1、2Chapter 1 Basic Knowledge of Business Letter WritingLearning Objectives:Understand the structure of a business letter.Know the importance of standardizing the business letter writing.Learn the designing of an elegant letterhead,a standardized inside address and as well as a perfect letter body.Mast
2、er the correct arrangement of various parts of a letter.3.Structure of Business Letters There are 13 parts of the Business Letter as follows：1.Letterhead2.Reference and Date3.Inside Address 4.Attention Line 5.Salutation 6.Subject Line7.Body(1)Opening or Introduction (2)Details (3)Response or Action
3、(4)Close8.Complimentary Close9.Signature10.Initials11.Enclosure12.Carbon Copy13.Postscript 4.The Ways of Using the Writing Parts and Their Standardized Designs1.LetterheadLetterhead includes the senders name,postal address,post code,telephone number,fax number,E-mail address,etc.Usually big firms en
4、gage experts to design their attractive letter paper,with their well-balanced letterheads,sometimes even with trademarks pre-printed on it in order to strengthen their firms impression and enhance their firms prestige.The best way is to print the letterhead in the up-center,because the letterhead pr
5、inted in the up-center will offer a well balanced appearance to others,and using different forms and sizes of both English alphabets and Chinese characters will especially show a very smart and wonderful design of the letterhead.52.Reference and DateIn business correspondence,reference will be given
6、 by a firm to another.Reference may include a file number,departmental code,or the initials of the signer,followed by that of the typist of the letter.They are marked as“Our Ref:*”and“Your Ref:*”to avoid confusion.Example (1)Your Ref:JVD/ZH Our Ref:WDC/LF Example (2)Our Ref:SEL/SYYour Ref:No.145/170
7、The date should be typed in full and not be abbreviated.The-th,-st,-nd and-rd that follow the day may be omitted such as:“6 June”for“6th June”,“May 1”for“May 1st”.Dont use the all-number form.The American practice is to write the date in the order of month,day and year as 3/8/2005 or 03/8/2005,but t
8、he English practice is written in the order of day,month and year,as 8/3/2005 or 8/03/2005.So using all-number form to express the date will make the letter date thrown into confusion.85.SalutationSalutation is placed two lines below the inside address.The salutation is“Gentlemen”if the letter is ad
9、dressed to an organization,even if there is an attention line directing the letter to a particular individual within that organization.In business correspondence,the most commonly used salutation forms areDear Sirs,(British Style)Gentlemen:(American Style)Dear Sir,Dear Madam:Dear Mr.Brown:Whether ma
10、rried or unmarried,a woman is always addressed as“Dear Madam”,never as“Dear Miss”.The Americans prefer to use“Gentlemen”while the British use“Dear Sirs”.Even when the firms name is the name of a single individual,the salutation of plural form is preferredIn writing to a firm consisting of both men a
11、nd women,or even to a firm consisting of women alone,the salutation of“Gentlemen”is preferably used.The salutation of“Dear Sirs”is followed by a comma and“Gentlemen”is followed by a colon.96.Subject LineSubject line is actually the central idea of a letter.It is inserted between the salutation and t
12、he body of the letter.If the letter is in the full block form,it is placed at the left-hand margin.In other styles,it is centered over the body of the letter.In order to invite the receivers attention,it is usually underlined.In front of it“Re:”or“Subj:”is written as:Example(1)Dear Sirs,Re:Womens Bl
13、ousesExample(2)Gentlemen:Subj:Tin Foil Sheets Sometimes,the subject line can be underscored.107.BodyThis part is the most important one in business correspondence.The body of the letter generally consists of four essential parts:(1)Opening(or Introduction)The opening is actually the background of th
14、is letter.It indicates the referring letter，contract or letter of credit to which response will be made.(2)DetailsThe details refer to the enquires,problems,requirements and etc.which will be put forth by the letter.Some relative details will be illustrated in this part.(3)Response(or Action)In this
15、 part the expected response or possible decision will be expressed here.(4)CloseIn this part a short close must be made politely.Attention must be paid to the keeping of friendly relations between the letter writer and the letter receiver.Business development should not be hindered by a discourteous
16、 letter close.118.Complimentary closeComplimentary close is used to provide the letter a courteous ending.The correct position for complimentary close is two spaces below the body of the letter to the right side of the page,in line with the date block at the top.In business correspondence,“Yours tru
17、ly”is the style used most frequently.Here are some more styles which can be used：Yours sincerely,Sincerely yours,Yours faithfully,Faithfully yours.If continuation sheets are needed,plain paper of the same quality as the letterhead must be used and typed with a heading to show the following:(1)The nu
18、mber of the sheet(in the center of the page)(2)The name of your correspondent(on the left-hand side)(3)The date of the letter(on the right-hand side)129.SignatureThe signature is the signed name of the person writing the letter.It is signed by hand in black or blue ink.Since the hand-written signatu
19、re is illegible,the name of the signer should be typed below the signature.The name should be written out in full,as initials may be misleading or confusing.It is common to have the writers name typed several lines below the complimentary close,leaving space between for the hand-written signature,fo
20、llowed by his job title or position.If the writer writes the letter for his firm,not for himself,he should type the name of his firm in capital letters below the complimentary close,followed by his signed name right below it.Sincerely yours,China National Machinery Imp.&Exp.Co.Signature(hand-signed)
21、Li Ming-yu(typed)Sales Manager1310.InitialsThe initials line firstly show the name of the dictator of the letter,and secondly show the typist of the letter.In the initial line,the dictators name should appear before the typists.And one method of the following four may be used:WT/FM WT:FM WT-FM WT/fm
22、Occasionally the full name of the dictator is used,followed by the typists initials,as:Wu Tong/smNowadays the business letters are often written and typed by the businessmen themselves in a corporation.In this case this line is not necessary to be typed after the signature.1411.EnclosureIf it is nec
23、essary to enclose something with the letter,such as a photo,a bill,a cheque or a brochure,attention should be called to it by writing“Enclosure”or“Enclosures”below the signature in the lower left-hand corner.Enclosures:A.2005 Price ListB.2005 CatalogueEncls:2 ChecksEnc.Under Separate Cover1512.Carto
24、n CopyThere are two types of carbon copy notation.One is indicated by“CC”followed by the names of the“CC”receiver.This notation is typed both on the original and the carbon copies,as:CC:Shanghai BranchThe other type of CC notation is to type“bcc”only on the copy,not on the original letter,as:bcc:Mr.
25、John BlackFor convenience of mailing and filing,full names and addresses are better to be given.CC can also be written as C.C.or cc.1613.PostscriptWhen the letter writer forgets to mention or to emphasis something in his letter,he may add his postscript two spaces below the CC notation,as:P.S.The ca
26、talogue will be airmailed to you under separate cover.However,the adding of a“P.S.”will show that the writers letter is lack of good planning and well consideration,so the adding of a“P.S.”should be avoided as far as possible.17Exercises.Design a letterhead with the following address(用下列地址设计一个信头用下列地
27、址设计一个信头)。Shanghai Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bureau 13 Zhongshan Road,Shanghai,China.(With the numbers of Tel,Fax,E-mail and Post Code).Design an inside address with the following address(用下列地址设计一个信内地址用下列地址设计一个信内地址):China National Light Industrial Products Import and Export Corp.Guangzhou BranchNo.87 The Bund,Guangzhou,China.
