ENGLISH for

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• a social and/or professional setting
• a specific lexis
• a specific grammar
• specific information structuring and other
  communicative strategies

• Like all LSPs,
• English for commercial correspondence
• has the following
• characteristics

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• GOOD
• CORRESPONDENCE
• GOOD
• COMMUNICATION

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence
professional setting
industry
arts
computers
insurance
design
advertising
media
banking
arts
education
publishing
culture
commerce
press
telecommunications
tourism
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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence
functional prerequisites
The commercial letter is a communicative event
par excellence and as such has
Addressee Reception
Addresser Intention
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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence
functional prerequisites
Communication
in context
Phatic contact
Message transmission
in a code
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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence
Lexis

• Specific lexical choices in commercial
  correspondence are particularly evident in the
  phatic function
• Dear Sir or Madam, Esq., yours truly ,
  yours faithfully, Messrs, To whom it may
  concern etc.

Antiquated English
Standard Correspondence
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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• Specific Commercial Correspondence Lexis can also
  be observed with an informative function as in
  I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter
• Here it goes without saying that the register is
  highly formal, as often haapens

Antiquated English
Formal Correspondence
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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• Remember, it is very important to be aware of
  register differences in commercial correspondence
• So, always try to avoid extremes. Avoid pompous
  language like we wish to convey our most profuse
  apologies or the letter mentioned heretofore.
  We apologize or the above letter is quite
  sufficient.

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• Dont use language that is too colloquial like
  dont worry youll get your money back. Your
  loan will be repaid is much better.
• Dont ever use slang. You simply cannot write
  anything like a couple of hundred quid or
  bucks, or I have to scrounge off you instead
  of I need a loan.

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• Avoid using idioms or figures of speech.
• Prices simply go up or increase, rather than
  rocket or go through the roof.Or they simply
  go down or drop, rather than plummet,
  crash or go through the floor.
• Dont invent abbreviations and acronyms, only use
  common, standard ones.

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• REMEMBER, ALWAYS AIM FOR
• Correctness, both grammatical and stylistic
• Concision, without omitting essentials
• Clarity, without being simplistic
• AND ALWAYS RESPECT
• Register

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• GRAMMAR
• In the process of going from the informal to the
  formal, certain syntactic changes often take
  place
• VERBAL style tends to become NOMINAL
• e.g. I received - I acknowledge receipt
•   PRESENT TENSE CHANGE
• e.g. Im referring - I refer
•  

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• GRAMMAR
• PERSONAL becomes IMPERSONAL
• e.g. I am reluctant to resort to such measures
• We are reluctant to resort to such measures
•  
• ACTIVE to PASSIVE voice transformation
• e.g. you havent settled your bill yet
• payment of your bill is still outstanding

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• GRAMMAR
• CONTRACTIONS are replaced by FULL FORMS
• e.g. Ill have to - I shall have to
• SHORT/SIMPLE sentences become LONG/COMPLEX
•   e.g. I refer to your letter of 10th October.
  In it we asked you to clear the balance of
  519.35. This amount has been outstanding since
  last July.
• With reference to your letter of 10th October,
  we would like to remind you again to clear the
  balance of 519.35, which has been outstanding
  since last July.

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ENGLISH for  Commercial Correspondence

• STRUCTURING AND ORGANISATION
• Points to remember
• layout and presentation of your letter are
  important signals that you transmit, laying the
  basis for the first impressions that people have
  of you.
• two paragraph styles exist, the traditional
  indented form or the blocked layout. The latter
  is becoming increasingly common and saves a bit
  of time.
• write both addresses in full, dont omit or
  abbreviate them to save time. Always give as much
  detail as possible.
• always use addressees full and correct titles

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11 Thornton Hill, Exeter,
Devon, EX4 4NM 6th May 2001Mr
Frank JonesSales Department,Topsham Toys,44-48
Plymouth Road,Exeter, Devon,EX4 2P
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PRIVATE LETTER HEADING

• The Private Letter Format is usually as follows
• Senders Address top right
• Receivers top left, below senders Date
  top right, below senders
• Style blocked or indented (caps for
  city code, city or country)
• Punctuation with or without

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TITLES

• NORMAL PEOPLE
• Mr. (man) Mrs. (married woman)
• Miss.(unmarried woman) Ms. (woman)
• Messrs. (plural of Mr., usually for professional
  partnerships)
• Esq. (man, following his name)
• NB. Mrs or Miss may offend, use Ms.
• Esq. is becoming rare and isnt used if Mr.
  is.

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TITLES

• Captain
• Colonel
• Major
• General
• The Reverend
• Professor
• The Honourable
• The Right Honourable

• Capt.
• Col.
• Maj.
• Gen.
• Rev.
• Prof.
• Hon.
• Rt. Hon.

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TITLES

• On the envelope, put any degrees, medals,
  honorary titles professional associations, but
  only if you are absolutely sure of them. For
  example, BA(hons), MSc, PhD, MBE, OBE, FRA, FBMA
  (hon).
• Professional titles, like Sales Manager, Vice
  President, Director of Marketing,, Managing
  Director, Chairman, may be replaced by Sales
  Department, Marketing, Presidents Office etc.,
  if the actual title is not known.

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SALUTATIONS

• Dear Sir male addressee
• Dear Sirs company or unknown gender
• Dear Sir or Madam unknown gender
• Dear Mr, Mrs, Miss,
• Ms, Dr., Prof., etc. known addressee

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TOPIC REFERENCES

• The subject of the letter may be summarized
  after the abbreviation re. (with reference to),
  placed either just before the salutation or just
  after. The topic is often underlined and may also
  be marked here Private andConfidential.
• References refer to a number or code given to
  the letter and marked our ref, whereas the
  number or code referred to in correspondence
  received is marked your ref. If there is no
  number, then the reference is simply the date

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11 Thornton Hill, Exeter,
Devon, EX4 4NM Your ref 6th May
2000 Our ref DSY/M5/NV00 25
November 2000 Mr. Frank Jones,Sales
Department,Topsham Toys,44-48 Plymouth
Road,Exeter, Devon, EX4 2PT re. your 2001
catalogueDear Mr. Jones,
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CLOSES

• yours faithfully someone you do not know
• after a Dear Sir, Madam. 
• yours sincerely someone you know or know
  of, after Dear Mr, Mrs etc.
• yours truly to a friend or (US) to either
  of the above
• best regards,
• wishes etc to a friend or acquaintance
•  

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SIGNING OFF

• Always sign your name after the salutation in
  the centre of the page, after which you always
  print or type your name and position together
  with any titles you may wish correspondents to
  use when writing to you. NB. Two common
  abbreviations are used when signing off to give
  certain information
• pp. (per pro) i.e. you are writing on
  behalf of someon else
• cc. (carbon copy) i.e. you are also
  sending a copy of the letter to someone
  else

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A TYPI CAL CLOSE

• _________________________________________________
  __. I also wish to thank you for your cooperation
  in this matter and look forward to hearing from
  you at your earliest convenience (as soon as
  possible, by return of post).
• Yours faithfully,
• signature
• John M. Dodds, British Hon. Consul
• pp cc Mr. Charles de Chassiron
• British Consul General

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PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

• Opening
•      sets the tone
•  
•      expresses thanks for any previous
  correspondence or contact
•  
•      introduces writer and his or her
  organisation
•  
•      states purpose of letter

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PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

• Corpus
•      always plan your sequence
•      make your points as clearly as possible
•      ask any questions or make any enquiry you
  feel necessary for the communication to
  continue to succeed
•      always answer any question or query
  posed in previous correspondence
•      you should be exhaustive without being
  long-winded

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PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

• Ending
•     thank the person for writing (especially if
  you havent already done so)
•     thank the person for (presumed) help and
  cooperation if you are asking for something
•     encourage further correspondence or other
  form of contact (usually with expressions like
  look forward to, if you need further
  information, dont hesitate to )
•   recap the main points briefly if the letter is
  complex, using expressions like to go over the
  main points briefly, to sum up etc.

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LETTER TYPOLOGY

• Enquiries
• requesting information, catalogues, prices,
  estimates, dates, details, samples suggesting if
  something is possible, methods of payment, asking
  for discounts, delivery times etc.
• Replies Quotes
• confirming help, selling products, referring to
  someone, suggesting demonstrations,contacting
  local representatives quotations, price lists,
  discounts, alternatives to something, explaining
  payment, delivery times, product training
  programmes, fixed and negotiable terms, estimates

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LETTER TYPOLOGY

• Orders
•  placing orders, letters of acceptance,
  confirming conditions and terms, delivery times,
  packing, shipping, accepting or rejecting
  changes, delivery delays, refusing a delivery,
  etc.
• Payment
•  invoices, pro-forms, statements of account,
  methods of payment (home and abroad), advice of
  payment, of non-payment, asking to defer payment,
  switching to installments, first and second
  requests for payment, further reminders and final
  demands.

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LETTER TYPOLOGY

• Complaints
• writing complaints, explaining problems,
  suggesting acceptable solutions, replies to
  complaints, justifiable and unjustifiable
  complaints, explaining companys
  situation,adjusting accounting errors
• Credit Banks
• forms of credit, credit requirements, asking for
  credit, accepting/refusing credit, taking up
  references, guarantors, credit rating, bank
  facilities, opening/closing accounts, negotiating
  interest on deposit accounts, requesting cheque
  books, credit cards, overdrafts, standing orders,
  loans, mortgages.