ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence English for commercial correspondence has the following characteristics a social and/or professional setting a specific

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence

English for commercial correspondence

has the following

characteristics

a social and/or professional setting

a specific terminology a specific grammar specific information

structuring and other communicative strategies


GOOD

CORRESPONDENCE

=

GOOD

COMMUNICATION




Phatic contact Message transmission


Specific choices in commercial correspondence are particularly preferred in the letters or texts:

“Dear Sir or Madam”, “sincerely”, “yours truly” , “yours faithfully”, “To whom it may concern” etc.

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence Specific Commercial Correspondence Lexis

can also be observed with an informative function as in “I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter”

Here it goes without saying that the register is highly formal, as often happens

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence Remember, it is very important to be aware

of register differences in commercial correspondence

So, always try to avoid extremes. Avoid pompous language like “we wish to convey our most profuse apologies” or “the letter mentioned heretofore”. “We apologize” or “the above letter” is quite sufficient.

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence Don’t use language that is too colloquial

like “don’t worry you’ll get your money back”. “Your loan will be repaid” is much better.

Don’t ever use slang. You simply cannot write anything like “a couple of hundred quid” or “bucks”, or “I have to scrounge off you” instead of “I need a loan”.

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence Avoid using idioms or figures of speech. Prices simply “go up” or “increase”, rather

than “rocket” or “go through the roof”.Or they simply “go down” or “drop”, rather than “plummet”, “crash” or “go through the floor”.

Don’t invent abbreviations and acronyms, only use common, standard ones.

ENGLISH for Commercial CorrespondenceREMEMBER, ALWAYS AIM FOR Correctness, both grammatical and stylistic Concision, without omitting essentials Clarity, without being simplistic

AND ALWAYS RESPECT Register


GRAMMARIn the process of going from the informal to the formal, certain syntactic changes often take place:

VERBAL style tends to become NOMINALe.g. “I received” - “I acknowledge receipt”

PRESENT TENSE CHANGEe.g. “I’m referring” - “I refer”


GRAMMAR

PERSONAL becomes IMPERSONALe.g. “I am reluctant to resort to such measures”“We are reluctant to resort to such measures”

ACTIVE to PASSIVE voice transformation

e.g. “you haven’t settled your bill yet”“payment of your bill is still

outstanding”


GRAMMAR

CONTRACTIONS are replaced by FULL FORMS

e.g. “I’ll have to” - “I shall have to”

SHORT/SIMPLE sentences become LONG/COMPLEX

e.g. “I refer to your letter of 10th October. In it we asked you to clear the balance of £519.35. This amount has been outstanding since last July.”

“With reference to your letter of 10th October, we would like to remind you again to clear the balance of £519.35, which has been outstanding since last July.”


STRUCTURING AND ORGANISATIONPoints to remember:layout and presentation of your letter are important

signals that you transmit, laying the basis for the first impressions that people have of you.

two paragraph styles exist, the traditional indented form or the blocked layout. The latter is becoming increasingly common and saves a bit of time.

write both addresses in full, don’t omit or abbreviate them to save time. Always give as much detail as possible.

always use addressee’s full and correct titles

11 Thornton Hill,Exeter, Devon,EX4 4NM

6th May 2001

Mr Frank JonesSales Department,Topsham Toys,44-48 Plymouth Road,Exeter, Devon,EX4 2P

PRIVATE LETTER HEADING

The Private Letter Format is usually as follows:

Sender’s Address ® top right

Receiver’s ® top left, below sender’s Date ® top right, below sender’s

Style ® blocked or indented (caps for city code, city or country)

Punctuation ® with or without

TITLESNORMAL PEOPLE:

Mr. (man) Mrs. (married woman)

Miss.(unmarried woman) Ms. (woman)

Messrs. (plural of Mr., usually for professional partnerships)

NB. Mrs or Miss may offend, use Ms.

TITLES

Captain

Colonel

Major

General

The Reverend

Professor

The Honourable

The Right Honourable

Capt.

Col.

Maj.

Gen.

Rev.

Prof.

Hon.

Rt. Hon.

TITLES

On the envelope, put any degrees, medals, honorary titles & professional associations, but only if you are absolutely sure of them. For example, BA(hons), MSc, PhD, MBE, OBE, FRA, FBMA (hon).Professional titles, like Sales Manager, Vice President, Director of Marketing,, Managing Director, Chairman, may be replaced by Sales Department, Marketing, President’s Office etc., if the actual title is not known.

SALUTATIONSDear Sir = male addressee

Dear Sirs = company or unknown

gender

Dear Sir or Madam = unknown gender

Dear Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Dr., Prof., etc. = known addressee

TOPIC & REFERENCESThe subject of the letter may be summarized after the abbreviation “re.” (with reference to), placed either just before the salutation or just after. The topic is often underlined and may also be marked here “Private andConfidential”.

References refer to a number or code given to the letter and marked “our ref:”, whereas the number or code referred to in correspondence received is marked “your ref:”. If there is no number, then the reference is simply the date

11 Thornton Hill,Exeter, Devon,EX4 4NM

Your ref: 6th May 2000 Our ref: DSY/M5/NV00

25 November 2000 Mr. Frank Jones,Sales Department,Topsham Toys,44-48 Plymouth Road,Exeter, Devon, EX4 2PT

re. your 2001 catalogueDear Mr. Jones,

CLOSES

yours faithfully = someone you do not know

after a Dear Sir, Madam. yours sincerely = someone you know or

know of, after Dear Mr, Mrs etc.

yours truly = to a friend or (US) to either of the abovebest regards, wishes etc = to a friend or acquaintance

SIGNING OFFAlways sign your name after the salutation in the centre of the page, after which you always print or type your name and position together with any titles you may wish correspondents to use when writing to you. NB. Two common abbreviations are used when signing off to give certain information:

pp. = (per pro) i.e. you are writing on behalf of someon else

cc. = (carbon copy) i.e. you are also sending a copy of the

letter to someone else

A TYPICAL CLOSE_______________________________________I also wish to thank you for your cooperation in this matter and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience (as soon as possible, by return of post).

Yours faithfully, signature

John M. Dodds, British Hon. Consulpp & cc Mr. Charles de Chassiron

British Consul General

PARAGRAPH STRUCTUREOpening· sets the tone · expresses thanks for any previous

correspondence or contact · introduces writer and his or her

organisation · states purpose of letter

PARAGRAPH STRUCTUREBody

· always plan your sequence

· make your points as clearly as possible

· ask any questions or make any enquiry you feel necessary for the

communication to continue to succeed

· always answer any question or query posed in previous correspondence

· you should be exhaustive without being long-winded

PARAGRAPH STRUCTUREEnding · thank the person for writing (especially if

you haven’t already done so) · thank the person for (presumed) help and

cooperation if you are asking for something · encourage further correspondence or

other form of contact (usually with expressions like “look forward to”, “if you need further information, don’t hesitate to” )

· recap the main points briefly if the letter is complex, using expressions like “to go over the main points briefly”, “to sum up” etc.

LETTER TYPOLOGYEnquiries• requesting information, catalogues, prices,

estimates, dates, details, samples; suggesting if something is possible, methods of payment, asking for discounts, delivery times etc.

Replies & Quotes• confirming help, selling products, referring to

someone, suggesting demonstrations,contacting local representatives; quotations, price lists, discounts, alternatives to something, explaining payment, delivery times, product training programmes, fixed and negotiable terms, estimates

LETTER TYPOLOGYOrders• placing orders, letters of acceptance, confirming

conditions and terms, delivery times, packing, shipping, accepting or rejecting changes, delivery delays, refusing a delivery, etc.

Payment• invoices, pro-forms, statements of account, methods

of payment (home and abroad), advice of payment, of non-payment, asking to defer payment, switching to installments, first and second requests for payment, further reminders and final demands.

LETTER TYPOLOGYComplaints• writing complaints, explaining problems, suggesting

acceptable solutions, replies to complaints, justifiable and unjustifiable complaints, explaining company’s situation,adjusting accounting errors

Credit & Banks• forms of credit, credit requirements, asking for

credit, accepting/refusing credit, taking up references, guarantors, credit rating, bank facilities, opening/closing accounts, negotiating interest on deposit accounts, requesting cheque books, credit cards, overdrafts, standing orders, loans, mortgages.

Documents

ENGLISH for Commercial Correspondence English for commercial correspondence has the following characteristics a social and/or professional setting a specific