English Business Letters Examples
english business letters examples
A Few Rules of English Commercial Correspondence
Business communications are becoming increasingly informal as electronic media and the Internet permeate every level of business contacts. It is no longer unusual to receive a business message from someone you have never met addressing you by your first name. Nonetheless, first contacts in the business world are still usually by letter, which is a far more formal medium. It is therefore useful to know the basic rules for business letter writing.
The tone of the letter depends on how you address your correspondent.
While it is better to err on the side of formality if you have never had any dealings with the person in question, French speakers should be careful to avoid starting a letter with simply Sir or Madam unless they wish to be extremely cold or to formulate a complaint of some kind. The usual form of address is either Dear Sir, Dear Mr Smith or Dear Jim – never: Dear Mr Jim Smith.
Unlike in French, the addressee’s job title is not mentioned in either the opening of the letter or its closing remarks. Although you can address the Chairman of a company as Dear Chairman, no other job title can be used in this way. It is therefore important to include the addressee’s job title under his/her name in the company’s address.
Starting the letter:
Dear Sirs,
If you are addressing the company rather than a person within the company.
Dear Sir or Madam,
If you do not know the name of the person who will receive the letter.
Dear Sir, Dear Madam,
If you know the name of the person but wish to remain extremely formal.
Dear Mr, Mrs, Ms, or Miss Smith
If you know the name of the person or have a formal relationship with him/her. Use Ms if you are writing to a woman and do not know her marital status. Although Ms is used increasingly when writing to a woman whether or not you know her marital status, not all women like to be addressed as Ms.
Dear Jim,
If the person is a close business contact, with whom you are already on first name terms, or friend.
Sir, Madam,
Used only for legal communications, formal complaints, letters to the editor, to express anger, etc.
Reference:
With reference to
your advertisement,
your letter of 20th June,
your phone call,
your enquiry,
etc.
Thank you for your
letter of 5th May,
enquiry,
proposal,
etc.
Reason for writing:
I am writing to
enquire about,
confirm,
apologise for,
etc.
Making a request:
I would be grateful if you could……
Giving bad news, formulating a refusal:
Unfortunately,
I’m afraid that,
I regret
Enclosing documents:
I enclose …,
Please find enclosed
Closing remarks:
Thanking you in advance,
Thank you for your help,
Please contact us again if
we can help in any way,
you have any questions,
you require additional information,
etc.
Reference to future contacts:
I look forward to
hearing from you soon,
meeting you next Tuesday,
etc.
Ending the letter:
- For letters beginning Dear Sir, Dear Sir or Madam
Yours faithfully,
- For letters beginning Dear Mr, Mrs, Miss or Ms.
Your sincerely,
- For letters beginning Dear Jim,
Best wishes,
Kind regards,
Warmest regards
If the letter is written on headed notepaper, the lay out should be as given in the example below:
Date
Our ref: sb/132/SD
Your ref: js/vo
Mr. Jim Smith,
Managing Director,
Smith & Sons,
12 Temple Lane,
London WC5 4SN.
Dear Mr Smith,
Text
Yours sincerely,
Sam Jones
Sales Director
In the case of a personal business letter, the sender’s address should figure above the date.
About the Author
J. McCorquodale is a linguist with more than 20 years experience in translating particularly in the area of law and finances. Find out how quality corporate communication, legal and financial documents or website translation services between English, French and other languages can help you build trust and rapport with your foreign customers or clients internationally.
I m not a native English speaker and Iwant you to help me rewrite these stories,beginning with the lastaction
Example:Peter got up at dawn.He was driving for ten hours.He got home.He was tired.
When Peter got home,he was tired because he had got up at dawn and had been driving for ten hours.
a)Sally won 2,000$ in a competion.She received a letter saying this.Last night she was celebrating.
b)My flat was burgled.Someone stole my TV. I found this when I got home from work.
c)Mick wasn’t always poor.He has a succesful business.Unfortunately,it went bust.Mick was a homeless beggar.(Mick ….but….business which….)
d)Jane and Peter were shopping all day.they spent all their money on clothes.They arrived home.They were broke.
e)Jphn’s parent died.He had no relatives left in the UK.He decided to emigrate to Australia
You need to link them together using conjunctions. You already know that the last action is to be first.
Write down the order that things happened.
Think of conjunctions like “because, then, after, but, and ”
Put the last thing that happened as your beginning Change the pronoun to the person’s name as this always comes before a pronoun. This will mean that the rest of the story is in the past, past perfect or continuous tense.
I will do the example for you, but you need to complete the exercise yourself or you are not learning.
The last action in time was Peter arriving home.
He got up at dawn, drove 10 hours and then arrived home. He was tired as a result of this, so you could also start with that.
“Peter was tired because he got up at dawn and drove ten hours before arriving home.”
You could also say: “Peter arrived home tired because he had driven for 10 hours after getting up at dawn.”
|
|
How to Become Smarter $0.99 This book describes techniques for improving mental abilities. Some of the things it can help you to achieve include the following: Depending on circumstances, use different lifestyles that improve one or another mental function.Experience euphoria without drugs and come up with new ideas, when needed.Slow down and prevent yourself from making rash, impulsive decisions, when necessary.Sharpen your… |
|
|
Daily Word Ladders: Grades 4-6 $9.31 Kids climb to new heights in reading and writing with these engaging reproducible word building games. Kids read clues on each rung then change and rearrange letters to create words until they reach the top. All the while they’re boosting decoding and spelling skills broadening vocabulary and becoming better more fluent readers. Reference Book Type: Reproducible Pages Supplementary Material Subjec… |
|
|
Wooden on Leadership: How to Create a Winning Organization $12.98 A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A compelling look inside the mind and powerful leadership methods of Americaâs coaching legend, John Wooden “Team spirit, loyalty, enthusiasm, determination. . . . Acquire and keep these traits and success should follow.”–Coach John Wooden John Woodenâs goal in 41 years of coaching never changed; namely, to get maximum effort and peak performance from … |
|
|
TurboTax Home & Business Federal + State + Federal efile 2009 $42.89 TURBOTAX HOME & BUSINESS WITH… |
|
|
Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred Mobile $34.98 DRAGON NATURALLYSPEAKING… |
|
|
Master Microsoft Word Basics: Create a Business Letter By Example $24.99 Learn Microsoft Word basics and beyond by example. Your instructor shows you the easy way to get something done in Microsoft Word instead of talking endlessly with non-relevant examples. The information in this video flows naturally as your instrustor presents you with a real life business scenarion and shows you step by step how to use MS Word to solve a problem by writing a business letter i… |
|
|
Analysis of Letter – Writing, with a Large Number of Examples of Model Business Letters $27.25 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Analysis of Letter-Writing: With a Large Number of Examples of Modern Business Letters $23.16 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Examples of English and Irish Grand Lodge Seals $49.99 Examples of English and Irish Grand Lodge Seals – Giclee Print |
|
|
Three Examples of the Small White English Breed of Pig $39.99 Three Examples of the Small White English Breed of Pig – Giclee Print |
|
|
Letters & Lettering; a Treatise With 200 Examples $23.39 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Initial Letters from an English Bible $49.99 Initial Letters from an English Bible – Giclee Print |
|
|
Examples of English Costume of the 16th and 17th Centuries According to a Later Source $39.99 Examples of English Costume of the 16th and 17th Centuries According to a Later Source – Giclee Print |
|
|
Hall of a Colonial House, with Fine Examples of English Period Furniture at Mt. Pleasant $79.99 Hall of a Colonial House, with Fine Examples of English Period Furniture at Mt. Pleasant – Premium Photographic Print |
|
|
Letters on the English $12.63 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Business Letters $4.95 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Ornamental Initial Letters from an English Bible $49.99 Ornamental Initial Letters from an English Bible – Giclee Print |
|
|
On Teaching English – with Detailed Examples and an Enquiry into the Definition of Poetry $28.23 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Information Structure: With Examples from Russian, English and Dutch $43.88 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
English Literature Teaching in Schools: Two Lectures With Examples $12.82 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Desiring Women Writing : English Renaissance Examples $24.33 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Innovation Masters : History’s Best Examples of Business Transformation $429 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Forecasting Examples for Business and Economics Using the Sas System $37 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Chinese Business Culture: Theories, Examples, Figures $62.4 No Synopsis Available |
|
|
Business English $110.53 No Synopsis Available |
