How to Structure an English Business Letter.doc

8/11/2019 How to Structure an English Business Letter.doc

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How to Structure an English Business Letter

Sender's Address in a Business Letter

Don't write your address if you use paper with a ready-printed sender's address.

If you write your own address, only give the following information: house number, street, area code, place, country,

telephone. (Don't include your name here; in nglish the name is only put at the end of the letter.!

Note: "he order for sender's addresses in nglish is: house number, street, area code, place. If the order is different in your

culture, #eep to the structure used in your country, don't adopt the nglish way.

British English

Position: In $ritish nglish, the sender's address is usually placed in the top right corner of the letter.

American English

Position: In %merican nglish the sender's address is usually placed in the top left corner, below the date, or at the end of the

letter, below the signature..

&ender's address below the date:

&ender's address below the signature:

Date in a Business Letter

British English

Write: )ctober *+


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Position: on the right, one line below the sender's address (in letters with a ready-printed sender's address, the date can also

be put in the top left corner!

American English

Write: )ctober , *+

Position: top left corner (sometimes centred!

Dates in Written English

British English

In $ritish nglish the day is usually put before the month. If you wish, you can add the ending of the ordinal number. "he

preposition ofbefore the month is usually dropped. ou can put a comma before the year, but this is not common anymore in

$ritish nglish.

ample: (th! (of! )ctober(,! */

American English

In %merican nglish the month is usually put before the day. If you wish, you can put the definite article before the day. It is

common to write a comma before the year.

ample: )ctober (the! (th!, */

ou can also write the date by using numbers only. "he most common forms are:

ample: 0+0/ or -+-/

1ote, however, that 0+0/ usually means )ctober */ in $ritish nglish and 2ay +, */ in %merican nglish. "o

avoid any possible confusion, you should spell out the month or use the abbreviation.

Months and Days of the Wee

1ote that the months and days of the wee# are always capitalised. If you don't want to write the whole words, you can use

the abbreviations. In $ritish nglish, abbreviations are usually written without full stops (%pr!, full stops are normal,

however, in %merican nglish (%pr.!.

2onths are abbreviated as follows:


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2onth %bbreviation 2onth %bbreviation

3anuary 3an 3uly -

4ebruary 4eb %ugust %ug

2arch 2ar &eptember &ept

%pril %pr )ctober )ct

2ay - 1ovember 1ov

3une - December Dec

Days of the wee# are abbreviated as follows:

Day %bbreviation

2onday 2on

"uesday "ue

5ednesday 5ed

"hursday "hu

4riday 4ri

&aturday &at

&unday &un

Dates in S!oen English

If you put the day before the month, use the definite article before the day and the preposition ofbefore the month.

)ctober */ - the fifth of )ctober, two thousand and four

If you put the month before the day, use the definite article before the day in $ritish nglish. In %merican nglish, the

definite article can be dropped.

)ctober , */ - )ctober (the! fifth, two thousand and four

"ears

4rom * onwards, years are pronounced li#e ordinary cardinal numbers.

* - two thousand

* - two thousand and three

arlier years are pronounced differently: the first two figures are a number and the last two figures are a number. "hey can

be 6oined by hundred and, which is only necessary, however, if the last two figures are through 7.

+777 - nineteen (hundred and! ninety-nine+89 - eighteen hundred and si 0 eighteen oh si

If you want to give the year without an eact date, use the preposition in:


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I was born in +7*.

"o distinguish between dates before and after the birth of hrist, use $ und %D:

$ < '$efore hrist'

%D < '%nno Domini' (in the year of the =ord!

#eci!ient's Address in a Business LetterMs / Miss / Mrs / Mr / Dr ...

house number, street

place

area code

COUNTRY (in capital letters)

In %merican nglish, the area code is usually at the same level as the place, separated by a comma.

Position: on the left

British English

In $ritish nglish, the recipient's address starts on the same line as the date or one line below the date.

American English

In %merican nglish, the recipient's address starts two lines below the sender's address (or two lines below the date if the

sender's address isn't placed in the top left corner!.

Salutation in a Business Letter

$f you now the !erson's name%

Dear 2s 0 2iss 0 2rs 0 2r 0 Dr > surname

Dear 2r 2iller

ou can also write the person's full name. In this case, leave out the title (2r02rs!. "his way of writing the salutation is very

handy if you don't #now the gender of the person.

Dear hris 2iller

$f you don't now the !erson's name%

"here are several possibilities to address people that you don't #now by name:


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salutation when to use

Dear &ir 0 Dear &irs male addressee (esp. in $ritish nglish!

?entlemen male addressee (esp. in %merican nglish!

Dear 2adam female addressee (esp. in $ritish nglish!

=adies female addressee (esp. in %merican nglish!

Dear &ir or 2adam gender un#nown (esp. in $ritish nglish!

=adies and ?entlemen gender un#nown (esp. in %merican nglish!

"o whom it may concern gender un#nown (esp. in %merican nglish!

$usiness partners often call each other by their first names. In this case, write the salutation as follows:

Dear &ue

Punctuation

In $ritish nglish, don't use any punctuation mar# or use a comma.

Dear 2r 2iller or Dear 2r 2iller,

In %merican nglish, use a colon:

Dear 2r. 2iller:

4or eamples see @ &ub6ect.

Ms& Miss or Mrs

2rs A to address a married woman

2iss A to address an unmarried woman (rarely used now!

2s A to address a woman whose marital status you don't #now; also used to address an unmarried woman

Note: "he abrreviations 2r, 2rs etc. are usually written without full stops (2r! in $ritish nglish and with full stops (2r.!

in %merican nglish.

Su()ect Line in a Business Letter

% sub6ect line is not really necessary. ou may want to use one, however, so that the reader immediately #nows what your

letter is about. "here are three common methods to distinguish the sub6ect line from the body of the letter:

Bse C&ub6ect:C or Ce:C

"ype the sub6ect in bold letters

"ype the sub6ect in capital letters

British English
http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/business-letter/subjecthttp://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/business-letter/subjecthttp://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/writing/business-letter/subject


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"he sub6ect line is usually placed between the salutation and the body of the letter (with a blan# line in between!.

American English

In %merican nglish, the sub6ect line can also be placed between the recipient's address and the salutation (with a blan# line

in between!.

Body of a Business Letter

apitalise the first word of the tet (even if the salutation ends with a comma!. "he tet is left-6ustified and a blan# line is

put after each paragraph. It is not common to indent the first line of a paragraph.

*ontent

first paragraph: introduction and reason for writing

following paragraphs: eplain your reasons for writing in more detail, provide bac#ground information etc.

last paragraph: summarise your reason for writing again and ma#e clear what you want the recipient to do

Note: our tet should be positive and well structured.

+reeting in a Business Letter

British English

If you used the recipient's name in the salutation, use 'sincerely'.

If you did not use the recipient's name in the salutation, use 'faithfully'.

American English

Bse 'sincerely', no matter if you used the recipient's name in the salutation or not ('faithfully' is not common in %merican

nglish!.

Salutation , +reeting

British English

&alutation ?reeting

Dear 2s 5eley

Dear 3ane 5eley

ours sincerely 0 &incerely yours


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Dear 3ane

Dear &ir

Dear &irsDear 2adamDear &ir or 2adam

ours faithfully 0 4aithfully yours

American English

&alutation ?reeting

Dear 2s. 5eley:Dear 3ane 5eley:

Dear 3ane:

&incerely, 0 &incerely yours,

?entlemen:=adies:=adies and ?entlemen:

"o whom it may concern:

&incerely, 0 &incerely yours,

In emails you could also write:

egards

Eind regards

$est wishes

Note: If you end the salutation with a comma or colon, use a comma after the greeting. If you didn't punctuate the salutation,

don't punctuate the greeting.

Position: 5rite the greeting two lines below the last paragraph and left-6ustify it. If the date is centre-6ustified, however, do

also centre-6ustify the greeting.

=eave / blan# lines after the greeting (space for the signature! and write the sender's name below that space.

Enclosure in a Business Letter

If you wish to enclose documents, you can either list all enclosed documents separately or 6ust write the word 'nclosure'

below the signature.


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Documents

How to Structure an English Business Letter.doc