Introduction to Business Letters

By -

The Importance of Audience, Purpose and Tone

 Image result for business letter

A letter is a written document used to external company correspondence.  Letters are printed and sent in envelopes to the intended audience, including customers, colleagues at other organizations, and prospective clients.

Audience
            Consider the audience’s need for receiving the letter
            Consider what the audience needs to do as a result of receiving it

Purposes
            Letters usually address one purpose, but may have many points
            Letters can be categorized by their purpose, positive or negative: inquiry, request, invitations,
            orders, thank-you letters, sales and service offer letters, complaints, collection letters, 
            solicitations for time/money

Tone
The tone of your letter should be formal, neither too informal nor too bookish, using a conversational tone rather than stilted language.
Use the “You” approach, which is the writer’s recognition of the reader.  Specifically, it means that the writer:
Ø  Uses “I” “we” and “you” throughout the letter
Ø  Is courteous, direct, and confident
Ø  Composes the letter as if s/he were the reader
            Convert negative thoughts in to positive:
Negative:    Since you failed to say what size you wanted, we cannot send you the shirts.
Positive:     You’ll receive the shirts within two or three days after you send us your size on the enclosed form.
Negative:   We’re sorry, we cannot offer you billboard space for $200.
Positive:     We can offer you excellent billboard space for $300.

Write with personality. Don’t sound too neutral by impersonal, discouraging, or mechanical language.
Interpersonal  Many new names are being added to our list of customers.  It is always a pleasure to welcome our new friends.
Personal          It’s a pleasure to welcome you as our customer, Mr. Jones.  We will make every effort to serve you well.
Mechanical      This will acknowledge yours of the 10th requesting a copy of our company’s annual report.  A copy is enclosed herewith.
Friendly           Thanks for requesting a copy of our annual report, which is enclosed.  We hope you will find it helpful.
Discouraging  Since we have a shortage of personnel at this time, we won’t be able to process your order until the end of this month.
Encouraging   We should have more help shortly which will enable us to get to your order by the end of the month.

Format
            Use block or semi-block format
                        DO NOT MIX and MATCH formats!
Here is an example of both. The differences in the block format have been highlighted for you.

                Full Block                                                                                                                                     Semi- Block
address
city, state, zip code (country?)

September 17, 1999

Recipient Name
Company Name
address
city, state, zip code (country?)

Salutation:

This is the introduction of your clearly written letter.  Your purpose should be easy to identify, as most people only scan a business letter.  The amount of mail received by a single person is on the rise so reading every single word is a thing of the past.  Notice the format; this letter is written a type of  “full-block” style.

Here in the middle I will give some specifics supporting my purpose.  I’ll give some details and maybe include some examples or references that the reader will understand.  All the points need to be relevant.

Finally, in the last paragraph, I’ll tell the reader what I expect.  Maybe something needs to be done or an action should be taken.  This, also, should be very clear.

Now, you want to include a polite, closing line.

Closing salutation,


Your name


Enclosures (name, description, number of pages)
                                                        address
                                                        city, state, zip code (country?)
                                                       
                                                        September 17, 1999

Recipient Name
Company Name
address
city, state, zip code (country?)

Salutation:

This is the introduction of your clearly written letter.  Your purpose should be easy to identify, as most people only scan a business letter.  The amount of mail received by a single person is on the rise so reading every single word is a thing of the past.  Notice the format; this letter is written in the “block” style.

Here in the middle I will give some specifics supporting my purpose.  I’ll give some details and maybe include some examples or references that the reader will understand.  All the points need to be relevant.

Finally, in the last paragraph, I’ll tell the reader what I expect.  Maybe something needs to be done or an action should be taken.  This, also, should be very clear.

Now, you want to include a polite, closing line.

                                                        Closing salutation,


                                                         Your name



Enclosures (name, description, number of pages)

            Elements of format: (see above as a reference point)
                        Sender’s Address (your address)
                        Date (write out completely, e.g. March 31, 1999, not Mar. 31 or 3/31)
                        Inside Address (addressee’s full name, title, address)
                        Salutation (Dear     :) follow with colon (:), use title of recipient
                        Body
                        Pre-closing (indication you are going to close)
                        Closing (Sincerely, Sincerely yours, Yours truly, Regards,)
                        Signature
                        Title
                        cc: (who else letter is going to)

Content Organization

Generally the information in the letter can be organized in four paragraphs:
                        1. Opening: Orients the reader as to who you are, why you’re writing
                        2. Purpose: Specifically states why you’re writing
                        3. Action: What the audience should do or expect
                        4. Closing: Gives contact information and says goodbye

Tips
Give the sense you are filling the page (spread out less text with different fonts, spacing, and buffers at the end)
            Avoid sexist language
                        Dear Director of Training:
                        Dear Human Resources Director:
            If you only know the initial/not sure of sex, repeat name
                        Dear D. Porter:            or         Dear Chris Porter:

Critical Evaluation
·      Read the letter out loud as if you were the recipient.  How does it strike you?  What can be added to attract attention?  Does it contain any irrelevant information in it?  Reading anything you write like a letter, memo, email and so forth out loud will always help you hear the tone. We urge you to do this!
·      Don’t throw away the letter if you don’t like it.  Try rearranging, altering, or changing the form or information.
·      Monitor clarity and brevity as these two frequently conflict.  Clarity has the priority over length.

Special thanks to:            Jennifer Robinson
Harty, Kevin.  (1999). Strategies for Business & Technical Writing.  Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Hacker, Diane.  (1998).  The Bedford Handbook. 5 Ed. Boston: Bedford Books.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Schumann’s Acculturation Model

By -
Image
Schumann's Acculturation Model Consider how these social and psychological factors affect the extent of the learner’s capacity to learn his or her second language (L2).   Schumann asserts that the more distance created between the L2 learner and his or her target language (TL) culture by such factors, the less contact s/he will have with the TL culture and thus the lower will his or her expected L2 proficiency be. Furthermore, he considers the social factors to be the prime influences; the psychological factors come into play and become the deciding factors only in situations where the combined social factors create neither positive nor negative circumstances for the learner.   Which outcomes of each of these factors make for a bad learning situation and which ones for a good learning situation? Consider as many as apply to your group’s learner testimonial. Social Distance Factors Social dominance : Is the learner’s native group dominant to, equal to, or subor...
Keep reading

English Pronunciation for Turkish Speakers

By -
Image
Areas of Difficulty for Turkish Speakers Consonants: I.    /t/ & /d/: When Turkish speakers of English pronounce these alveolar consonants, they touch the back of their upper teeth with the tip of their tongue. Instead, try to form a constriction by touching your alveolar ridge (the area behind your upper teeth) with the tip of your tongue. Pronounce these sounds in different phonological environments such as word-initial, medial, and final position and in consonant clusters. tiresome      little      brat       staple    burst     crest                  totalitarianism automatic    trickster            cattle     dental    tirade    tardy     training technique    tangle...
Keep reading

The Purpose of Assessment

By -
The purpose of assessment is to improve teaching and learning through intellectual dialogue about measurable learning outcomes, to create a collaborative, dynamic, and continuous assessment process that engages faculty and personnel across the institution in the cultivation of student success, to utilize assessment to improve from within while maintaining a documentary record that demonstrates this improvement to the community, and to balance the assessment process between a meaningful and thoughtful practice, which is part of what educators do daily. My department offers remedial reading and writing courses to both native and non-native speakers of English. The curricular objectives for lower level reading/writing and upper level reading/writing courses are as follows: Lower Level Reading Course Curricular Objectives Upon successful completion of the course, while using some college-level texts, students will be able to: 1)   Distinguish between details and generalitie...
Keep reading