An effective business letter should be concise, clear, polite and friendly.
It's best to avoid complicated sentences.
Before starting, these guidelines will help you to prepare your letter.
| PURPOSE | EXAMPLES |
|---|---|
| Salutation | • Dear Mr. Brown, • Dear Ms. White, • Dear Sir, • Dear Madam, • Dear Sir or Madam, • Gentlemen, |
| Starting | • We are writing - to inform you that . - to confirm . - to request . - to enquire about . - to provide the information you requested. • I am contacting you for the following reason. • I recently read/heard about . and would like to know . • Having seen your advertisement in . I would like to . • I would be interested in (obtaining / receiving) . • I received your address from ----- and would like to . • The aim of this letter is to (present/request/ask/enquire) . |
| Referring to previous contact | • Thank you for your letter of March 15. • Thank you for contacting us. • In reply to your request, . • Thank you for your letter regarding . • With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday. • Further to our meeting last week . • It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month. • I enjoyed having lunch with you last week in Tokyo. • I would like to confirm the main points we discussed on Tuesday. |
| Making a request | • We would appreciate it if you would . • I would be grateful if you could . • Could you please send me . • Could you possibly tell us / let us have . • In addition, I would like to receive . • It would be helpful if you could send us . • I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) . • I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. • Please let me know what action you propose to take. |
| Offering help | • Would you like us to . • We would be happy to . • We are quite willing to . • Our company would be pleased to . |
| Giving good news | • We are pleased to announce that . • I am delighted to inform you that .. • You will be pleased to learn that . |
| Giving bad news | • We regret to inform you that . • I'm afraid it would not be possible to . • Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to . • After careful consideration we have decided (not) to . |
| Complaining | • I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with . • I am writing to complain about . • Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date ) have not yet arrived. • The goods we received are not similar to the sample. • We regret to inform you that our order n° ----- is now considerably overdue. • I would like to query the transport charges which seem unusually high. |
Please note that British English spelling is used on this website.
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