

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Acknowledgements

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my tutor Ms. Nguyen Hong Giang for her careful supervision during my work. And my thanks also go to my teacher Mr. Nguyen Dang Khue for his efforts to held this workshop.

I would like to thank my friends and family for their helps and encouragement during the process of this research.

The sources of this research are mainly from the Internet and printed guidance to write effective commercial correspondence and my next appreciation is spent for all these materials.

And the last thanks I would like to spend for all of you who are interested in this topic. And I do hope it will bring some usefulness to you.

Contents

Summary

Acknowledgement

Contents

Introduction 4

Part I: Structure and Presentation 5

1. Sender's address 5

2. Date 5

3. Receiver's address 6

4. Salutation 7

5. Main subject 7

6. Closing 7

7. Signature 8

Part II: Business Letter - content and style 9

1. Planning your letter 9

2. Language use 10

3. Some other tips 11

4. Letter Typology 13

Part III: Common Problems and recommendation 14

1. Common mistakes 14

2. Recommendations 15

Conclusion 17 Appendix: Exercises

References

INTRODUCTION

Writing a letter is one of the most popular means of communication in any language, existing in the form of formal letters like letter of recommendation, resignation letter … or in the form of informal letters like Thank-you letter, regarding letter or even love letter. Mail trading in English is much more popular in the world now because English has really become a universal language which is used by many nations as the official means of communication.

However, there is a fact that not everyone who speaks English can write a successful letter in English, especially a commercial correspondence because writing a letter presents a particular type of the language and the writer should make it natural, lively and persuasive. Therefore, writing a correct form of letter is really a problem not only to elementary students but also to students at upper levels or even graduated ones. In this assignment, I would like to share some tips to write letter, focusing on the type of formal letter which I have collected to all of you. The assignment will be presented in four main parts:

- Structure and presentation of a normal letter form

- Business letter- content and style

- Common errors and recommendations

- Exercises

Structure and presentation

People write letters thousand times in their life: letter to friends, letter to mother, father, letter asking for money, letter of congratulation, letter of greeting, etc. However, when writing a real formal letter, especially in English, learners of English often meet difficulties. It is obvious that a formal layout includes sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, body or the main subject, complimentary close and signature, but students often feel confused of the elements, order, and content of each part. Anyone can write a social, friendly letter because it, indeed, consists of airy nothings, which are not brought under any set rules. Letter to strangers and letter of business must partake of a more formal character, as also letters of regret and those written to give up a job. For these, there are certain forms which require to be observed

1. Sender's address:

The first thing in a letter form is the sender's address. If there is not the printed letter head, the sender's address will be put at the top right hand side of the letter. The address includes house (room) number, street (road), city (province) and sometimes country and post code (if the receiver is foreigner). The sender's phone number may be included if necessary.

For example:

24 Mansfield Drive

Cheadlee

Manchester M23 4DJ

Tel: (0161) 234 1234

2. Date

The date is written right at the bottom of the sender's address, sometimes with spacing and there are two ways to write date: the first one is day-month-year and the second one is month-day-year.

For example: 24 Mansfield Drive

Cheadlee

Manchester M23 4DJ

January 1st 2003

(or 1st January 2003)

Nevertheless, it is noted that month should not be written in number because it could make misunderstanding. For example in British English, 11.1.2003 means January 11th 2003, whereas in American English, the number could be read as November 1st 2003. Some company may have their own way of writing date like shortening month (like Jan for January, Feb for February … ) or giving up st, th or nd, rd in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th … but it is suggested that the form should be unified for easier finding in case somebody need.

3. Receiver's address

The position of the receiver's address is under the sender's address and date, but in the left hand side of the paper. The name of the receiver can be shown differently depending on whether you know his/her name or only his/her title.

Usually when conducting a business letter, you should know the name of the receiver, or at least his/her family name. In this case, if the receiver is a female, you can call her "Mrs." (if you are sure that she has got married) or "Miss" (if she has not got married). Besides these ways, women often prefer to be called "Ms". The word is used for both married and single women but it is more useful in case the woman's status is not clear. The addressing for man is simpler with the word "Mr." which is used for all status. Therefore, if you know the name of the male receiver- James Black, for example you can write like this:

Mr. J. Black (or Mr. James Black)

However, the impression will not be as good as expected unless his/her name is written correctly; and never write any thing like Dear James or Dear Jane despite you know his/her name or not. In this case, it sounds too familiar.

In some particular situations, many other special courtesy titles should be used in the address. They are Dr (or Doctor), Prof (professor), Capt (capital), Maj. (major), Col. (colonel), Gen. (general) and Sir (for royal addressing). Those words can be used just in case you are sure of their office.

If the name of the receiver is unclear, the title or the status can also used in the address. For example, the Sale Manager, The Business Development Director, or even Business Development Department if you are not sure for his/her status in the company.

In the worst case when there is no information of his/her particular situation, the possible way is to write down the name of the company and send it right to the company's address.

At last, the receiver's address can be presented in the order as follows: receiver's name, company's name, House/Building name and number, street/highway/road, city/province/town with postcode and country, for example:

The Credit Controller,

Ingenierous Industriales SA,

Barrio de Ibaesta s/n,

E-20009 San Sebastian

Comma is often used at the end of each line if punctuations are used, except for the last line of the address. However, people are now familiar with giving up all types of punctuation in the address.

The Credit Controller

Ingenierous Industriales SA

Barrio de Ibaesta s/n

E-20009 San Sebastian

4. Salutation:

Salutation is a very important part in a letter although it may short and simple because the salutation shows reader the respect you spent for them, therefore, always make sure that you begin your letter correctly and suitable with the relation with the receiver. Incase the letter is sent to the company without any specific receiver, the salutation can be something like "Dear Sirs". If the letter goes to a strange person, without any information of gender and status, you can begin with "Dear Sir or Madam" or "Dear Sir/Madam". When the name is clear, you can write "Dear Mr. Black" or "Dear Ms. Black", but this salutation does not include shorten name like Dear Mr. J. Black or Christian name like Dear Mr. James Black.

Commas are optional at the salutation.

5. Main subject (Body)

The form of the main subject is not of any rule; however, it should be neat, easy reading and not too complex. Moreover, the presentation of the letter's body should be unified for reader to read and understand correctly and easily. The style of the subject lay out may be straight or tapped depending on your habit, and there is usually a space between two paragraphs in the straight type. However, the style should be unified despite whatever way you use.

6. Complimentary closes

The sentence is often shown at the right hand side, left hand side or the middle of the paper depending on the style and habit of the writer. The more important thing is to make sure that the letters started and ended correctly. If you are writing to Mrs. Diana Green and you started with something like "Dear Mrs. Green", you should end your letter with "Yours sincerely" with no capital "S" for sincerely. Similarly, if the opening salutation is "Dear Sir/Madam", finish your letter with "Yours faithfully".

7. Signatures

In business letter, your name should be typed with your title and position at the company under the closing and the space spent for your handwriting signature. To prevent confusion a lady should sign herself by her title, as Mrs. Jennie Smith," or "Miss Flora Harlow," when writing to strangers or answering business correspondence. Signature within is not suggested alone, as "F. Smith." because it would mean the writer was a gentleman.

Although a typical form and presentation of a letter may include other things like the letterheads (giving detail information of the company like your company's name, address, telephone number, fax number and email address), references, copies and enclosures, in general, we can have a letterform like follow:

Sender's address

Date

Receiver's address

Salutation

Main subject

Closing

Signature

Typed name

Business Letter

Content and Style

Writing a business letter is obviously a very important skill in business field, but students may find it strange and useless learning to write such a "luxury" document. In fact, it is not. A business letter, in general, is very familiar with students, especially graduated student of language. like in HUFS They must do such a thing when applying for a job, working as a secretary, manager's or director's assistant; in other way, it is the preparatory step for one's future.

Content and style of a commercial correspondence is the most difficult part in writing a letter because there is no defined form for each type. The writer must be sensitive and clarify such criteria like his aims to write, his receiver's position, reliable statistic and many other things to make his work transparent, informative and effective. Before going to some particular examples, some steps should be taken into serious consideration

1. Planning your letter:

Never write any important thing without planning; otherwise, it will confuse your work. You should map out the outline of what you should say in the letter before anything written and this will bring you a suitable order. In order to reach this target, you must answer series of questions like: what is the purpose of the letter? how to express your ideas? which information would you have to supply? What should be included in the letter? Prepare them carefully before put them in order.

A common letter may be divided into three main parts. The first part will be the introduction or opening. This is a very important part which will make an initial impression on the reader and the effectiveness may influence the last parts. To begin the letter, you should give a polite thanks for reading the letter, for writing you (in case you are replying their mail) … and introduce about yourself and your company. After this brief introducing, you must mention directly the purpose and topic of your mail.

For example:

Thank you for your enquiry of 24th April 2002. We are enclosing our Spring Catalogue and current pricelist quoting c.i.f prices Le Harve.

The second part will be the main subject of the letter where information of what you concern, what needed to present and your purpose are expressed. In this part, the receiver must understand the most essential and key point of the issue through clear, easy understanding and persuasive language used.

In the third part or the conclusion, thanks should be repeated to show your appreciation with partner's concern. You may add other things to encourage receiver's further information or other form of contact (usually with expression like "look forward to", "if you need further information, don't hesitate to" … ) and recap the main points briefly if the letter is complex by using expression like "to go over the main point briefly", "to sum up" …

For example:

"Once again thank you for writing us and please contact us if you would like any further information. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

2. Language used

Language used in a letter should not be complex and wordy which only make reader feel complicated and sometimes misunderstanding. A letter should be expressed in a simple and clear way, but not the way of impolite and rude one. The length of the letter is neither too long nor short; it should be as long as needed depending on the content of the letter. Moreover, after having planned the order of content, the function of language is to make it flexible and reasonable by connection, word usage, and style. Follow will be an example of a good language usage:

Dear Sir,

We thank you for inquiry of 28th June and confirm our telegram dispatched this morning, which ran as follows.

"Ninety-five shilling per forty yard pied f. o. b Harwich"

We would remind you this offer is firm for three days and there is very little hood of the goods remaining unsold once this particular offer has lapsed,

In spite of the fact that these goods already represent excellent value for money, we are prepared to take into account the special features of this business, and allow you exceptionally a discount of 2 per cent for settlement within one month.

Yours faithfully

Alfred Ascly

Notes:

1. Make sure that there are only necessary information in your letter, and a business letter does NOT include something like "PS" to add your forgotten things.

2. Make sure that your word usage is understandable, not too complicated, not too simple, not too rude and be careful with abbreviation, numbers and prepositions.

3. Make sure that there is no nonsense mistake in the correspondence like spelling mistake, inaccurate number or pricelist because there would be few chance to correct such mistakes.

3. Some other tips

3. 1. Paper and envelop:

The first thing a recipient sees is the envelope. It is essential that it is of suitable quality with the name and address spelt correctly. Quality envelopes and paper suggest a professional company.

It is wise to make sure the envelope matches the size of the paper. The style, size, and shape of paper change continually. These matters are always within the province of the stationers who supply them, and who always keep the "latest." But the quality never varies. Always a fine, firm white paper is in demand. If you have a preference for tints, they should be of the most delicate cream, or gray, so faint as scarcely to be observable. Learn to write on un-ruled paper. It is very easy to do so. Ruled paper is only suitable for business. If you find it too difficult to write without lines, a sheet of heavily ruled paper placed underneath will serve you as a guide. It is rude to write to a friend or stranger on a half-sheet of paper, or on a torn sheet. In business houses, the half-sheet is always used, but it is printed for that special purpose.

3. 2. Ink to use:

Never use fancy colored inks. Though once very fashionable, they are no longer deemed elegant. A clear black ink is the accepted standard. Purchase an ink that flows freely, without sinking into the paper, and will not gum the pen. A rusty brown black is very offensive to the eye.

3. 3. Use of figure and abbreviation

Business people, to save time, date their letters – "2-4-91—" meaning fourth day, second month of 1891. Addresses should be in figures, as "No. 21, Carpenter St.;" the day of the month also, as "Sept. 3." Figures are also used in denoting sums of money, or large quantities – as "$200,000;" "175,000 barrels;" per cent., "30 per cent.;" . However, be careful with this usage because it may create mistakes. As mentioned in the previous part, a confusion of day and month could be serious between American and British. Another example for this problem is the misuse of point (.) and comma (,). In English number, point in 32.999 is not thirty two thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine like in Vietnamese, it is only thirty-two and nine nine nine. The opposite thing also happens with comma, so pay great attention to numbers when you write for English people.

Shortening or Abbreviations are used much in commercial correspondence because it is very useful in speeding up writing and easy to read. But it is only useful when both sides understand its meaning and be sure that there would not be any misunderstanding in decoding them. In order to take advantages of abbreviations without risk, there's a system of international shortening words.

For example: "Viz." for videlicet, meaning "namely," "to wit;"

"i. e." for id est (it is;)

"e. g." for exempli gratia ("for example;")

"etc. " for et cetera, "and the rest," or "and so on;"

"v." or "vs." for versus;

"vol." — volume;

"chap." chapter;

"A. M.," "M.," and "P. M." for forenoon, noon, and afternoon.

"inst. " for instant — the present month;

"ult" for ultimo — last month;

"prox." for proximo – next month;

c.i.f: cost, insurance and freight

c.c: carbon copy

Enc./Encl.: enclosure

f.a.s: free along side ship

f.o.b: free on board

f.o.r: free on rail

COD: cash on delivery

VAT: value added tax

L/C: letter of credit

LCL: less than container load

Ltd: Limited

4. Some letter typology:

Commercial correspondences are commonly of six main types as follows:

Enquiries: requesting information, catalogue, prices, estimates, details, samples, suggesting if something is possible, methods of payment, asking for discount, delivery times, etc.

Replies and Quotes: confirming help, selling products, referring to someone, suggesting demonstration, contacting local representatives, quotations, price lists, discount, alternatives to something, explaining payment, delivery times, product training programmers, fix and negociate terms, estimates.

Orders: placing order, letter of acceptance confirming conditions and terms, delivery times, packing, shipping, accepting or rejecting changes, delivery delays, refusing a delivery …

Payment: invoices, pro-forms, statements of account, methods of payment (home or abroad), advice of payment, of non-payment, further reminders and final demands

Complaints: writing complaints, explaining problems, suggesting acceptable solutions, replies to complaints, justifiable and unjustifiable complaints, explaining company's situation, adjusting accounting errors.

Credit and Banks: form of credit, credit requirements, asking for credit, accepting or refusing credit, taking up references, bank facilities, deposit accounts, requesting cheque books, credit cars, overdraft, outstanding orders …

Common problems and recommendations

A survey had been done among second-year students to test their ability to write a correct form and effective letter. The topic given out was "Write a letter of requesting" and the receiver is not compulsory. After collecting the results, it is realized that there are some mistakes that majority of students met, and they could be classified in to three main groups:

1. Common mistakes

1. 1. Mistake of format:

Few student pay attention to the structure of an English formal letter, therefore the mistake of format is the most popular one found in these exercises. Some common errors can be listed here like the position of addresses, date and their order. Some students cannot define where to put a comma, and where not to, others have difficulties in addressing the receivers' degrees, medals, honorary titles or professional associations. However, this kind of mistake is the simplest one and easier to correct than the next two types: mistake of planning and mistake of language usage.

For example:

11 Thornton Hill

Exeter, Devon.

EX4 4MN.

16th March 2003

Mr Frank Jones,

Marketing Department.

Topsham Toys,

Exeter, Devon

EX4 28.

1. 2. Mistake of planning:

Another weakness of students in conducting a commercial correspondence is planning the content. Ideas, information and figures are not always put in clear and suitable order to help readers understand correctly and persuasively. Popular mistakes met in this type are the confusion of ideas, lack of information or statistic, unscientific organization and unclear sequence.

For example:

Dear Sir,

I have received your advertisement sent on March 28th 2003 and I find it very interesting. I wonder if you can supply more details of your products like models, colors, functions and insurance.

I think the prices you offered are too high and I hope that we could have a negotiation about the selling price if I buy in large quantity.

We hope to have further cooperation with your company in the future. Thank you.

Your truly,

1. 3. Mistake of language usage.

The common mistakes of language that students often make are too colloquial or too complicated. Word choices are sometimes problem for students because they haven’t been familiar with business expressions. Besides these lexical problems, students also have to meet grammatical difficulties like changing in tense, using impersonal status or replacing contractions with full form usage. To overcome this kind of problems, there should be not only the requirement for student's knowledge but also the ability to apply flexible language of writer.

Besides these three main types of mistakes, which often found in students' works, there are also, some other errors that prevent the letter from being successful. However, most of such errors, like mistake of format can be corrected by writer's carefulness. In the following part, I will only mention some recommendation for students to avoid mistakes of planning and language use.

2. Recommendations:

2.1 Planning suggestions:

As well as the proper information, the letter should present all necessary points in a clear order, and between each two paragraphs or ideas, there should be a clear sequence or connection. Do not mention unrelated things and change into other parts unexpectedly. In order to make your words persuasive, quote suitable references to make clear the issue mentioned in the subject. A good structure had been mentioned in the second part of this assignment and a little looking back at it may be helpful in organizing the letter's content.

2. 2.Language use suggestions:

- Do not use language that is too colloquial like "Don't worry, I'll get your money back". Something like " Your loan will be repaid" is much better.

- Don't ever use slang, you simply can not write anything like "A couple of hundred quid" or "bucks" or "I have to scouring off you" instead of "I need a loan"

- Avoid using idioms or figure of speech. Price simply "go up" or "raise" rather than "rocket" or "go through the roof"; or they simple "go down" or "drop" rather than "plummet", "crash" or "go through the floor"

- Don't invent abbreviations and acronyms; only use common and standard ones.

2.3. Grammar suggestions

In the process of going from the informal to the formal, certain syntactic changes often take place:

- Verbal style tends to become Nominal

e.g. I received -> I acknowledged receipt.

- Present tense change:

e.g. I'm referring -> I refer

- Personal becomes Impersonal

e.g. I am reluctant to resort to such measures

-> we are reluctant to resort to such ,easures.

- Active to passive voice transformation:

e.g. You haven't settle your bill yet

-> Payment of your bill is still outstanding

- Contractions are replaced by full forms:

e.g. I'll have to -> I shall have to

- Short, simple sentences become longer and more complex:

e.g. I refer to your letter of 10th October. In it we asked you to clear the balance of $ 519.35. This amount has been outstanding since last July

-> With reference to your letter of 10th October, we would like to remind you again to clear the balance of $ 519.35, which has been outstanding since last July.

Conclusion

In this assignment, I have gathered some of the most useful techniques for writing a letterform in general and a commercial correspondence in particular. The first part of the work was spent to review the official structure and layout of a letter, including all elements like sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, main subject, closing and signature. The form is very simple and easy to remember. The second part is the content and style of business letter, which is much more difficult than the previous one because in order to fulfill the task well, the writer not only need good memory but also need a good basis of knowledge. Some special tips to make a more effective correspondence are also mentioned in this part. Common problems of students when writing a formal letter were shown at the third part, where recommendations to overcome difficulties were also given out.

As I have mentioned in the previous parts, "Writing Business Letter" is not a guidance to write a successful letter, but a suggestion for students to improve their letter writing skill and avoid nonsense mistakes. I do hope that the assignment will bring you some usefulness in your study and work.

Appendix

Exercises:

1. Find out mistake in the letter:

1.1

20 November 2002

R. Hughes & Son Ltd

21 Mead Road

Swansea,

Glamorgan 3ST 1DR

Dear Mr Hughes,

I'm writing to ask you why you haven't settle our invoice No H1931 for $ 234.76, a copy of which is enclosed

I know that since we began trading you have clear your accounts regularly on the due dates. That is why I wonder if any problems have arisen which I might be able to help you with. Please let me know if I can be of assistance

Yours faithfully

R.Cliff

1.2

Dear Sir,

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 15th inst in connection with our not clearing our account which was outstanding as at the end of June

Please accept our profuse apologies. We were unable to settle this matter due to the sudden demise of Mr. Noel, our accountant, and as a result were unaware of those accounts which were to be cleared. We know, however, have managed to trace all our commitments and take pleasure in enclosing our remittance for $620 which we trust will settle our indebtedness.

We hope that this unforeseen incident did not in any way inconvenience you, not lead you to believe that our not clearing our balance on the due date was an intention on our part to delay payment.

Yours faithfully.

Lever Estate,

Scarborough, Yorkshire,

YO11 3BS.

12th Jan 2002

The Sales Manager,

Johnson, Ward & Co.Ltd

68 Cowley Road,

Birminham, 12,

Dear Sirs,

We regret to complaint that you have not yet delivered the goods ordered two months ago.

The goods are required for shipment and must be with us in four days.

As your representative's promise to deliver promptly was an important factor in persuading us to place this order with you, we must insist on its fulfillment.

Should you fail in your obligations we would be compelled to cancel the order.

Yours faithfully

Robert Ken

PS: would you please deliver us at the new contact address.

2. Writing letter

2.1. Pretending that you were working for an advertising company and one of its competitors invited you to work for them. Writing a letter accepting/refusing the invitation

2.2. Pretending that your company receives complaints from your familiar customers, write a reply to this complaint.

2.3. Pretending that you are applying for a job in HUFS campus, write an application form for this situation.

References

Patterns of correspondence- commercial correspondence in English.

Tran Anh Tho (1991. Nha xuat ban Khoa hoc xa hoi)

Contemporary commercial correspondence

Le Minh Can (2000, Nha xuat ban Dong Nai)

www.businessletterpunch.com/

www.business-letter-writing.com

www.writeexpress.com/download.html

www.smcps.k12.md.us/mbms/writing/ltrforms.html

www.business-letters.com/business-letters.htm