Business letter writing

Letter-writing is an essential part of business. In spite of telephone, telex and telegraphic communication the writing of letters continue; in fact most telephoned and telegraphed communications have to be confirmed in writing.

The letter is often evidence of an arrangement or a contract, and must therefore be written with care; even the shortest and most usual of letters may have this importance. The need for thought in writing is clear when you realize that in speaking – either face-to-face or by telephone – the reaction to the spoken word can be seen or heard immediately, but reaction to a letter is not known until the answer is received.

The letter heading and the layout

Business letters are usually typed on notepaper bearing a specially designed heading which provides the reader of the letter with essential information about the organization sending it. Normally the heading will include the company’s name and address, its telephone numbers and telegraphic addresses, the type of business it is engaged in, its telex code and V.A.T.¹ number, and in many cases the names of the directors. It is becoming increasingly common for firms to print an emblem or trademark on their stationery.

Here is an example of a heading that might be used by a British company:

Telegrams: BRONK LONDON Registered Number 725716 DIRECTORS: H.BROWN W.PINK

H.BROWN & W.PINK LIMITED Home & Overseas Merchants

Telephone: 01 486 0517 (2 lines) 18 HILL ST. LONDON WIM 5RN

The firm in this example is a limited company, and this fact is indicated by the word ‘Limited’ (very often abbreviated to ‘Ltd.’), which is printed after the name. Since the name of the company does not show what its line of business is, this is stated separately.

Here are two more examples of letter headings, both of which would be used by partnerships.

GREY, BLACK & WHITE SOLICITORS ____________ ____________ T.M. White G.R. Jones

Telephone: [phone] 265 HIGH HOLBORN LONDON WC1H 8BA

THISTLETHWAITE & CO. Chartered Accountants Black, F.C.A. A. White, F.C.A. J.Grey, A.C.A. Telephone: [phone]

596 Broad Street London EC4 3DD

This is an example of a letter typed on the stationery of a British limited company:

а)Telegrams RAJO LEEDS	GRADEN & JONES LIMITED Home & Overseas Merchants	Telephone Leeds 978653
DIRECTORS: L.L. Graden, P.G. Jones		Upper Bridge Street LEEDS 2
b) JAS/DS		c) 14 July, 2001
d) Oliver Green and Co. Ltd. 25 King Edward VII St. MANCHESTER M24 5BD e) Dear Sirs, We understand from several of our trade connections in Bolton that you are the British agents for Petrou and Galitopoulos of Athens. Will you please send us price-list and catalogues for all products manufactured by this company, together with details of trade discounts and terms of payment. We look forward to hearing from you. f) Yours faithfully, GRADEN AND JONES LTD. (signature) e) J.A. Stevens, Chief Buyer

Note the layout in the example. Currently there are several ways of setting out a business letter in Britain, and policy in this respect differs from company to company. The form in which a business letter appears has not been standardized in the United Kingdom to the extent it has in the U.S.A. and most European countries, and many British firms still indent the first line of each paragraph, and use more punctuation in the inside name and address and in the date than is the case in our example. Nevertheless there is a growing tendency in Britain, due largely to foreign influences and the widespread use of the electric typewriter, to use block paragraphing – in other words, to begin every line at the left-hand margin – and to dispense with unnecessary punctuation in the date and the name and address of the person or organization written to. It is still considered necessary to put a full stop after abbreviations. As we have done in the case of Co. (Company), Ltd. (Limited) and St. (Street) in our example. However, it is becoming more and more common to type Mr and Mrs – i.e. without a stop – and this practice may well be extended to other abbreviations in the near future.