Language Points | Translation | Comprehension Questions
Text A    Business Letters in Tourism
 

     The subject and the message constitute the body of the letter-the substance and essence of the business communication. You should keep clearly in mind your objective in writing the body of the letter form A to Z and avoid anything that may obscure this basic objective. The following hints may be useful to business letter writers:
     1、plan your letter properly so that it flows from the first paragraph to the last logically as in a speech.
     2、Bear in mind that business letters are often read by assistants or a replacement, and are read under pressure. So streamline your letters to make them more effective.
     3、Success or failure in good business letter writing depends upon the writers linguistic ability as well as on sustained development and practice.
     4、Business letters are often made more formal by using big words instead of small words, but if too many big words are used, the letter will be dull and unreadable.
     5、Be consistent in the style of the letter rather than wander between one style to the other in the same letter, otherwise the letter may sound most messy.
     6、Stay away with the outdated stereotypes and clichés in commercial English.
     7、Generally speaking, contemporary commercial letters tend to be more colloquial and less stylish or formal.
     Traditionally, the complimentary close is placed two spaces below the body of the letter, to the right of the page, in line with the date block at the top. The growing tendency, however, is to place the complimentary close to the left side of the last page, especially when the block system is used in formatting the letter.
     Complimentary closings beginning with YOURS and ending with an adverb are common in European countries, while the reverse is the case in the U.S. Of course, there are always exceptions to the generalization.

 
 
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