Formal business correspondence General guidelines  → RB, p 67: 1 Layout 2 Cohesion & organization 3 Content 4 Register and style 5 Accuracy

1 Layout: Block style → R, p 70

topbottom rightleft after under  The address of the sender (the person who is writing) is at the ____, on the ____.  The name and address of the addressee/recepient is at the ___, on the ____.  The date us at the ___, on the ___, _____ the address.  The subject heading is _____ Dear....  The paragraphs start at the ____ margin. Between the paragraphs, there is a space.  The signature is _____ Yours....  The name and title of the sender is at the _____, _____ the signature.  There is no punctuation in the addresses or ____ Dear.... or ____Yours faithfully / sincerely.

1 Layout: Block style → R, p 70  The address of the sender (the person who is writing) is at the top, on the right.  The name and address of the addressee/recepient is at the top, on the left.  The date us at the top, on the right, under the address.  The subject heading is under Dear....  The paragraphs start at the left margin. Between the paragraphs, there is a space.  The signature is under Yours....  The name and title of the sender is at the bottom, under the signature.  There is no punctuation in the addresses or after Dear.... or after Yours faithfully / sincerely.

Letter vs. → RB, p 69: Compare! → RB, p 68: Read and answer the questions: 1. What’s the proper way to start your ? 2. What is cc, what is bc? 3. What’s the purpose of Subject heading? 4. How is a message in upper case interpreted? 5. Do you copy parts of the original message when you reply? 6. Why is it important to mention what you are attaching?

2-3 Content, cohesion & organization  Subject heading – CONTENT!  Three parts: 1) opening 2) main message 3) close (ending)  One topic per paragraph  Avoid long sentences and paragraphs  Avoid incomplete information  Present information in correct order → R, p 71

Divide into separate paragraphs Dear Inge Good news! Following our conversation yesterday, I talked with our engineers. I am pleased to tell you that we can install your new wireless network one month earlier than we thought. Work can now begin January 23. With regard to the printers, I need to speak to our manager to see if we can revise the price. We can supply five free cartriges for each printer. I checked the price for the scanners, but unfortunately we are unable to reduce the price on those. This is because our suppliers recently increased the price by 15%. Please can you confirm that January 23 is a good date for you for the network installation? Best regards Rebecca Rebecca Ou Customer Service Desk Net2Net Services

Divide into separate paragraphs ¶ Dear Inge ¶ Good news! Following our conversation yesterday, I talked with our engineers. I am pleased to tell you that we can install your new wireless network one month earlier than we thought. Work can now begin January 23. ¶ With regard to the printers, I need to speak to our manager to see if we can revise the price. We can supply five free cartriges for each printer. I checked the price for the scanners, but unfortunately we are unable to reduce the price on those. This is because our suppliers recently increased the price by 15%. ¶ Please can you confirm that January 23 is a good date for you for the network installation? ¶ Best regards ¶ Rebecca ¶ Rebecca Ou ¶ Customer Service Desk ¶ Net2Net Services

4 Register & style  Avoid contractions (I’m)  Avoid short and direct phrases  Don’t use spoken style  Avoid colloquialisms

Message style  Use natural style Thank you for your letter, dated 14 June...  Do not use informal language, such as: Hi! Hello! Ciao, John!  Do not use text-message abbreviations I hope I can c u soon. Yr order is ready 4 u.  Do not use slang and emoticons A guy here can help. ;-) ;-(

Is this acceptable?  We got your order. The cost is $ 250 per box plus $50 for delivery (3-5 days).  Your prices are not acceptable.  Respond to my message straight away!  Can you call me on the phone?  You must have lost my address.  This is very unpleasant.

Be polite!  Say please and thank you  Say more  Avoid being very direct  Ask rather than order  Use indirect questions  Avoid blaming or accussing the addressee  Understate the point Handout: exercises 1.7 and 1.9

REWRITE IN TEAMS  We got your order. The cost is $ 250 per box plus $50 for delivery (3-5 days).  Your prices are not acceptable.  Respond to my message straight away!  Can you call me on the phone?  You must have lost my address.  This is very unpleasant.

USE TYPICAL PHRASES ! Ways to start your message  Dear Sir or Madam  Dear Sir  Dear Madam  Dear Mr Smith  Dear Ms Smith  Dear Mrs Smith  Dear Miss Smith  Dear JohnNever: Dear Mr John

Ways to end your message  Best wishes- to someone you know well  Yours faithfully – not writing to a named person  Yours sincerely – to a named person More useful phrases → R, pp 79 & 80

TYPES OF LETTERS (in BE1)  1. Letter of application or covering letter  2. Letter of enquiry / inquiry  3. Letter of complaint  4. Letter of apology

Letter of enquiry / inquiry → RB, p 75 & 76 → RB, p 81, exercises 1 – 6 (team work) → Exchange RB with colleagues and compare phrases used TASK: Write a letter of inquiry to Ms Linda Bertich (p 76, bottom). Use phrases provided on p 79 & 80

Letter of complaint  → RB, p 77  Check out phrases on p 79  P 82, exercises 11 & 12  Exchange readers and compare  TASK

Letter of apology  → RB, p 78  p 82, exercises 13 & 14 HW: 1. Study RB pp 67 – Do all tasks on pp Handout: make messages more polite 4. Revision: QUIZ (pp 83-84) 5. Handout: exercise Write a letter of apology, RB p 78