Definition of english business + types of english letter
1.
Business
means buying and selling, and English is the name of our mother tongue.
Business English is obviously such English as is used in mercantile
transactions. Our definition is quickly made.
But it will bear expansion. We must answer certain
questions
that inevitably arise. Is some special brand of English used in
business? And how are we to know when we are studying business and when
merely the English of business?
Take the
first
of these two questions. There are of course certain words which name
business transactions primarily. Buy, sell, exchange, barter, trade,
purchase, shop, customer, hire, rent, pay, fee, price, retail,
wholesale, lease, mortgage, merchandise, commodity, goods, stock,
office, factory, finance, money, funds,
capital,
interest, sum, amount,
balance,
cash, currency, bill, receipt, note, draft, check, bank, cashier,
bookkeeper, stenographer, clerk - hundreds of words like these will
occur to us at random as being mercantile words in a peculiar sense.
To be sure, they are not all limited to business transactions. Note
the word brand. It is primarily mercantile, naming a particular kind of
goods. But in the second paragraph, above, the phrase "special brand of
English" appears. Here the word is used figuratively. Every business
word can be extended in that way to social or literary use. When we
speak of wholesale slaughter, or of a stock of words, we use commercial
figures of speech, and Americans are exceedingly fond of doing so. You
have heard people speak of a thoroughly posted man, as if a man were a
ledger. You have heard them speak of the balance of the day, as if time
were literally money. You have noticed that an American likes to claim
everything in sight; I mean, he prefers to claim that a thing is so,
rather than assert, declare, contend, allege, maintain, or swear that it
is so.
§2.But the strictly commercial words, again, aria not the only ones
employed in business. In addition to such words as are listed above in
our third paragraph, business employs thousands of terms from science
and technology. If a man is buying or selling machinery, he must know
the names of the machines. If it falls to him to buy the parts of them,
he must know the names of the parts. Does business English, then,
include the study of everything that is bought or sold? If it did, it
would include nearly the whole dictionary. Everything is bought or sold,
from surgical instruments to Egyptian mummies. Nothing is exempt but
heaven and love and faith. "Tis only heaven that is given away; Mis only
God may be had for the asking." And there are gloomy times when we feel
that even faith and love are sold.
Parts of letter
The following are the parts of a business letter listed in the proper sequential order.
Letterhead - Stationary printed at the top of the
page including the company name, logo, full address, and other
elements such as trademark symbols, phone & fax numbers, and an
e-mail.
Dateline - The date is the month (spelled out), day, and year. If you are using Microsoft Word, click -
Insert, then
Time and Date. Press
Enter four times after the date.
Letter Address - The complete address of the
recipient of the letter. The letter address usually includes the
personal title (Mr., Mrs. etc.), first and last name followed by the
company name, street address, city, province, and postal code. Press
Enter twice after letter address.
Salutation - The word
Dear followed by the personal title and last name of the recipient (
Dear Mr. Smith). Press Enter twice after the salutation.
Body - The text that makes up the message of
the letter. Single-space the paragraphs and double-space between the
paragraphs. Press
Enter twice after the last paragraph.
Complimentary closing - A phrase used to end a
letter. Capitalize only the first letter. If there is a colon after the
salutation, there must be a comma after the complimentary close. Press
Enter four times (or more) after the complimentary close to allow for a written signature.
Name and title of writer - Type the first and
last name of the sender. The sender's personal title (Mr., Ms., Dr.,
etc) should be included. Use a comma to separate the job title if it's
on the same line as the name. Do not use a comma if the job title is on a
separate line. Press Enter twice after the name or title.
Styles of business letter
The
Styles of Business Letters (Layouts of Business Letters) have undergone
changes over the period of time. In the old times, the style was
followed strictly.
But recently liberty has been given to the business people to
follow their own styles. Although no room was allowed for deviation form
the standard form an effective letter during old days, the letters
written then was more effective. There are still many business houses
which use the old layout
But things have become much easier and business people have
taken liberty in their approach towards adopting the layout of their
business letters.
1. Full Block Style
2. Block Style
3. Semi Block Style
Fully-Blocked Style, Modified Block Style and Simplified Style
are widely used these days among the business houses. Fully-Indented
Style, Semi-Indented Style and Hanging-Indented Style are not
extensively used. But all can be used by all. There is no restriction in
using one style over others. It is only you who should decide which
should be the best for you to bring the desired results.
4. Idented Style
5. Simplified
6. Hanging Idented Style
Usually, the business letters are written on the letter head of
the company. In case you have to write your letter in a white paper,
please write your address before you start writing your letter. There
are few people who suggest writing the sender’s address just below the
date. This is also acceptable. There is not strict rule to suggest what
is best for you. Let your sense of business judgment rule.
