1. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College The Grammar Business Part One 6. Common Errors in Business Letters

2. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 2` Business letters need to sound clear and concise formal but not pompous

3. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 3` The dangers When writing business letters, people feel they need to be on their ‘best behaviour’ So they sometimes adopt a slightly stuffy style Time to look at some examples

4. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 4` Starting the letter - what’s the mistake? Dear Mr Bloggs With reference to your letter of 24th October. I am glad to inform you that the shipment of pencil sharpeners has now been successfully despatched.

5. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 5` The first paragraph is not a sentence. It needs to read like this…. Not: Dear Mr Bloggs With reference to your letter of 24th October (wrong). But I refer to your letter of 24th October.

6. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 6` The first version has no verb in it. So it doesn’t make sense by itself. But you can write With reference to your letter of 24th October, I am glad to inform you that the shipment of…….

7. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 7` And another error - can you find it? Dear Mr Bloggs I refer to your letter of 24th January 2001. With regards to your outstanding payment, two options are open to you.

8. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 8` The error Dear Mr Bloggs I refer to your letter of 24th January 2001. With regards to your outstanding payment, two options are open to you. Regards are nouns. But when the word is part of a group e.g. ‘with regard to’, the word has no S. The letter may start “With regard to your enquiry” but it will end “Kind regards”

9. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 9` Other common errors Including your name above the address at start of letter (your full name goes at the very end) Writing ‘Yours sincerely’ instead of ‘Yours faithfully’ (or the other way round) Spelling ‘sincerely’ wrong

10. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 10` The sincerely/faithfully rule sincerely - when you know the name of the person to whom you’re writing faithfully - when it’s Dear Sir or Dear Madam

11. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 11` Spelling ‘sincerely’ Write sincere with a small s Add ly Remember c for charming in the middle

12. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 12` Signing off The conclusion of your letter should be firm and clear - usually using the simple present tense.

13. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 13` So you might conclude “I enclose a copy of the contract and look forward to hearing from you.”

14. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 14` It is not such good style to write: “I am enclosing a copy of the contract and am looking forward to hearing from you.” [However, the latter version is not actually wrong.]

15. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 15` Finally - If you’re writing a business letter on your own behalf - for example job application letter to the bank letter of complaint

16. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 16` When you get to the end of your letter conclude e.g. “Yours faithfully” leave a generous space for your handwritten signature type or print below this your full name

17. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 17` And after your printed name…. if you are a woman, or have a particular title, include the title in brackets after your name e.g. Dr, Mrs, Ms, Miss,Lord, Baroness etc if you are a man - an ordinary Mr - there is normally no need to indicate this. It is assumed that you are a Mr (unless, just possibly, you’re a man called Shirley or Hilary)

18. The Grammar Business © 2001 Glenrothes College 18` If you want to go over some of this again Ask for Handout Five.