English on the Internet - Business English




1. Business Letters




1. Business Letters

1.1. Layout of Business Letters

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All business letters should have a specific layout as well as every letter of formal correspondence:


HEADING - SENDER'S ADDRESS
RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS
DATE
GREETING
BODY OF THE LETTER
COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE
SIGNATURE


Your letters should have all 5Cs!

They should be:
  • clear - jasné
  • complete - úplné
  • concise - stručné
  • correct - bez chyb
  • courteous - zdvořilé



Examples of:

HEADING & RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS:
(address, telephone number...)

Mr J.Cliffon
58 Moor Street
Liverpool LD4
UK

Motorent plc
61 Tree Alley
Cambridge CF5 2GE
Tel.: 03-448 7564
Telex.: 201498       

*

DATE:

23 January 1999
23rd January 1999
January 23, 1999
January 23rd, 1999

Never write!!
23.1.1999 or 23/01/99

These forms of dates are not polite in a formal letter.       

*

GREETING:

Dear Sir(s),
Dear Madam,
Dear Mesdames,
Dear Mr Brown,
Dear Mrs Green,

(Gentlemen, only in US English!!!)       

*

BODY:

We refer to...
In reply to...       

*

COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE:

We look forward to hearing from you soon.       

*

SIGNATURE:

We use before the signature:

Yours faithfully if we do not know the addressee/the recipient's name
Yours sincerely if we know the recipient's name
Yours truly US English
Very truly yours US English





Recommendations & comments:

We use no academic titles in business letters. It is not common to write them on business cards too.

To express the Czech abbreviations:

Czech

English

v.z. p.p., on behalf of, for
Příloha: Enc.:, See enclosure:



1.2. Information & Enquiries

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Useful phrases:

* We have seen your advertisement in...and would be pleased to have details of...
* We are interested in your goods demonstrated at the recent trade fair...
* We have been given your name by...
* We have been referred to you by...
* We would like to enquire whether...
* Your company has been recommended to us by...

* Could you please send us a copy of...
* Please inform us on what terms you can supply...
* We would appreciate your sending us your latest catalogue a price list...
* We would be glad to receive an up-to-date quotation for...

* We trust that your prices will be sufficiently attractive for us to conclude this business...
* We hope that you will be able to help us...
* We thank you in advance for your cooperation...



Example:

Hans Schiller GmbH
Blaustrasse 86
Hamburg
Germany

The N&P Manufacturing
Company Ltd
42 Narrow alley
Chiswick
London W5A 3EU
UK


Our ref: FU/s.

10 February 1999



Dear Sirs,

We have seen your advertisement for the sofa-beds in the Guardian. We are a well-known company selling wide range of furniture products in Germany. We would like to enlarge our assortment by hand-made pine furniture you advertise. Could you please send us your latest catalogue and price list, including more details about cash or trade discounts.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.



Yours faithfully


Kurt Johansen
Sales manager
(signature)






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