ROC Ter AA
Business College
Talencentrum
Business writing
Een cursus schrijfvaardigheid voor studenten van de Business College /
In this lesson you think about the different types of business correspondence and what makes them different in terms of structure and use. You see that there is now a modern style of writing suitable for today's business people.
The lesson also allows you to develop some of your existing knowledge of writing business letters.
How many different kinds of business correspondence can you think of? Make a list. Here are a couple of ideas to start with:
• letter
• notes / post-it notes
Compare your list with the feedback sheet.
Which of the different kinds of business correspondence from the last activity would you choose for the following? The first one has been done for you.
1.Applying for a job / �letter / e-mail attachment
2.Booking a conference room at a hotel
3.Telling colleagues to attend a meeting
4.Ordering stationery
5.Telling colleagues about a new member of staff
6.Complaining about a delivery service
7.Thanking a customer
8.Sending out a meeting agenda
9.Resigning
10.Apologising to an important business contact
/ Do you receive different types of business correspondence? If the answer is 'yes' then try and keep some copies. There is not always one correct way of writing a business letter so these can be useful to compare with the examples given during this course.
How you set out your letter is important. This is a layout of a letter but the different parts of the letter have been replaced with boxes. You have to decide what should go in each box. Choose from the list below. One has been done for you as an example.
/ Choose from
this list:
opening sentence (reason for writing)
greeting / salutation (Dear...)
date
signature
receiver's name and address
sender's name
company logo
l look forward...
main body of text
sender's title
indication of an attachment
subject heading
Yours ...
closing sentence (request for action)
The layout above is known as the block style layout and is now internationally accepted for business letters. The receiver's address is usually top left hand corner, especially if envelopes with 'windows' are being used. How the individual components are written is now looked at in more detail.
Now decide whether the following statements are true or false when writing a business letter. Look at the example letter in the feedback from the previous activity if you need some help with this activity.
True / False?
1. It is normal to write Mr John Tan in the first line of the receiver’s address, and underneath to write Dear Mr Tan without the initial.
2. The subject heading usually comes after Dear Mr Tan.
3. In a modern business letters Dear Mrs Lee and Yours sincerely are followed by a comma.
4. Even if you know the person’s name, you don’t have to use it, you can still use Dear Sir/Madam.
5. You should not use abbreviations in letters and emails.
6. Short, simple sentences are better than long complex ones.
7. Memos have a different structure to letters.
8. Bullets and numbers can’t be used in letters, as they’re too informal.
9. Enc is used when you are sending something in addition to the letter e.g. a cheque.
10. In modern business documents punctuation is not used in the receiver’s address.
11. You should always, when possible, copy someone else’s letter or memo. It will save you time!
How you address somebody is also important. Look at the letters below to different people and decide what is the correct way to start the letter. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Addressee / British English / American English
Company
Man (name unknown)
Woman (name unknown)
Name and sex unknown
Man
Married woman or widow
Unmarried woman
Woman (the modern way)
Woman (marital status unknown)
Married couple
Unmarried couple
Friend / acquaintance /
Dear Sir or Madam
Now decide what is the best way to close a letter.
Addressee / British English / American English
Dear Sir or Madam
Dear Gentlemen
Dear Mr / Mrs / Ms Jones
Dear John
Family and close friends / Yours sincerely
not appropriate / not appropriate
What are the main differences and similarities between letters, faxes and e-mails? Think about the answers to Activity 2 - why would you not send a fax to apply for a job, and why would you send an
e-mail if you're telling colleagues to attend a meeting?
Here are three different business writing tasks: a letter, a fax and an e-mail. They are all written by the same person, Andrew McDonald, but there is a different reason for writing each one.
A letter
Read the letter first and then answer these questions:
1. What is the purpose of the letter?
2. Which day is Mr Conran asked to attend the conference?
3. Who should Mr Conran contact if he needs more information?
4. Who does Andrew McDonald work for?
5. What is his job?
Dear Mr Conran / 4 August 2004
I am writing to ask if you would be able to present the CCB Design Awards for Innovation at this year's conference. We would be delighted to have such a successful designer as our guest of honour.
The conference takes place on October 14 and 15 at the Riverside Conference Centre. We would very much like you to be part of the awards ceremony which starts at 10.00 am on the second day.
It would be much appreciated if you could confirm your availability as soon as possible. Do not hesitate to contact me, or my colleague Sara Hewson, if you require further details.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Andrew McDonald
CCB Conference organiser
A fax
Now look at the fax and answer the following questions:
1. Who is the fax to?
2. What is the purpose of the fax?
3. Where is the conference taking place?
4. How many participants are there for the conference?
5. How many nights are the participants staying at the hotel?
To: Hotel Cosmopolitan
Attn: The manager
Re: Hotel accommodation / From: Andrew McDonald CCB
Date: 4 August 2004
Pages including this one: 1
CCB are considering booking the Hotel Cosmopolitan for participants attending the annual conference at the Riverside Conference Centre. Details as follows:
• / Date / 14 October 2004 (one night)
• / No of Rooms / 150
• / Type of rooms / double with bathrooms
internet connection
bed and breakfast (other costs to be paid by guests)
I would be very grateful if you could give me a quotation based on the above.
Best regards
Andrew McDonald
CCB Conference organiser
An e-mail
Finally, read the e-mail and answer these questions:
1. Who is 'Chris'?
2. Who does Chris work for?
3. What does Chris have to do?
4. Who is 'Andy'?
Now you are going to write three types of business correspondence: a letter, a fax and an e-mail. The subject is the same for all three but the layout and style will be different. Look back at the information and examples in this lesson to help you.
Use the following information: You are organising the annual conference for your company. The conference will take place at the Hotel Intercontinental on 27 September 2004. You need somebody as guest speaker, you need to book the hotel conference room and you need your colleague, Vinay Dudakia, to register the 250 participants.
A letter (15 mins, 100 words)
Invite Ms Jo Smith to be the guest speaker. Say why you think she would be suitable, and ask if she is available. Make sure she knows when and where the conference will be.
A fax (10 mins, 70 words)
You are considering the Hotel Intercontinental as a place to hold your annual conference. Write them a fax requesting a quotation. Think about what information they need to give you a quote (Do you want the hotel to provide lunch and coffee?). Also ask what conference facilities they have.
An e-mail (5 mins, 40 words)
Tell Vinay Dudakia to register the participants on their arrival at the conference. Each participant should also receive a name badge. Attach a list of the participants for him.
Although there are some suggested answers to these tasks in the feedback keep your writing as you are going to look at them in the following lessons.
In this lesson you have:
/ looked at the structure (layout and letter writing conventions) for a modern business letter
/ identified different letter types and considered their appropriacy for different tasks
/ had model texts for letters, faxes and e-mails
/ written three forms of correspondence (which you will keep for future lessons)
The next e-m@il lesson looks at writing styles - tone (formal and informal) and writing clearly.
.
In this lesson you look at different types of styles of writing in terms of tone (being formal, neutral or informal). You may be surprised to find out that nowadays letters are less than formal than in the past, and that a friendly but business-like tone is more important.In the previous lesson you wrote a letter and a fax. You need both of these for this lesson.
Look at the letter you wrote to Ms Smith asking her to be the guest speaker, and your e-mail to Vinay Dudakia. Is there any difference in the style of writing? Is one more formal than the other? Or are they both formal?
Are they very different in style to the suggested answers? Or did you use the examples to help you?
Here are six different types of correspondence. Read each one and decide why each one has been written. Choose from the list of reasons below.
Which of the above is
• complaining about something / • advertising
• giving a personal message / • apologising
• providing information / • asking someone to do something
Read the six types of correspondence again and decide which of the above is
• very informal / (the two people know each other very well)
• very formal / (it is written to an individual the writer does not know)
• neutral / (the two people are work colleagues)
• informal / (it is written as if the writer knows who they are writing to)
• formal / (it is written to an individual the writer knows but not very well)
• very formal / (the two people know each other well)
Anita Keedwell, a training officer in Sri Lanka, wants to arrange a course on negotiations. She is writing to a lecturer at Trentville University who is not an English teacher but who has had a great deal of experience in training. She would like him to help her. Read the two correspondence below (A is an e-mail and B is a letter) and answer the following questions.
- Which message is written to somebody the writer knows well, and has an informal tone?
- Which message is written to a stranger, and has a very formal tone?
- Which message is more personal?
- Which message uses standard phrases?
- Which message uses the passive (the meeting was arranged by Tim) and which uses the active (Tim arranged the meeting?
- Which message uses contractions? (I'm, we're, I've and not I am, we are, I have)
- Which message does not have complete sentences? (See you soon and not I'll see you soon)
- Which message uses a lot of exclamation marks? (!!!!)
- Which message uses less phrasal verbs? (take off, sit down, hurry up)
- Which message uses the first person singular more? (I)
It is important to know when to write formally, neutrally or informally to somebody. If the tone is too formal, especially if the reader is somebody you have met, the writer can seem unfriendly.
Match the two parts of the sentences to make important statements about business writing. One has been done for you.
Mary McCartney works for an international publishing company (Blackbird Books) which have their headquarters in Liverpool. She works in the sales department of a branch in Delhi. Last week Mary McCartney went to Liverpool for a conference. During the conference she met the director, Paul Harrison, of her department for the first time. Now back in Delhi she has written him an e-mail.
Read the e-mail: what are her two reasons for writing?
Read the e-mail again. Do you think the tone is a) formal, b) neutral or c) informal?
Do you think the tone is correct for this e-mail?
Now look at a neutral version of the same e-mail:
Look at the main differences between the first e-mail which is formal, and the second e-mail which is neutral. Fill in the chart below. The first one has been done for you as an example.
Formal / Neutral
Dear Mr Harrison / Dear Paul
It was a great pleasure
I trust you have fully recovered
I am writing to thank you
These will be very useful indeed
If you are ever in Delhi please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
The following e-mail is to your boss. However, as you have worked with your boss for a number of years now it is far too formal. Rewrite the same e-mail but use a more neutral tone. Decide which information can be omitted. Your boss is called Sarah Wellington.
Look at the letters you wrote for homework again. The e-mail to Vinay Dudakia needs an informal tone as he is a work colleague you know well. There are examples of informal correspondence in activities 2 and 4. Look at these again and, if necessary, rewrite the e-mail.
The letter to Ms Jo Smith needs a more formal tone as she is somebody you do not know. There are examples of formal correspondence in Activities 2, 4, 6 and 9. Look at these again and, if necessary, rewrite the letter.
Remember that when writing to people you know it is better to use a neutral tone
rather then a formal tone even if they are more important than you.
In this lesson you have:
/ identified the different tones found in correspondence (formal, neutral and informal)
/ identified the reason for writing different correspondence
/ looked at how the style of writing changes the tone
/ rewritten a formal e-mail so that it sounds more neutral