Explore Business English

Hsing-Ling Carol Wu, 吳幸玲

• Publisher: EHGBooks
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781647848712
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Englisch

Explore Business English is an intermediate level of business English textbook offering basic business letter formats and useful expressions for learners in business English. It is both suitable for classroom instruction and self-learning. Learners' business English proficiency will improve by familiarizing the formats and useful expressions in this book.

Hsing-Ling Carol Wu received her MA in TESOL from Northern Arizona University and her Ed.D. from La Sierra University. She is currently associate professor at the Applied English Department, Overseas Chinese University.

Part I Explore Business Letters

Introduction

Unit 1 Shipment

Unit 2 Remitting

Unit 3 Insurance

Unit 4 Letter of Credit

Unit 5 Claim

Unit 6 Offer

Unit 7 Order

Unit 8 Establishment of Business Relations

Unit 9 Trade Inquiry

Unit 10 Response to Inquiry

Introduction

If your business letter is to be well organized, you must do some thinking and planning before you begin to write it. It is recommend that you take the following three steps before you begin actually to write:

1. If you are replying to a letter, read it carefully and circle the important points you will cover in your own letter.
2. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the circumstances surrounding your letter. In other words, obtain as much background material as necessary. Get the file of the person to whom you are writing and read any past correspondence that bears on the present situation. It may help to discuss the case with others in your office who are more familiar with it.
3. Jot down in a short list the ideas you plan to include in your letter. Then go over your list and make sure you have included everything you want to say and exclude those ideas that are irrelevant.

Once you have taken these three preparatory steps, you are ready to actually write the letter. At this point, the main object is to get it down. Let the ideas flow freely and don’t worry about your sentence structure or about whether you are being wordy.

After you have got it all out, let it sit for a while and cool off. If you are dictating the letter, have a draft copy made up. So once you have let some time go by, sit down and revise the letter so that it becomes clear, concise, natural, courteous, and personal.

In addition to the planning and preparation of writing, you are advised to pay attention to your writing skills. First, you have to write concise sentences. A concise sentence says what has to be said in the fewest number of words—without losing effectiveness, clarity, or courtesy. Some words and phrases that often crop up in business letters do nothing to carry the meaning of a sentence to the reader. Such unnecessary verbiage should be ruthlessly cut out with the stroke of a pen.

And clarity is always a prerequisite for the business letter that best does the job. Thus, it is extremely important that you choose words that exactly express your meaning. You may have a very clear and precise thought that you wish the reader to understand, but if you do not choose the right words to express it, the reader may misunderstand—with unpleasant consequences for yourself and your organization. Sometimes, business writers have a tendency to use general words when specific words are needed. These general words are often clichés and are usually plugged in without much thought.

Furthermore, your writing should be as easy to read as you can make it. You are advised to use the devices called links and parallelism. Links are words that serve readers in much the same way as road signs serve the drivers of cars. They tell them what to expect and thus make their trips safer and smoother. And parallelism is one of the most useful writing devices available to the writer of better business letters. When used correctly and appropriately, it can bring order and clarity to much of your writing.

And concerning your writing style, you have to achieve a natural, courteous, and personal style in your business letters. For it is just as important that your letters have these qualities as it is that they be clear and concise. Think for a moment about the way people speak to and interact with each other in business. Have you noticed that the ones who are most successful and effective usually are able to express themselves in a simple, unaffected manner? They are able, somehow, to give the impression that they are courteous and considerate—that they care about the people around them—while at the same time they concentrate on the business at hand.

Unit 1 Shipment

1.1 Sample letter

Dear Sirs,

We confirm our fax just dispatched informing you that your Order No.45 of October 1 for 240 Cassette Tape Recorders RS-4 has been shipped today from Keelung by the m/s The International, which is due to arrive at your port about November 1.

Enclosed are copies of Invoice No.286 in duplicate, copies of Bill of Lading No.78 and Insurance Policy No. NP-3000 as well as Packing List and Certificate and List of Measurement and Weight.

We have drawn a draft at sight for the invoice amount under The Bank of San Francisco Letter of Credit No.1699 through Bank of Taiwan, Taipei to whom all documents have been handed.

We hope the goods will reach you safely and we look forward to your further orders.

Yours sincerely,

……

Dear Gentlemen,

We are pleased to confirm our cable of 25th August, 2017 informing you that we shipped the following goods covering your order No.123 dated July 21 on the same day by the m/s “President” of The Evergreen Line as per enclosed copies of the relative shipping documents.

To cover this shipment, we have drawn a draft at sight and negotiated it through the Chinatrust Commercial Bank with the L/C, No.101 issued by the Indian Commercial Bank. We hope you would honor the draft upon presentation.

We believe that the goods will reach you in good order and give you perfect satisfaction so that you may furnish us with further orders.

Yours sincerely,

1.2 Common expressions

We shall be grateful for prompt delivery as the goods are needed urgently.

Punctual shipment is essential.

The goods must be delivered to our clients well in time for the Christmas sale.

We have placed this order because your delivery is so attractive. We ask you, therefore, to do everything possible to ensure punctual shipment.

We ask you to do everything possible to ensure punctual shipment.

It is essential for our customers ...