EF5/6 Business letters

Business letters – practical writing skills

Communication 12 -practical writing, spoken, for work, living

English Literary Studies 12 – poetry, short story, fiction, novel

Reasons to write Business letters:

(Even emails can benefit from using the more formal style of a business letter –sets a professional tone)

- interdepartmental letters (within a company)

- cover letter for a resume (special style)

- application letters to colleges and universities

- letter to a government agency, Canadian government or another country (e.g. Canada Revenue Agency, immigration, pension, City Hall)

- employer (e.g. promotion, transfer, raise, personal leave, quit)

- business person

- court (e.g. jury duty)

- lawyer

- report to a supervisor

- incident report (e.g to police or an authority)

FORMAL, not casual like a personal letter

Formal – organized (structure), official, appropriate tone, appropriate language, unemotional

·     Distribute “BUSINESS LETTERS” (pp140-141)

YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS

Joe Chen

666 Your Street

Vancouver, BC

V5P 2B6

September 16, 2019

Mary Williamsonson

Director, Shaw Communications

123 Cordova Street

Vancouver, BC

V5R 2D2

Re: Client/Reference/Case/Account #4722859   (Re- regarding)

Robin Smith

Hui Yu Chen Mr? Mrs?

Dear Grandma,        comma for a personal letter

Sarah Chen

Dear Mr. Chen:

Dear Mrs. Smith:

Dear Ms. Smith:

Dear Miss Smith:

Dear Mme Benoit:

Dear Sir or Madam:

Use a colon for a business letter, professional, formal, business

To Mr. Chan: sounds cold

To Sarah Chen:

To my dearest Mme Benoit: TOO MUCH

To my dear teacher: Too personal

Dear Sarah:   colon is formal, first name is casual

NOT AS GOOD- impersonal

Dear Sir or Madam,

To whom it may concern, (reference letter)

To my dear former and current patients,

Dear Sir:

Dear Sir Chan

Dear Madam Smith,

Dear Teacher Jones,

Dear Teacher,

My Dear Teacher,

too submissive

Dear Professor Mahed,

honorific, title – Mr, Mrs, Professor, Doctor, teacher, President, Dean, Prime Minister, Vice-President, Chancellor, Father, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal, Officer, manager, Sheriff, Mayor, MP, MLA, Principal, Senator, Queen, King, Prince, Princess

NO INDENT

Thank for meeting with me yesterday to discuss…kjjh wlkefkwnfn wkejfnwjwen wlfjh fkjkwefnli fowief welfwe wefhw fkjehf wfhwjf wefhjw wefkjwhkwkjweh fkwhfkw wkfkwjehf wekjhwefkw efkwjehfkjwe wefkjwehkw wekfjwhfw fekwjehfw fwkjfhkw wekjhwef wkwjhfkjw wkejfhwekfh wefkjwhf wkefjhwek wkfjwhef wefkwefn.

SKIP A LINE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS

Ghhd dhdhdh dhddj d jdjdjd  djdjdjd  djdjdjd djdjdj.

ENDINGS FOR BUSINESS LETTERS

Yours truly,

Yours,

Sincerely,

Yours sincerely,

Best regards,

Regards, cold sounding

Respectfully, (talking to someone higher in the business than you)

Kind regards,

Thank you,

PERSONAL

Sincerely yours,

Yours sincerely,

Faithfully,

OLD-FASHIONED, BUT SOUNDS NICE

I remain,

SCENARIO:

Write a short business letter to Robin Smith at Shaw Communications, thanking her for interviewing you yesterday for the position of installer/ manager/ technician/ CEO/ sales associate.

associate = salesperson

·     Show pics “Business letters1,2,3”

cc - carbon copy, these other people also get a copy

bcc – blind carbon copy

*********

Dear Doctor Jones:

This is Allan Haley. We met yesterday at the conference in Vancouver. We were discussing our work in education.

I would like to talk further with you. Could we meet for coffee one evening this week? I am free Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday evening after 7.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Allan Haley

ahaley@vsb.bc.ca

***************