Business Letters

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Business Letters
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Format of a Business letter

• I. Five necessary parts of letter writing
• the heading
• the salutation
• the body of the letter
• the complimentary closing
• the signature

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• 1. The Heading
• your address and the date
• Placed at the top left hand corner of the sheet,
  about one inch from the top edge.
• Always include your address in the heading unless
  you are using stationery with a letterhead
• The date goes below the address, never above it

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• (Heading)
• Foreign Language Department
• Shenzhen University
• Shenzhen, 518067, P. R. China
• March 7, 2009

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• 2. The Salutation
• the greeting to the person you are writing to.
• Placed at the left-hand side of the sheet below
  the heading.
• Leave a space of one or two lines between the
  heading and the salutation
• The more formal salutation includes Dear the
  title (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., etc.) the last name
  of the person you are writing to.
• The less formal salutation includes only two
  parts Dear the first name of the person you
  are writing to.

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• E.g.
• Dear Mr. Johnson,
• Dear John,
• Dear Ms. Lee,
• Dear Jane,
• Dear Dr. Lopez,
• Dear Haihua,
• Dear Prof. Wang,

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• 3. The Body
• The most important part of the letter. It is
  the message you want to send. If it is personal
  writing, be informal and conversational. If it is
  a business letter, you should be more
  business-like and stick to your point.

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• 4. The Complimentary Closing
• It is a farewell greeting.
• One or two spaces below the body of the letter
• Examples
• Sincerely,
• Yours truly,
• Thank you for your time,

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Types of Business Letters

• Application letters
• Recommendation letters
• Invitation letters and replies
• Inquiry letters and replies
• Complaint letters
• Adjustment letters
• Sales letters
• Order letters

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Activity --- Writing a Response to a Complaint
letter
Read this letter of complaint from one of your
customers. Dear Sir or Madam, On May 10th, I
ordered your product from you. When I received
this order, I found that product was damaged
and the parts were broken.
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I should be grateful if you would replace these
items, or arrange to credit me with their
value. Yours faithfully, Chana Garrett English
Professor, Shenzhen University

• Write a reply to your customer
• Thanking her for her letter (50-60 words)
• Apologizing
• Saying what you are going to do about her
  complaint
• Promising better service in future.