III. Reading assignments.

Ex 1. Skim through the text and answer the questions.

1. What contribution do the letter components and their placement make to the impact of the business or public service letter?

2. What parts of a business letter are required by law for some companies?

3. How are letters usually referenced under "Your ref.", "Our ref."? How does the letter referencing system contribute to the filing and retrieval of letters?

4. What are the acceptable methods for setting out the letter's date?

5. What are the technical terms for the letter's "greeting" and "signing-off"?

6. What is the order by which letters after an opening salutation are set out?

7. What is the function of the subject-heading?

8. How should a secretary sign a letter on behalf of an absent principle?

9. How does the typist indicate that a letter is accompanied by additional material?

10. How does the typist indicate that a copy of a letter has been sent to a third person?

Ex 2. An integral part of the appearance of the letter is the use of an "open" or "closed" punctuation system. When the "open punctuation" is employed, all punctuation outside the body of the letter is omitted. "Closed punctuation" is the name given to the practice by which all parts of the letter are normally punctuated.

Recipient address (BE)

Open punctuation version	Closed punctuation version
Mr R O Jefferson Marketing Director Fleetway Transport Ltd 14 Queen’s Road MANCHESTER M60 2DA	Mr. R.O. Jefferson, Marketing Director, Fleetway Transport Ltd., 14 Queen’s Road, MANCHESTER. M60 2DA

NB They do not use any punctuation at the end of the lines of the recipient address in the USA.

What advantages does open punctuation provide in letter production? Complete the following table.

advantages

Ex 3. Fill in the blanks using the words from the box below.

A

format, double-space, indented, contains

The body of a letter _____________ the message. In the full block __________, paragraphs are never indented, in AMS format, paragraphs may or may not be __________ five spaces. Whichever style your choose, single-space within the paragraph, but __________ between paragraphs.

B

Important, extend, leave, bury, always, readers, message, conclusion, happen

While some of your letters will be only a few lines long, many of them will __________ to three or more paragraphs. __________ begin your letter with your purpose. Tell __________ in the first paragraph why you are writing to them and why your letter is __________ to them. In a second paragraph, develop your __________ with factual supports. But don't __________ important points within middle or end of your paragraph. In your last paragraph, bring readers to a true sense of __________. Tell them what you have done for them, what they should do for you, what will __________ next, when they will hear from you again, or any combination of these messages. Don't __________ readers hanging.

Ex 4. Design a letterhead for a company selling a range of household cleaning products. Include all the information about the company that is normally shown in a letterhead.

Ex 5.

1. Read the text that follows