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6、Stay away with the outdated stereotypes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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