6. errors in business letters

8/12/2019 6. Errors in Business Letters

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The Grammar Business 2001 Glenrothes College

The Grammar Business PartOne

6. Common Errors in Business

Letters


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The Grammar Business 2001 Glenrothes College2`

Business letters need to

sound

clear and concise

formal

but not pompous


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The dangers When writing business letters, people

feel they need to be on their best

behaviour

So they sometimes adopt a slightly

stuffy style

Time to look at some examples


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Starting the letter -

whats the mistake?

Dear Mr Bloggs

With reference to your letter of 24thOctober.

I am glad to inform you that the

shipment of pencil sharpeners has nowbeen successfully despatched.


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The first paragraph is not a sentence. It

needs to read like this.

Not: Dear Mr Bloggs

With reference to your letter of 24th

October (wrong).

But

I refer to your letter of 24th October.


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The first version has no verb in it. So it

doesnt make sense by itself.

But you canwrite

With reference to your letter of

24th October, I am glad to inform

you that the shipment of.


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And another error - can you find it?

Dear Mr Bloggs

I refer to your letter of 24th January

2001.With regards to your outstanding

payment, two options are open to you.


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The error

Dear Mr BloggsI refer to your letter of 24th January 2001.

With regards to your outstanding

payment, two options are open to you.

Regardsare nouns. But when the word is part

of a group e.g. with regard to, the word has

no S. The letter may start With regard toyour enquiry but it will end Kind regards


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Other common errors

Including your name above the address at

start of letter (your full name goes at the very

end)

Writing Yours sincerely instead of Yours

faithfully (or the other way round)

Spelling sincerely wrong


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The sincerely/faithfully rule

sincerely- when you know the nameof

the person to whom youre writing

faithfully- when its Dear Siror Dear

Madam


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Spelling sincerely

Write sincere with asmall s

Add ly

Remember c for charming in the

middle


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Signing off

The conclusion of your letter shouldbe firm and clear - usually using the

simple present tense.


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So you might conclude

I enclose a copy of the contract and

look forward to hearing from you.


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Finally -

If youre writing a business letter on

your own behalf - for example

job application

letter to the bank

letter of complaint


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When you get to the end of your

letter

conclude e.g. Yours faithfully

leave a generous space for your handwrittensignature

type or print below this your full name


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And after your printed name.

if you are a woman, or have a particular title,

include the title in brackets after your name

e.g. Dr, Mrs, Ms, Miss,Lord, Baroness etc

if you are a man- an ordinary Mr - there is

normally no need to indicate this. It is

assumed that you are a Mr (unless, justpossibly, youre a man called Shirley or

Hilary)


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If you want to go over some of this

again

Ask for Handout Five.

6. errors in business letters

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