OPENING This contains the following items: INSIDE ADDRESS ATTENTION LINE SALUTATION

1) INSIDE ADDRESS It is the recipient’s address. When you don’t know the name of the person but are writing to the holder of the job title, you use ‘the’: The Sales Manager You omit ‘the’ when the name is included: Ms Jane Rolland, Sales Manager

1) INSIDE ADDRESS You use ‘Mr’ for a man and ‘Mrs’ for a woman you know is married. You use ‘Miss’ for a woman you know is single. You use ‘Ms’ for a woman when you do not know her marital status . ‘Ms’ is becoming increasingly common in business correspondence and avoids unnecessary embarrassment. When writing to a partnership or company with one or more personal names, you can use ‘Messrs’. Nowadays this is often omitted.

2) ATTENTION LINE This is used if you want to address the letter to a specific member of the company. Remember that if you include an attention line, you must not include the recipient’s name in the inside address. The attention line should be easily visible – underlined or typed in capitals. Attention: Miss Julia Green ATTENTION: MISS JULIA GREEN ATTN: THE IMPORT MANAGER

3) SALUTATION This salutation follows the first line of the inside address: Salutation: Dear Sirs/Gentlemen(USA) Dear Sir/Madam Dear Mr Smith Dear Ms Rolland First line of the inside address: Messrs Jones & Smith The Sales Manager Mr John Smith Ms Jane Rolland

BODY This contains the following items: SUBJECT LINE MAIN MESSAGE

1) SUBJECT LINE This states briefly and immediately what the subject of the letter is. It should be highlighted in some ways, for example underlined or typed in capitals: ORDER NUMBER 45 Subject: Order number 45

2) MAIN MESSAGE This should be structured in three sections: opening section – introduces the letter and states its purpose. If there has been previous correspondence, it mentions this immediately; middle section – gives further information or detail of the purpose; closing section – concludes the letter. It usually thanks the reader for their attention and includes intention for future correspondence.

CLOSE This contains the following items: COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE SIGNATURE – WRITER’S NAME AND JOB STATUS ENCLOSURES

1) COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE This follows the salutation. Salutation: Dear Sirs, Dear Sir/Madam Dear Mr Smith/Ms Jones Complimentary close: Yours faithfully Yours truly (USA) Truly yours (USA) Truly (USA) Yours sincerely Sincerely (USA)

1) COMPLIMENTARY CLOSE The following can be used with any type of salutation, and are the most commonly used, especially in e-mails and faxes: Regards Kind regards Best wishes All the best

2) SIGNATURE – WRITER’S NAME AND JOB STATUS The name of the writer and job status are typed under the handwritten signature. If a letter is signed by a secretary for the author of the letter, ‘p.p.’ (‘on the behalf of’) is inserted before the typed name: (signature) (signature) Robert Weightman p.p. James Thompson Financial Controller Managing Director

3) ENCLOSURES These can be shown as follows: Enc. Encl. 2 Encs. Enclosures: 1 catalogue

Exercise 1 The parts of the letter on the next slide are in scrambled order. Which of them belongs to the heading, which to the opening, which to the body, which to the close?

Exercise 1

Exercise 2 Rewrite the scrambled components of these inside addresses correctly. 20124 Milano Longman Italia Via G. Fara, 28 LA CA 90015 Eros Travel 117 W 9th Street # 307 8 Baker Street Jones Patissery Ltd London W1M 1DA

Exercise 3 Write these dates in full according to how they would be interpreted in the UK and the USA. Example: 5.10.200_ = 5th October 200_ (UK) May 10 200_ (USA) 09.02.1999 01.12.2001 04.11.2000 03.03.2004 30.07.2008 31.05.1998

Exercise 3 Write the appropriate salutations and complimentary closes for the following: 1 ATTN: Mr Gary Hutton ……………………………………………………………………………….. 2 Messrs T. Jones & B. McKenzie ………………………………………………………………………………… 3 Gleason’s Department Store 2243 Front Street Phoenix Arizona 99065 4 The Sales Manager Soft Toys Ltd 21 Windsor Road Birmingham B2 5JT …………………………………………………………………………………….

Exercise 4 Look at these three business letters with sentences in scrambled order. Say whether the sentences belong to the opening section, middle section, or closing section. LETTER 1 We have enclosed our illustrated catalogue and price list which will tell you more about our products. Thank you for your letter requesting information about our products. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any further information.

Exercise 4 LETTER 2 We have received your reply and would like to thank you for your promptness. We look forward to your confirmation. Please find enclosed our order number 24 which we hope you will execute within two weeks.

Exercise 4 LETTER 3 We would appreciate a reply as soon as possible. As there is a steady demand in our country for the goods you manufacture, we would be grateful if you could send us your catalogue and export price list. We have been given your name by the Chamber of Commerce in Milan.

Exercise 5 Provide the reference codes for the following. 1 A letter typed by Mindy Stone, signed by Keith Smoth. This letter is a reply to a letter sent by Michael Stedman, whose secretary’s name is Joanne Miller. 2 A letter signed by Andrea Ceroni, typed by Anna Ciaschini. The file reference is 78. 3 A letter written by Laurie Parkinson dictated by Brian Carroll. The letter is a reply to a letter signed by Isaac Gordon, typed by Sheila Howard. Its file reference is L42.

Exercise 6 Design a suitable letterhead for the following letter and then rewrite it using the capital letters when appropriate, the correct layout and punctuation. 16 july 200_ ref kp/jt24 our ref ptg/jr s 162 mrs k preston sales manager sts ltd 10 west raod middleton southshire ms9 45k dear mrs preston order no 19/01 i was pleased to receive your letter of 12 july together with the enclosed brochure on your products and your current price list after having discussed the prices with both the senior and junior staff i have decided to place an initial order with you for 12 packs would you kindly make arrangements for the enclosed order to be processed as soon as possible yours sincerely pg truman chief buyer enc

Exercise 7 Work in groups of three or four. Study the letter, on the following slide, which contains mistakes. Find the mistakes then rewrite the letter correctly.

Exercise 7