Structure of a business letter. Part 1

Лекция 9 Structure of a business letter Изучив материал, студент должен знать:  Принципы построения и написания делового письма;  Порядок написания адресов;  Стили и пунктуацию делового письма;  Составные части делового письма. Изучив материал, студент должен владеть:  Способностью оформления делового письма. 1. 2. 3. 4. План лекции: Structure and presentation Order of inside addresses Style and punctuation of addresses Parts of the letter Structure and presentation The letter shown on page 4 is from a private individual to a company in the UK. It shows some of the features of a simple business letter. Sender's address In correspondence that does not have a printed letterhead, the sender's address is written on the top right-hand side of the page. In the UK, in contrast to the practice in some countries, it is not usual to write the sender's name before the sender's address. Date The date is written below the sender's address, sometimes separated from it by a space. Usually on the first or last line of the receiver’s address. In the case of correspondence with a printed letterhead, it is also usually written on the righthand side of the page. The month in the date should not be written in figures, as they can be confusing; for example, 11.1.08 means 11th January 2008 in the UK but 1st November 2008 in the USA. Nor should you abbreviate the month, e.g. Nov. for November, as it simply looks untidy. It takes a moment to write a date in full, but it can take a lot longer to find a misfiled letter which was put in the wrong file because the date was confusing. Many firms leave out the abbreviation 'th' after the date, e.g. 24 October instead of 24th October. Other firms transpose the date and the month, e.g. October 24 instead of 24 October. These are matters of preference, but whichever you choose you should be consistent throughout your correspondence. the date should be written in arable figures with no abbreviations as “16 February, 2005”. Do not add “st”, “nd”, “rd”, “th” to the date or street address. In the body of a letter you may use these endings, as “on the 14th of May”, or “on the fourteenth of May”, or “on the 14th” 1 Inside (or receiver's) address This is written below the sender's address and on the opposite side of the page. 1 Surname known If you know the surname of the person you are writing to, you write this on the first line of the address, preceded by a courtesy title and either the person's initial(s) or his/her first given name, e.g. Mr J.E. Smith or Mr John Smith, not Mr Smith. Courtesy titles used in addresses are as follows: Mr (with or without a full stop; pronounced /'mıste /; the unabbreviated form mister should not be used) is the usual courtesy title for a man. Mrs (with or without a full stop; pronounced /'mısız/; no unabbreviated form) is used for a married woman. Miss (pronounced /mıs/; not an abbreviation) is used for an unmarried woman. Ms (with or without a full stop; pronounced /mız/ or /məz/; no unabbreviated form) is used for both married and unmarried women. Many women now prefer to be addressed by this title, and it is a useful form of address when you are not sure whether the woman you are writing to is married or not. Messrs (with or without a full stop; pronounced /'mesəz/; abbreviation for Messieurs, which is never used) is used occasionally for two or more men (Messrs P. Jones and B.L. Parker) but more commonly forms part of the name of a firm (Messrs Collier & Clerke & Co.). Special titles, which should be included in addresses, are many. They include academic or medical titles: Doctor (Dr.), Professor (Prof.); military titles: Captain (Capt.), Major (Maj.), Colonel (Col.), General (Gen.); aristocratic title: Sir (which means that he is a Knight; not to be confused with the salutation Dear Sir and always followed by a given name – Sir John Brown, not Sir J. Brown or Sir Brown), Dame, Lord, Baroness, etc. Esq (with or without full stop; abbreviation for Esquire and pronounced /es'kwaiə/) is seldom used now. If used, it can only be used instead of Mr and is placed after the name. Don't use Esq and Mr at the same time: Bruce Hill Esq, not Mr Bruce Hill Esq. All these courtesy titles and special titles, except Esq, are also used in salutations. 2 STRUCTURE OF A BUSINESS LETTER (1) Sender's address 16 Bellview Road 16 Bellview RoadStretchley West YorkshireStretchley JX2 6HG Great Britain West Yorkshire JX2 6HG 6 May 200… 6th May 1990 Date Inside address (Receiver's address) Attention line Salutation Body of the letter Complimentary close Signature The Manager Marlborough Hotel Newtown-on-Sea The Manager Devon Marlborough CN31 4DXHotel GreatNewtown-on-Sea Britain Devon For the attention CN31 4DX of the Hotel Manager Dear Sir or Madam, For the attention of the Hotel Manager This summer we would like to travel across Great Britain and Dear Sir or Madam, stop for a couple of days in Newtown-on-Sea. We have seen your advertisement in the Where to We have seen your advertisement in the “Where to Stay Stay Guide and would grateful if you would send us more Guide” and would grateful if you could send us more information about your hotel, including room rates from information about your hotel, including room rates from July July this year. this year. We look forward to hearing from you. We look forward to hearing from you. Yours faithfully, Yours faithfully, B. Kaasen B. Kaasen 3 2 Title known If you do not know the name of the person you are writing to, you may know or be able to assume his/her title or position in the company, (e.g. The Sales Manager, The Finance Director, The Reservations Manager), in which case you can use it in the address. 3 Department known Alternatively you can address your letter to a particular department of the company (e.g. The Reservations Department, The Sales Department, The Accounts Department). 4 Only company known Finally, if you know nothing about the company and do not want to make any assumptions about the person or department your letter should go to, you can simply address it to the company itself (e.g. Louis Cruise Liners Ltd., Messrs Collier & Clarke & Co, Ambassador Hotel, Tour Agency “Amelia”). The names of company types are usually abbreviated, as Plc — Public Limited Company; Ltd — Private Limited Company; Inc — Incorporated. Order of inside addresses After the name of the person and/or company receiving the letter, the order and style of addresses in the UK, USA and Russia could vary: The sequence of writing an address in Great Britain: • Title and name of the addressee Ms J. Evergreen • Position in the company Chief Manager • Name of the company Hartman & Hill Plc. • Number of the building 451 Old Farmer Road • Name of the street London EC4P 4EE • Name of the city, town or locality England • Postal district abbreviation • Postal service head-office abbreviation and number • Name of the country The sequence of writing an address in the USA: • Title and name of the addressee • Position in the company Ms K. Ralf • Name of the company Production Manager • Number or name of the building McGraw-Hill Book Inc. • Name of the street 1221 Richmond Avenue • Name of the city, town or locality New York, NY 10022 • Name of the state USA • Postal index • Name of the country 4 The sequence of writing an address in Russia: • Title and name of the addressee Mr. D. Zaitsev • Position in the company Sales Manager • Name of the company Malachite Ltd. • Number or name of the building 75 Darvin Street • Name of the street St.-Perersburg, 195057 • Name of the city, town or locality Russia • Name of the region (if necessary) • Postal index • Name of the country If the letter is addressed to London, the name of the city 'London' should be followed by a shortened name of the corresponding postal district: e.g. EC — East Central; NW - North West; WC — West Central etc. If the letter is addressed to the USA, the name of a city or town should be followed by the name of the state. Postal Service Abbreviations of the American states: AK GA MD NH SC (Alaska) (Georgia) (Maryland) (New (South Hampshire) Carolina) AI HI ME NJ SD (Alabama) (Hawaii) (Maine) (New Jersey) (South Dakota) AR (Arkansas) ID (Idaho) AZ IL (Arizona) (Illinois) CA IN (California) (Indiana) CO IA (Colorado) (Iowa) CT KS (Connecticut) (Kansas) DC KY (District of (Kentucky) Columbia) DE (Delaware) LA (Louisiana) FL (Florida) MA (Massachu- Ml (Michigan) NM TN (New Mexico) (Tennessee) MN (Minnesota) MO (Missouri) MS (Mississippi) MT (Montana) NB (Nebraska) NV (Nevada) NY (New York) OH (Ohio) OK (Oklahoma) OR (Oregon) TX (Texas) UT (Utah) VA (Virginia) VT (Vermont) WA (Washington) NC (North Carolina) ND (North Dakota) PA (Pennsylvania) RI (Rhode Wl (Wisconsin) WV (West 5 setts) Island) Virginia) WY (Wyoming) Some European addresses may place the numbers of the building after the name of the street. It is also common to substitute the name of the country with an initial before the district code number. Look at the two examples below: Facoltà di Medicina LehrstuI für Bodenkunde Via Gentile 182 Amalienstrasse 1-70100 Bari D-8000 München 40 (You are advised to follow the one order and style given below, even though variations are possible: for example, the name of the county, e.g. Lancashire, may, if known, be written on the line below the name of the town or city; the postcode may be written on a separate line; the name of the town, as well as the country, may be in capital letters.) General recommendation of order of an inside address is following: Name of house or building Number of building and name of street, road, avenue, etc. Name of town or city and postcode Name of country Industrial House 6000 East Camelback Road 34-41 Craig Road Scottsdale, AZ85251 Bolton BL4 8TF United States United Kindom Style and punctuation of addresses Both the addresses may be 'blocked' (i.e. each line is vertically aligned with the one above): Bredgade51, DK 1260, Copenhagen K, DENMARK There are no rules stating that one style or the other must be used, though blocking, at least in addresses, is more common. In any case you must be consistent, i.e. do not block the sender's address and then indent the inside address. If punctuation is used, each line of the address is followed by a comma, except the last line. But the majority of firms now use open punctuation, i.e. without any commas. These examples show the most widely used methods of writing addresses. 6 British style Inside address (company) Messrs Black & Sons, 159 Knightsbridge, London SWL 87C American style International Trading Company Sabas Building 507 A. Flores Street Manila Philippines ************************** **************************** The International Trading The American Magazine Company 119 Sixth Avenue 24 Churchill Avenue New York, NY 11011 Maidstone, Kent ZH8 92B Addressing an individual on company business The Manager Mr. C.C. Pan The Hongkong and Shanghai Far East Jewellery Co. Banking Corporation 68 Queen’s Road East Main Office Hong Kong Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Dear Sir, Dear Sir: *************************** Messrs Mahmoud & Son 329 Coast Road Karachi, Pakistan ************************** The Standard Oil Company Midland Building Cleveland, Ohio 44115 For the attention of Mr. Singh Attention: Mr. E.G. Glass, Jr. 7 British style American style Addressing an individual on private business T. Hardy, Esq., c/o Waltons Ltd., 230 Snow Street, Birmingham, England. Mr. C. Manzi Credito Milano Via Cavour 86 Milan Italy Dear Tom, Dear Mr Manzi, ************************** Miss Claire Waterson c/o Miller & Sons Pty. Ltd. Box 309 Sydney NSW 2000 Australia **************************** Continental Supply Company 312 Surawongse Bangkok Thailand Attention: Mr. P. Wilson, Jr. Dear Miss Waterson, Dear Peter, 'For the attention of’ An alternative to including the recipient's name or position in the address is to use an 'attention line' as here: International Hotel 1-5 Greenfield Road Liverpool L22 OPL For the attention of the Hotel Manager Dear Sir, Salutations Dear Sir opens a letter written to a man whose name you do not know. Dear Sirs is used to address a company. Dear Madam is used to address a woman, whether single or married, whose name you do not know. 8 Dear Sir or Madam is used to address a person of whom you know neither the name nor the sex. When you do know the name of the person you are writing to, the salutation takes the form of Dear followed by a courtesy title and the person's surname. Initials or first names are not generally used in salutations: Dear Mr Smith, not Dear Mr J. Smith or Dear Mr John Smith. The comma after the salutation is optional (Dear Sir, or Dear Sir). Note that in the USA a letter to a company usually opens with Gentlemen, followed by a colon, not with Dear Sirs. British American Formal Dear Sir, Dear Sir: or Routine Dear Sirs, Gentlemen: Dear Madam, Dear Mr Brown: Dear Sir or Madam, Dear Miss Smith: Mesdames, Dear Mrs Brown: Informal Dear Mr Brown, Dear Mr Brown: Dear Miss Smith, Dear Miss Roberts: Personal Dear Mr Brown, Dear Mr Brown, My dear Brown, My dear Mr Brown, Dear Jim, Dear George, The body of the letter This may be indented or blocked. It is a matter of choice. Whichever style you use, you must be consistent and use that style all through the letter. It is usual to leave a line space between paragraphs in the body of the letter; if the blocked style is used, this is essential. Complimentary closes If the letter begins Dear Sir, Dear Sirs, Dear Madam or Dear Sir or Madam, it will close with Yours faithfully. If the letter begins with a personal name – Dear Mr James, Dear Mrs Robinson, Dear Ms Jasmin – it will close with Yours sincerely. Avoid closing with old-fashioned phrases such as: We remain yours faithfully, Respectfully yours, etc. The comma after the complimentary close is optional (Yours faithfully, or faithfully yours). Note that Americans tend to close even formal letters with Yours truly or Truly yours, which is unusual in the UK in commercial correspondence. But a letter to a friend or acquaintance may end with Yours truly or the casual Best wishes. The position of the complimentary close - on the left, right or in the centre of the page – is a matter of choice. It depends on the style of the letter (blocked letters tend to put the close on the left, indented letters tend to put them in the centre) and on your firm's preference. 9 Formal or Routine Informal Personal British Yours faithfully, Yours sincerely, Yours truly, Yours sincerely, Sincerely, With best wishes, Yours, American Very truly yours, Sincerely yours, Yours very truly Sincerely yours, Cordially yours, Sincerely yours, With kind regards, With best regards, Sincerely, Yours, Signatures Always type your name after your handwritten signature and your position in the firm after your typed signature. This is known as the signature block. Even though you may think your signature is easy to read, letters such as 'a', 'e', 'o', 'r', and 'v' can easily be confused. It is, to some extent, a matter of choice whether you sign with your initial(s) (D. Jenkins) or your given name (David Jenkins), and whether you include a courtesy title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms) in your signature block. But if you give neither your given name nor your title, your correspondent will not be able to identify your sex and may give you the wrong title when he/she replies. It is safer, therefore, to sign with your given name, and safest of all to include your title. Including titles in signatures is, in fact, more common among women than among men, partly because many women like to make it clear either that they are married (Mrs) or unmarried (Miss) or that their marital status is not relevant (Ms), and partly because there is still a tendency to believe that important positions in a company can only be held by men. It would do no harm for men to start including their titles in their signatures. In the first letter Ms Kaasen gives her title in her handwritten signature. It is also possible to include the title in the typewritten signature, usually in brackets, as in these two examples: Yours faithfully, Yours sincerely, (Miss) T. Shurgold J. Howatt (Mr) 10 Литература: 1. English for International Tourism, Miriam Jacob&Peter Strutt, Longman, 2006. 2. High Season. English for the hotel and tourist business. Keith Harding&Paul Henderson, Oxford University Press, 2006. 3. Carpenter E. Confusable Words. HapperCollinsPablishers. GB, 1993. 4. Ermilova D. V. Tourist Economy a Dynamic Branch of Economic Activity / RIAT. -M.: Typncx, 2000. 5. Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press, 1980. 6. Hornby A.S. Oxford Advanced Dictionary of Current English. Oxford University Press, 2000. 7. NTC's American Idioms Dictionary. - М.: Русский язык, 1991. 8. The BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English.-M.: Русский язык, 1990. 9. Tourism Manager. Specialization Course, Officers Retraining Programme, ED/062 Project. -Infogroup, Athens, 1995. 10. Going International. English for tourism. Keith Harding. Oxford University Press, 2009. 11