Welcome to the workshop on

Writing Business Letters

Letter example
INTERCITY BANK PLC 58 Jalan Thamrin Jakarta Indonesia Telephone 021-6376018 Mr. S Basuki Jakarta Furnishers 7 Jalan Arjuna Jakarta Your Ref: Our Ref: SB/sl Date: 06 May 2009

Dear Mr Basuki We are expanding our offices in Jakarta and we will need extra desks, lights, chairs and file cabinets. Please send us your catalogue with your prices, sizes, and colors for these items.

Yours Sincerely Jenifer Long Manager, Corporate Affairs

UNIT 1:

Letter layout, the date, opening/closing

a letter, subject headline

Block style
The name and address of the addressee are at the top on the left (The address is the person you are writing to) The date is on the right There is no punctuation in the address or after yours faithfully / sincerely or dear The paragraphs start at the margin and there are lines spaces between them The writers name and title are under the signature

UNIT 1: Letter layout, the date, opening/closing a letter, subject headline continued

The date
In Britain they write the day first but in the United States they write the month first.

Example
12 May 2009 (UK) May 12, 2009 (USA) We will use ..

UNIT 1: Letter layout, the date, opening/closing a letter, subject headline continued

The Opening Address and Closing : Dear.. Yours

Some ways to open a Letter
Dear Sir or Madam Dear Sir Dear Mr. Rashid Dear Mrs. Azad Dear Miss Nasrin Dear Ms Nasrin Dear Rafique - to a company - to a man if you dont know his name - to a man - to a married woman - to an unmarried woman - to a married or unmarried woman - to a friend or someone you know well

UNIT 1: Letter layout, the date, opening/closing a letter, subject headline continued

Some ways to close a Letter It depends on how you open the letter

Dear Sir or Madam Dear Mr. / Ms. / Mrs. / Miss Dear Name

- Yours faithfully - Yours sincerely - Best wishes / Regards

Exercise 1:

UNIT 1: Letter layout, the date, opening/closing a letter, subject headline continued

Subject heading
Subject heading of a letter draws the target person(s) attention to what the letter is about and helps to make sure that it is and will go to the right person.

Exercise 2:

Exercise 3:

UNIT 2:

Parts of letter, beginning and ending

Parts of a letter:
Most letters have three parts Dear An opening This says what you are writing The main message This gives the details The close This usually talks about the future Yours faithfully / sincerely

UNIT 2:

Parts of letter, beginning and ending

Beginning a letter
Here are some ways to begin a letter
We are writing to enquire about We are writing in connection with.. We are interested in and we would like to know.

Exercise 4

Exercise 5

UNIT 2:

Parts of letter, beginning and ending

Ending / closing a letter

Here are some ways to end a letter
I look forward to receiving you reply / order / products / etc.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

If you gave some information in the letter, you can close:

I hope that this information will help you. Please contact me if you need any further information. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions. Please let me know if you need any further information.

Exercise 6

Exercise 7

UNIT 3: Referring, giving good / bad news, saying what you can and cannot do, giving reasons

Letters giving news

Read the attached letter in example 1 & 2 and find what do the writers say when they want to -

Refer to the last time they contracted each other Give some good or bad news Give a reason

Letter example 1
Ms. Jennifer Long Manager Intercity Bank Plc. 58 Jalan Thamrin

Your Ref JL/fh/246

Dear Ms. Long Order 2789

Our Ref SB/sl

I am writing in connection with the above order for office furniture. We regret to inform you that we are unable to deliver the Linton filling cabinets on time. This is as a result of problems at our suppliers factory. With regard to the lamps and decks. We will deliver the goods before 13 March, as agreed. With apologies, Yours Sincerely S. Basuki Manager

Letter example 2
Data Services A division of Sontrat industries Mr. J Williams 48 West 32nd Street New York, NY 10011 6928 Dear Mr. Williams Further to our telephone discussion Thursday, I am delighted to tell you that we are now able to reduce the price of our new Peach Serious computers by 10%. This is due to the recent rise of the dollar. We look forward to receiving your order. If you need any further information, please let me know. DS 2062 W Hasings Chicago, II 60608 Tel 312 646 0793 Ace Secretarial Fax 312 927 7373 Nal 800 444 3897 January 24, 1995

Sincerely,

DATA Services

Jim Hutton

UNIT 3: Referring, giving good / bad news, saying what you can and cannot do, giving reasons continued

Referring
Here are some ways to introduce the subject of the letter With reference to..

Further to
With regard to I am writing in connection with.

Exercise 8

UNIT 3: Referring, giving good / bad news, saying what you can and cannot do, giving reasons continued

Giving good / bad news

Pleased Good News I am Delighted happy to

Tell Inform advise

You that..

Bad news

I We regret that

to

Tell Inform advise

You that..

Exercise 9

UNIT 3: Referring, giving good / bad news, saying what you can and cannot do, giving reasons continued

Saying what you can and cannot do

We are unable to . We are able to .. We have been forced to ..

UNIT 3: Referring, giving good / bad news, saying what you can and cannot do, giving reasons continued

Giving reasons

Owing to .

This is

Due to.. As a result of Because of ..

- Owing to is normally only used for bad news - If you want to use a verb after the phrase due to add the fact that

Exercise 10

UNIT 4: Requesting action, apologizing, requesting information

Requesting Action
Here are some ways to ask people to do something for you

Starting the request a. Please could you. (verb / action)

b. We would be grateful if you could . (verb / action) c. We would appreciate it if you could (verb / action)

Finishing the request

If it is urgent, add; As soon as possible Without delay Immediately

Exercise 11

UNIT 4: Requesting action, apologizing, requesting information continued

Apologizing
We must apologize for. We apologize for . We are extremely sorry for

Notes: - Use the -ing after these phrase, e.g. We are extremely sorry for losing your order. - You can also say we are extremely sorry that e.g. we are extremely sorry that we lost your order

Usually it is polite to give the reason for the problem and then apologize again at the end of a letter. Please accept our apologies once again We hope that this has not caused you any inconvenience With apologies once again

UNIT 4: Requesting action, apologizing, requesting information continued

Requesting Information

Please could you We would be grateful if you could We would appreciate it if you could We would like to know

give us some further details about let us know (about/if).. inform us (about/if) .

If you want specific information, say: In particular, + one of the phrases from the box

Exercise 12

Exercise 13

UNIT 5: Making a mild complaint, making a point, warning Making a mild complaint
To make a mild compliant you can: -say that, unfortunately, something is wrong, for example; Unfortunately, we have not yet received the filling cabinets. and then, request the same action

For example:

Please could you We would be grateful if you could We would appreciate it if you could

Deliver them soon.

Exercise 14

UNIT 5: Making a mild complaint, making a point, warning continued

Making a point
If you want someone to take note of something you can use phrases such as
I should like to draw your attention to (the fact that) I should like to point out that

If you are saying something that they already know (and you are a little bit angry) you can write
I should like to remind you that. I hope that it is not necessary to remind you that

UNIT 5: Making a mild complaint, making a point, warning continued

Warning
One way to warn somebody is to say:

Unless ..

If .. (not) We will be forced to

Exercise 15

UNIT 5: Making a mild complaint, making a point, warning continued

Making a strong complaint

To make a strong compliant you can: say exactly what is wrong, e.g. it is now over nine months since we placed this order and we are still waiting for the cabinets. Make a point connected with this, e.g. I should like to point out that we have already paid for these cabinets, and then Demand immediate action, e.g. We must insist, therefore, that you deliver them immediately. If you think that is necessary you can also give a warning e.g. unless we hear from you within 7 days we will take legal action.

Exercise 16

THANK YOU