Good afternoon.
Today’s Agenda
·
Attendance
·
Finish past progressive verb tense- if necessary
·
Begin business letters
·
Begin COMPLEX SENTENCES
LATER
·
Phrasal verbs
·
Quotation Marks
·
Begin types of paragraphs-
Quiz and test this week
·
Advocacy letter- Amnesty letter
traditional business letters – practical
writing skills, not academic, not school writing- not high school , college
different modes of writing, different purposes,
different intentions
school/academic writing – writing a paragraph
or essay, writing about a short story, poem, novel, narrative, definition,
descriptive, process, opinion/persuasive
business letters- living in Canada, everyday
useful writing - practical writing for work, writing for business, writing for
government issues, writing for immigration, writing for tax, writing for job
applications (cover letters), writing for complaints, writing advocacy letters
People take your wriitng more seriously when
it is a nice format.
-official writing, more formal, not casual
writing
Even emails can benefit from using the more
formal style of a business letter
–sets a professional tone, serious tone, courteous
tone, respectful tone, mature tone
e.g. Student emails to teachers.-
What!!!????
what day the class end
im gonna miss class today what u gonna do in
class?
Very unprofessional looking.
We can do better.
A more professional and more formal tone and
structure is advised. I tend to err on the side of formality.
-polite
-not too casual
-sets a good tone
-respectful
-sounds mature
REASONS TO WRITE A BUSINESS-TYPE LETTER
1. interdepartmental letters (within a
company)
2. cover letter for a resume (special style)
WorkBC https://www.workbc.ca/search-and-prepare-job/job-application-tips/resume-and-cover-letter
MOSAIC workshops
ISS workshops
VPL workshops https://vpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/events?q=resume
3. application letters to colleges and
universities
In the Fall and Spring, many of our Grade 12
students are frantic about getting applications in to colleges and
universities. The letters that they write are very important. I remember
spending about two hours cowriting a letter with an English 12 student for her
application to UBC.
4. letter to a government agency, Canadian
government or the government of another country (e.g. Canada Revenue Agency
(CRA), Immigration Canada, Canada Pension, City Hall)
NOTE: Communicating with Canada Revenue Agency
(CRA) is really difficult.
VOCAB Last Will and Testament, name your
beneficiaries
beneficiaries- the people who get your $ and
estate when you die, usually spouse or children
*It’s very important to have a will.
5. employer/manager/boss (e.g. ask for a promotion,
ask for a transfer, ask for a raise, ask for a personal leave, intention to quit)
IDIOM Don’t burn bridges!
6. business person
7. court (e.g. jury duty)
8. lawyer
9. writing to your child’s teacher
10. report to a supervisor
11. incident report (e.g to police or insurance,
ICBC)
12. getting airline tickets refunded
13. medical insurance
Have you ever written a letter like that?
FORMAL, not
casual like a personal letter
Formal – organized
(clear structure), official-looking, appropriate tone, appropriate language,
unemotional, a little bit of emotion can be effective (less is more)
ChatGPT is a
great tool to create a first draft. You can personalize it.
FORMAT OF A
BUSINESS LETTER
·
Distribute “Business Correspondence” p.c.
Use A4 paper,
8 ½ X 11” unlined paper
WRITE YOUR
NAME AND ADDRESS
AT THE TOP
OF THE PAGE
Mei Zhou
Mei (Sarah)
Zhou (brackets)
Mei “Sarah”
Zhou “Sarah” not legal name, the name
that you prefer
Real estate
ads
Wing “Eddie”
Chan I go by Eddy.
Allan Haley
GIVEN NAME FIRST
NAME FAMILY NAME LAST NAME
Zhou, Mei
“Sarah”
Haley, Allan
Zhou, Ming
FAMILY NAME,
GIVEN NAME – I would not do it this way in a letter
Allan Haley
Double-barreled
names
Julia Castillo-Rodriquez
Clara Ling
Haley Lo Yan
She goes by
Clara Haley
Shira Haddad
Apt#23, 666 Maple
Street
Vancouver,
BC
Canada
V5P 2B6
Keiko
Nishizawa
2001 Hizume
Nagano-shi
Japan
12345
SKIP A LINE
July 25, 2025
SKIP A LINE
THE NAME,
TITLE AND ADDRESS OF THE PERSON YOU ARE WRITING TO
Mary
Williamson, director
Shaw
Communications
123 Cordova
Street
Vancouver,
BC
V5R 2D2
Re/RE: Client/Reference/Case/Account/Purchase # 4722859
(Re-regarding)
OPEN YOUR LETTER WITH A GREETING, SALUTATION
CHOOSING THE TITLE CAN BE TRICKY: Mr? Mrs? Ms?
Mr? Mrs? Ms? Robin Smith
Dear Robin Smith:
Dear Hui Yu Chen,
Sikh religion
Singh- man
Kaur- woman
NEW THING- gender pronouns
Allan Haley (he/him) - state your pronouns
she/her they/them
they/them – singular pronoun
If you don’t know who you are writing to:
LAST RESORT/ last option for the salutation:
To whom it may concern,
Dear Sir or Madam,
-very impersonal, not very friendly
MY ADVICE: Call the place and ask.
Hi there, WAY
TOO VERY CASUAL AND FRIENDLY
Dear Sir or
Madam,
-quite
impersonal, not the best first choice
GOOD
SUGGESTIONS: Call and ask. Find them on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is
like Facebook for professionals
Emojis are
not for serious writing.
PUNCTUATION
WITH SALUTATIONS
Dear Grandma, comma for a personal letter ,
comma-
friendly, casual, not formal, not business
Dear Sarah
Chen: colon for a
business letter :
more formal, not friendly, business
You can
decide , OR :
Dear Mr.
Chen:
Dear Mrs.
Smith:
Dear Ms.
Smith:
Dear Miss
Smith: (for a child)
Dear Mme
Benoit: mademoiselle
Dear Sir or
Madam:
French
Mme-
mademoiselle,
Ms, madame
Dear Dr.
Gan, MORE CASUAL
Dear Dr.
Jung: MORE FORMAL
Make a judgement
call. Trust your gut. Follow your instinct/heart.
My insurance
company defaults to Ms. for women.
Women’s family/last
names
-
changing your family/last name when you get
married is your decision, your choice
-
children’s names -hyphenated name
surname-
family name, last name
given name-
old-fashioned “Christian name”
GREETING
To Mr. Pacquiao:
sounds cold, very formal
To Sarah
Chen:
To my dearest
Mme Benoit: TOO MUCH, sounds like a love letter
e.g. student
emails
To my dear
teacher: TOO PERSONAL
Darling
teacher, TOO PERSONAL
Dear
Maria, A BIT MORE RELAXED
Hi John, QUITE INFORMAL AND RELAXED, FRIENDLY
Hello Jun, SLIGHTLY MORE FORMAL, BUT STILL
FRIENDLY
Dear
Sarah: colon is formal, first name is
casual
Dear
Sarah, SEEMS LIKE A BETTER CHOICE
WRITING
TO A PERSON IN A POSITiON OF AUTHORITY
Hi Justin,
You’re doing
a good job as Prime Minister of Canada.
WAY TOO INFORMAL
Use an
honorific-
To the Right
Honourable Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau:
To the
presiding Justice of the Court:
To Justice
Smith:
**Look it
up**
Honorific,
title
To Her
Excellency, President Janice Alloud:
To His Excellency,
AAA BBB:
To Her
Excellency, Governor General of Canada, Mary Simon:
Research
what title the person might have.
Check
Linkedin.com
If you do
not know the name of the recipient of your letter-
Health Insurance BC
PO Box 9035 Stn Prov Govt
Victoria, B.C. V8W 9E3
Dear MSP,
To whom it
may concern,
To whom it
may concern:
To who it
concerns,
To someone
who can concern,
Dear Sir or
Madam, :
Choose one , OR :
NOT AS GOOD- impersonal, sometimes necessary, for example when you
are writing to the government
Dear Sir or Madam,
To whom it may concern, (reference letter)
ADVICE: It is always better to get the name of the person who you
are writing to. Call and find out. Ask, “Who can I address me letter to?”
Hi there, VERY CASUAL
Hi all, VERY CASUAL
Hi everybody, VERY CASUAL
Dear Sir:
Dear Madam,
Dear Sir Chan,
Dear Madam Smith,
Dear Teacher Jones,
Dear Teacher,
My Dear Teacher,
Dear Sir Teacher Jones,
too submissive
honorifics, titles – Mr., Mrs., Ms., Miss, Professor, Teacher,
Doctor, President, Principal, Dean, Prime Minister, Vice-President, Chancellor,
Father, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, Corporal, Officer, manager, Sheriff,
Mayor, MP (Member of Parliament), MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly),
Senator, Queen, King, Prince, Princess, Emperor
empire
Dear Professor Mahed,
Dear Teacher Jones, XXX
Teacher Haley polite translation, not English
To Mayor Kennedy Stewart:
Dear Principal Williams,
In class – Sir, Ma’am – very polite
*I go by my maiden name: Smith.
BUSINESS LETTER FORMATTING
Business letters are formatted differently than school writing.
School writing- double space and indent the first word in every
paragraph
Business letters -DON’T
INDENT THE PARAGRAPHS
-SINGLE-SPACE YOUR WRITING
-LEAVE
A SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS
-Justification - left
justified
-right
justified
-fully
justified
-centre
justified- titles, poems
Keep your margins.
Thank you for
meeting with me yesterday to discuss the job opportunity. I am very eager to
speak further with you about this. Please let me know what day and time you
will be available to meet.
BUSINESS LETTER – no indent, and single space
Thank you for meeting with me yesterday to discuss the job
opportunity. I am very eager to speak further with you about this. Please let
me know what day and time you will be available to meet.
SPACE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS
I would like to setup an interview with you in the next few weeks.
I can be available any workday between 10 and 3.
SKIP A LINE BETWEEN PARAGRAPHS
*Business writing uses a different format than school writing.*
** ENDING/CLOSING FOR BUSINESS LETTERS
Yours truly,
Sincerely,
Yours,
Yours sincerely,
Warm regards, (sounds very friendly, very nice)
Kind regards,
Best regards,
Kindest regards,
Regards, (more formal sounding-sounds cold)
Respectfully, (talking to someone higher in the business than you)
Thank you,
Best wishes,
All the best,
MY FAVOURITE:
Best,
PERSONAL
Sincerely yours,
Yours sincerely,
Faithfully,
Cheers, VERY CASUAL, Also a
friendly way to end a conversation
