Unit 1. The Layout of the Letter

Letter writing is an essential part of business communication. Business letters may be divided into official and semi-official. The official letter is a formal communication between people or companies and it is written to conduct some sort of business. But many people want to buy something or to accept an invitation – this is a kind of semi-official letters. The business letters may be subdivided into such groups as: inquires, offers, orders, and so on.

It is important to remember that a business letter is an official document. Of course, there are many other communications between people and companies, for instance telephone conversations, meetings and presentations. Still, a business letter is the most powerful communications tool for providing structured and considered information in a formal way.

When writing a business letter, you should follow the format of a standard business letter. The typical business letter usually consists of about 7 essential parts:

1. The Letterhead Заголовок (включающий место написания

письма)

2. The Date Дата отправления письма

3. The Inside Address Внутренний адрес

4. The Greeting/Salutation Обращение/приветствие

5. The Body of the Letter Содержание письма

6. The Ending/ The Complimentary Заключительная формула вежливости

Close

7. The Signature Block Блок подписи

and 4 additional parts of the letter:

1. The Reference Line Указание на ссылку

2. The Attention Line (if any) Указание на конкретное лицо (если есть)

3. The Subject Title(if any) Указание на общее содержание письма

(если есть)

4. The Enclosure (if any) Приложение (если есть)

The heading of the letter contains the full address of the sender. Most companies have letterhead with this information already imprinted. The inside address coincides with the address that appears on the envelope and contains the name, title and address of person to whom you are writing. The salutation should be consistent with the whole tone. The body of the letter is where you write the purpose of the letter. The complimentary close should be relevant to the tone of the letter and the salutation. And, your signature should be hand written legibly below the complimentary close.

Study the following table:

Item	Notes	Example
1. The sender's address or the Heading (The Return Address) or Letterhead	The sender's address - Companies usually use printed paper where heading or letterhead is specially designed at the top of the sheet. In correspondence that does not have a printed letterhead; the sender's address is written on the top right-hand or left-hand side of the page. In the UK is not usual to write the sender’s name before the sender’s address.	The sender's address includes Company Name (and logo), Address,Phone/Fax number,E-mail (optional): Acme Explosives, Inc. 100-B Dry Gulch Alley Lonesome Coyote AZ 85789 [phone] Note: Look at the examples of the names of companies: A. Smith & Co.^1, Limited ^2, A. Robinson & Sons, Bennet Bros. ^3, The American Mining Corporation ^4 James Smith and Company, Incorporated
2. Date	The date is written bellow the sender's address, sometimes separated from it by a space. The date may be written as month-day-year (US style) or day-month-year (UK style).	October 19, 2008 (US style) 19 October 2008 (UK style).
3. The Inside Address	It is written below the sender’s address and on the opposite side of the page (UK style) or on the left-hand side of the page (US style). If you know	Mr. A. Harper 'E' Division Headquarters Hessle Police Station Hessle High Road Hull HU4 7BA UK

____________________________________

1 Знак & - так называемый ampersand – часто употребляется в названиях фирм вместо and - & Co.

2 Слово Limited (сокращенно Ltd.) - limited liability company “ компания с ограниченной ответствен-

ностью”, т.е. ответственность членов компании ограничивается номинальной стоимостью их акций.

3 Bros. является сокращением от слова Brothers “ братья”. Bennet Bros. – “ братья Беннет”.

4 Corporation означает “ соединение лиц”, “корпорация ”. В названиях американских фирм. это слово чаще употребляется вместо stock corporation “ акционерная корпорации”. Incorporated (Inc.) означает “ зарегистрированный как корпорация”.

3. The Inside Address	the surname of the person, you write the courtesy title^1, person’s initial and his/her surname. If you don’t know the name of the person, you write the position in the company (The Sales Manager) or the name of company.	Note: Order of inside address: the recipient, the name of the company, the number of house, the name of street, the name of town/city, the state/county, postcode, the country.
4. The Greeting/ Salutation	It begins with the word "Dear" and always includes the courtesy title and person's last name. Initials or first names are not used in salutations. If you do not know the name or the sex of your receiver addresses it to Dear Madam or Sir (or Dear Sales Manager).	Dear Mr./Ms. Smith: Dear Sir or Madam: After the salutation there is a colon (:) (US style). Dear Mr./Ms. Smith, Dear Sir or Madam, After the salutation there is a comma (,) (UK style). Note that in the US a letter to a company opens with Gentlemen.

__________________________

¹ Ms. [mez] or [miz] — должностное лицо — женщина, чье семейное положение вам не известно. В деловой переписке важно использовать Ms вместоMrs или Miss. (Mrs. — замужняя женщина, Miss - незамужняя женщина, Mr. [mistә] – обращение к мужчине, Messrs [mesәz] — используется при адресации к двум или более мужчинам. Mmes [`meidæm] - используется при адресации к двум или более женщинам.
Если письмо обращено к должностному лицу, имя которого неизвестно, то название должности пишется с большой буквы и употребляется определенный артикль: The Chairman -председателю;
The Сhief Executive -исполнительному директору. Если же известны и фамилия и должность адресата, то артикль перед указанием занимаемой должности не ставится. Mr. D. Brown, Chief Executive - мистеру Д. Брауну, исполнительному директору.

5. The Body of the Letter	The body is where you explain why you’re writing. It’s the main part of the business letter. Make sure the receiver knows who you are and why you are writing but try to avoid starting with "I". Use a new paragraph when you wish to introduce a new idea or element into your letter. It is usual to leave a line space between paragraphs in the body of the letter.	Body Paragraph 1: Explain who you are and why you are writing this letter.   Body Paragraph 2: Use facts, details to support your opinion or request. Body Paragraph 3: Tell the reader what you want him to do or what you will do for him. Short sentence: End your letter by saying something courteous to your reader.
6. The Complimentary Close	This short, polite closing ends with a comma. It begins at the same column the heading does.	1. Dear Sir or Madam: (colon) -------------------------------Yours faithfully^1,(comma)   2. Dear Sir or Madam, (comma)

^{____________________________________________________}

¹ Если Вы в начале письма обращаетесь к адресату по имени, то закончить письмо нужно обязательно словами Yours sincerely (GB), Sincerely yours (US). Если Вы не знаете имени адресата и обращаетесь нейтрально Dear Sir/Madam и т.д., то в конце письма должно стоять Yours faithfully (US/GB).

6. The Complimentary Close		-------------------------------Yours faithfully,(comma) 3. Dear Mr. Last Name/Ms Last Name(no colon or comma) ------------------------------ Sincerely (no comma)
7. The Signature Block	The signature is the last part of the letter. You should sign your first and last names. Include 4 spaces and type your full name and title, sign the letter between theComplimentary Close and the typed name and title.	Sincerely, (Skip four lines to allow space for signing your name) Dennis Jackson Marketing Director Jackson Brothers Sincerely yours, (Signature) John Taylor p.p. B. Hanson HR Manager^1

_____________________________

¹ При подписании используются такие слова и выражения: For and on behalf of - за и от имени; Per pro. - (от per procuration) по доверенности. Под подписью иногда пишутся слова Authorized Signature - лицо, имеющее право подписи.

Look at the letters:

 

The letterhead

Date

The Inside Address

The Greeting

The Body of the letter    

The Complimentary Close

Signature

 

The letterhead

Date

The Inside Address

The Greeting

The Body of the letter  

The Complimentary Close

Signature

The UK style of letter The US style of letter

The additional parts of the letter:

1. The Reference Line

It is usually below the Letterhead, very often in the top right-hand side of the page. It may be the number of the letter, date of letter or some abbreviation. The Reference Line contains the initials of the sender and the addressee.

Your Ref: 6 May 2007 Our Ref: DA / mr ^1

_____________________________

¹ DA stand for D.Ashen. Mr. D.Ashen has signed the letter and his initials in capital letters come first in the Reference Line. They are followed by the initials – not necessarily in capital letters – of his secretary or typist (Mary Raynor).

2. The Attention Line	It is written below the inside address to attract the attention of a specific person.	The following various styles of attention lines: Attention: Mr. Edward Brown Attention of the Traffic Manager For the attention of …
3. Subject Title	Indicates the subject or purpose of the letter. It may be placed before or below the salutation. Remember that the subject line is always underlined in business letters.	HRD Conference Subject: Order for Furniture
4. Enclosures	If you include other material in the letter you write Enc. or Encl. at the bottom of the letter, and if there are a number of documents, these are listed.	Enc.: Letter of guarantee (2 pages) Encl.: Insurance certificate (1 copy) c.c. Mr. Brown ^1

^{______________________________________________________________________________}

¹ Если вы отсылаете копии письма и другим адресатам, тогда в конце письма сделайте соответствующую отметку:

"c.c. " - carbon copies (точные копии) или Copy to…. Иногда вы не хотите, чтобы получатель вашего письма знал, что вы еще кому-то отослали копии. В этом случае внизу писем-копий вы указываете "b.c.c." - blind carbon copies. (скрытые копии).

В конце письма, после подписи возможен дополнительный текст, Post Scriptum (P.S.). P.S. состоит из одного (!) предложения.

Look at the letter:

 

The letterhead

The Reference Line

Date

The Inside Address

Attention line

The Greeting

Subject Title

The Body of the letter  

The Complimentary Close

Signature

Enclosures

Practice:

Exercise 1. 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. One has been done for you as an example.

 

4 Dear

Choose from this list:

A) opening sentence (reason for writing),

B) Greeting / salutation (Dear...),

C) date,

D) signature,

E) receiver's name and address,

F) sender's name,

G) company logo,

H) I look forward...,

I) main body of text,

J) sender's title,

K) indication of an attachment,

L) subject heading,

M) Yours...,

N) closing sentence (request for action)

Exercise 2. Look at this business letter and put the following parts of it in the correct order:

The layout of the letter:

1. … 3. … 5. … 7. … 9. … 11. …

2. … 4. … 6. … 8. … 10. … 12. ….

Greeting / salutation, sender's address (not name), date, signature, receiver’s address, concluding comment, title of subject, main parts of the text, the aim of the letter, the Reference Line, the Attention Line, the Enclosure.

  HRD Institute 119Mill Road Cambridge 1 GB 12 AZ UK   Our Ref.: DA/st 2 12 July 2004 3     Trade Company 4 400 S 5th Avenue, Suite # 80 Detroit, MI, 48202-2831 USA   Attention: Mr. Tan 5   Dear Mr. Tan, 6   HRD Conference 7 As a valued member of the HRD Institute, I have pleasure in inviting you to a conference on the future of the HRD a function to be held at Towers Hotel on Thursday and Friday, 7 and 8 October 2004. 8   Highlights of the conference include: · HRD Past, Present and Future 9 · On line training · Training with The British Council   The seminar is presented by a distinguished panel of professional speakers who will be able to give you expert advice on any area of HRD. I have enclosed a detailed outline of the topics that will be covered; with I am sure you will not want to miss.   If you would like to join us please complete and return the enclosed registration form to me by 30 September.   I look forward to seeing you at this event. 10   Your sincerely, (the signature) 11   D. H. Ashen Manager   Enc 12  

Exercise 3. Look at this envelope. Match numbers with letters.

A) the addressee’s company name

B) the ZIP Code in the mailing address

C) the town the letter comes from

D) the ZIP Code in the return address

E) the street name in the mailing address

F) the addressee

Exercise 4. Are these addresses correct? What changes should be made?

10, Garston Road Worldwide Dealers Ltd. Mr. R. Stevenson Australia Melbourne  

Chicago, Illinois, USA 300, Lincoln Place The Modern Machine Tool Corporation

Mathews & Wilson Ladies’ Clothing General Manager 75, High Street Glasgow Scotland

Exercise 5. You also have business partners in different countries who would be glad to get news from you. Write their addresses on the envelope.

A) Export Division Wellhead Builders Ltd., Mr. John K. Style is from England, London, Fen Road, 16.

B) Ms. H. Black lives in the USA (code 10213), in the state of New York, in Brooklyn, the name of the street is Lincoln Drive, 10.

C) Managing Director, USA, Office Equipment Inc., the state of Illinois, Chicago, Rue Road, 344.

D) Write your address to get an answer.

Exercise 6. Match a greeting with a suitable ending.

1. Dear Sirs A) Yours sincerely

2. Dear Mr. White B) Yours faithfully

3. Dear Gentlemen C) Sincerely yours

4. Dear Ms. White

5. Dear Sir or Madam

Exercise 7. Divide this letter correctly and fill the boxes in the letter below.

Rua Luis de Deus 18, 30 Coimbra, Portugal. 29 March 1991. The Principal, The Oxford English College, 234 Hilton Rd., Eastbourne BN43UA. Dear Sir or Madam, I saw your advertisement for English classes in this month’s English Today magazine and I am interested in coming to your school this summer. I have studied English for three years but I have never been to England. I would like to improve my pronunciation. Please, could you send me more information about your courses, and an application form? I would also like some information about accommodation. I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible. Yours faithfully, Ana Maria Fernandes.

Answer the questions:

- In what other ways can you begin and end formal letters?

- Where is Ana’s address written?

- Where is the address of the College she’s writing to?

- In what other way can you write the date?

- Where does Ana sing her name?

Exercise 8. All the parts are mixed up in this letter. Put them in order. Rewrite the letter in block style.

Yours sincerely Attention: Mr. N. Conshiwan Please send us your catalogue with sizes and colors of female and male national clothes of Thailand. Re: Enquiry for National Dresses We are opening a shop of national Asian dresses and fabrics in one of our hotels. International Trading Company Bangkok Thailand 3 August, 2003 Dear Mr. N. Conshiwan P. Morgan Your Ref: Manager Our Ref: PM/ma   Intercontinental Hotel Group Telephone: [phone] Telex: 79436 inho Telefax: (039) 367  

October 23, 2007 Ken's Cheese House Dear Mr. Flintstone: 34 Chatley Avenue Seattle, WA 98765 Tel: [phone] With reference to our telephone conversation today, I am writing to confirm your order for: 120 x Cheddar Deluxe Ref. No. 856 The order will be shipped within three days via UPS and should arrive at your store in about 10 days. Fred Flintstone Kenneth Beare Sales Manager Director of Ken's Cheese House Cheese Specialists Inc. 456 Rubble Road Rockville, IL Please contact us again if we can help in any way. Yours sincerely,

Exercise 9. Study the letter and complete it by selecting the correct words:

a) Currently seeking, d) trading, g) represent us,

b) a great deal of, e) based, h) 'Yours sincerely',

c) market, f) 'Yours faithfully', i) to speaking.

Dear Ms White
It was very nice to meet you at the exhibition in Manchester. As I explained at the time, we are (....1....) a UK (....2....) company to (....3....) in Europe.

We require a company to (....4....) our holidays as, after 5 years of successful (....5....), we are now looking to expand our operations worldwide. I understand you have a (....6....) experience in this field.

I look forward (....7....) with you soon on this matter.
(....8....)

Tony Marshall

Exercise 10. Now decide whether the following statements are true or false when writing a business letter.

	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. Short, simple sentences are better than long complex ones.
6. Enc is used when you are sending something in addition to the letter e.g. a cheque.
7. In modern business documents punctuation is not used in the receiver’s address.

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