]'.

~ -- , ·· ··-···
. ·'

Sample of letter:

TEDDYBEARS Pty.
299 Mal".er n Road, Pe:rth, Australia
Tei. 062'79 42 Telex AB 94432

Our Ref JB/me

Your Ref

16 December 2000

Mr Victor Emanuel Garcia

Managing Director
Juguetes Madrilenos
Calle de Sagasta 173
Madrid
Spain

Dear Mr Garcia,

Order No. 1234

At the Frankfurt Toy fair you placed a trial order of 40 teddy bears and 50
kangaroos with our company. Congratulations!

The requested order has now been dispatched by air and we expect the
goods to reach you within two weeks.

We hope that the toys sell well and that you will place a repeat order. For
this purpose we enclose our latest prospectus and an order form .

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

~~
Jan Brown
Sales Manager

Enc prospectus I order form

175
 The standard elements of the modern business letter

a. The heading/Letterhead

The letterhead is carefully designed and printed and contains the basic
information that the recipient will need to reply to the letter:

• The organisation's name and status:

- Alan Waters(= name of the owner) - sole trader;
- A & B, A & Co., A & Sons, Toolmaker Company - partnership;
Company name + Ltd. - private limited company;
- Company name+ plc/PLC - public limited company ;
- Company name + Corp./Inc./Ltd./Co. - American corporation;

•address;
• in Britain, names of all directors or partners;
• telephone, telex, fax number;
• LOGO (=logograph) - single sign or picture presenting a company
name (often used as trade mark)

In correspondence that does not have a letterhead, the sender's address

is written on the top right-hand side of the page. In the UK, in contrast to the
practice in some other countries, it is not customary to write the sender's name
before the sender's address.

a. The date

Various date forms are currently in use, so this can be a matter of 'house
style'.
Be careful with the date: in Britain they write the day first , but in the
United States they write the month first. This means that:

110502

is the eleventh of May two thousand and two in Great Britain but in the
United States it is the fifth of November! So it is better to write the month in
letters like this:

11May2002

176
 Examples of date forms:

25/12/01 This can appear on forms, invoices etc. In letters

the month and year should not be abbreviated, sc
- do not use the form 'Dec .99', for ·example.
25th December, 200 1 The fullest form. In modern letters, however, we de
not have to write th, rd, nd or st after the day.
25 December 2001 Increasingly used: just the number, and no commas

December 25 2001 Th e · Americ an system: avoid it in Europear

contexts .

Exercises:

1. How would you write these dates in a letter?

Y Jan. 16u1, 1999

> 2Ji-d March, 2000
> 6/11/98 (UK)
> 04.08.99 (USA)
2. Write the next two numbers in each sequence:

y 1st, 2nd, 3rct, 4th, ... , . .. .

y 7t\ 9t11, 11th, 13t\ .. ., ... .
> 29 111 May, 30t11 May, .... , . . . .
> July 4, July 5, July 6, .. ., ... .
> 1.4.99, 1.5.99, 1.6.99, ... , .. ..
b. References

If you look at the sample letter you will see :

Your ref
Our ref

This means your reference and our reference. A reference is useful for
filing. It tells you who wrote and signed the letter (your boss) and then who
typed it (the secretary). A reference may also include a file number and a date.
Our ref JB/me in that letter means that Jan Brown wrote it and his secretary,

177
 Maria Emerson, typed it. JB and ME are their initials. What are
your initials? When you reply to a business letter, you fill in that letter's
references as 'Your rer' and add your own as 'Our ref'.

Now fill in "Our ref' below: · ·

Alan Waters wrote it John Brown wrote it You wrote it

Miki Tanaka typed it You typed it Jartet typed it
Your ref JB/rl Your ref HOL/01 Your ref MED/6/cb
Our ref AW/mt Our ref ................. Our ref ...... .. . . .......

c. The inside address contains:

_);; - name of the addressee (if known);

_);; - title (Mr./ Mrs./ Miss/ Ms with or without full stop);
_);; - first name, middle name, last name/surname/family name;
_);;;-Messrs. (= Messieurs) only used if sent to two or more persons
(partnership, not with impersonal name): Messers. P Jones and B.L.
Parker;
_); ;- position in the company (The Finance Director) or department (The
Sales Department) if name not known;
_);; - name of company;
_);; - address of company
GB: house number or name of house/ street name/ town/ postcode/
country;
USA: house number/ street name/ town/ state and ZIP code (zone
improvement plan);
_);; - POB (Post Box) instead of house number and street;

Special titles which should be included in addresses are many. They

include academic or medical titles: Doctor (Dt.), Professor (Prof); military
titles: Captain (Capt.), Major (Maj.), Colonel (Col.), General (Ge n.);
aristocratic title: Sir (which means that he is a knight; not to be confused with
the salutation Dear Sir and always followed by a given name - Sir John Brown,
not Sir J. Brown or Sir Brown), Dame, Lord, Baroness, etc. ·
Esq (with or without full stop; abbreviation for Esquire which is seldom
used now. If used, it can only be used instead of Mr and is placed after the
name, Do not use Esq and Mr at the same time: Bruce Stanford Esq, not Mr
Bruce Stanford Esq.
All these courtesy titles and special titles, except Esq, are also used in
salutations.

178

Ll
 d. Attention line (optional) - placed below the inside address:
For the attention of Mr. A.C. Brown
Attention of the Sales Manager
Att. I Attn.
e. The salutation:
>- to a company (if the person in charge is not known):
BE: Dear Sirs,
AE: Gentlemen:/ Ladies and Gentlemen
>- to an individual within the firm, name unknown:
Dear Sir I Dear Madam I Dear Sir or Madam
>- to an individual whose name is known:
Dear Mr. Redwood, I Dear Ms Woolf
>- to an individual whose name is known to the writer:
Dear Helen

f. The subject line- tells us exactly what the letter is about, for example,
the number of an order or invoice. It is placed after the salutation and it is
_usually underlined or written in block letters: _
Dear Mr Allworthy
Order No. B-270
Sometimes the word 'Re' is used. This means 'about', 'concerning':
Dear Miss Lang
Re: Your Insurance policy No. 120.4967

g. The body of the letter - contains the message proper;

h. The complimentary close - depends on the degree of formality:

BE: a. Dear Sir( s) requires: Yours faithfully

b. Dear Mr. Adler I Dear requires: Yours sincerely
colleague/ Dear customer
c. Dear John Kind regards/ Yours/ Best
Regards/ Best wishes/Affectionately
AE: a. Gentlemen:/Dear Sir/Dear Yours very truly! Truly yours
Madam
b. Dear Ms Frame Yours sincerely
c. Dear Eric Cordially/ Best regards

179
 1
Letters, faxes, and emails

1 Letters: true or false? Read the following statements and decide which are true and which are false.
Ma.de the true ones 'T' and the false ones •F' in the spaces provided.

1 lf a letter begins with the recipient's name. e.g, Dear Mr Ross, it will dose
with \'oursfait~fully.
2 D The abbreviation c.c. stands for correct carbons.
3 0 lf you were writing a letter to Mr Peter Smith. the salutation would be
Dear Mr Peter Smith.
4 D The head of a company in the UK is known as the president
5 D In the USA, it is correct to open a letter with the salutation Gentlemen.
6 D In the UK.a date wntten 2.605 means 6 February 2005.

7 0 If a secretary signs a letter and the signature is followed by p.p. Daniel

Hams. it means that the secretary is stgrdng on behalf of Daniel Harris.
8 D The term pk after a UK company's name. e.g. Hathaway pie, stands for
Public Limited Corporation.
9 D The term Ltd after a UK company's name means Iimtted Uabibty
10 D If you do not know whether a female correspondent is married or not
a is correct to use the rourtesy title Ms instead of Mm or Mrs.
e.g.M.s Tessa Groves.
11 D This address rs an example of blocked style.
Peter Voss
Oberlweinfelcweg 33
5207 Therwi l
Switzerland
12 0 lt is always impolite to dose a letter Best wishes.

2
Content and style

1 Typicalsentences Sort out the jumbled words below to make six sentences typical of business
correspondence. Add capital letters and punctuation as necessary.

1 grateful! soon fa ! as I we I for I would I possible I reply I as I be

2 for I find I please I cheque! £4950 I a Jen.dosed
3 further I please! if I us I mforrnation I you! any I contact I need
4 april I your I you I letter t thank I 51 oft for
5 you I we I forward I to! from I look f hearing
6 pleasure I price list I enclosing I have! a I catalogue I om I I ! spring I and I in
 4 Faxes and emails: Read the following statements and decide which are true and which are false.
true or false? Mark the true ones •1• and the false ones 'F• in the spaces provided.

1 D Confidential information should not be sent by fax and email

2 0 If necessary. faxes can be used as substitutes for original
documents.
3 D Fax is a short form of the word [acts.
4 [] Emails must end with Yoursfaithjullyor Your.s sincerely.
5 D Emoticons can be added to business emails to make them look
friendlier.
6 D Using capital letters to write an email is the same as shouting.
7 D @ in an email address means automatic.
8 D A letter or card is usually more suitable than an email for a personal
message.
9 D In email header information, c.c. stands for confidential copies.
10 0 Emails are usually less formal than letters.
11 0 lt is not as important to use correct grammar and spelling in a business
email as it is in a letter.
12 D The addressee's name comes after the @sign in an email address.

8 Words and definitions Make words from the jumbled letters and match them with the
definitions below,
a !.BCOEOK YSF.Tt e EP{TVAR NAO flONAlLTCOEN
b TERSGUANt CtOKB f BOJ THTI
c ERFCNUU g SURYO ELERC1SNY'
d CSRULEENO h TTCMTHAEAN

1 Document enclosed with a letter.

2 Figures and I or letters written at the top of a letter to identify it
3 Style of writing in \Vhkh each line starts directly below the one above.
4 Complimentary dose used at the end of a letter when the addressee's (
name is known.
5 Phrase written on a letter intended only to be read by the addressee. ·
6 Name and job title typed below a signature.
7 Separate document attached to an email message.
8 The name of someone's job, e.g, Sales Manager, Chief Buyer.