ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

Business Correspondence
“ Business correspondence is an art of
“
selling your thoughts.
 1.
1. Principles of letter writing

2. Letter format

3. Layout of Business Letter

AGENDA 1.4. Kinds of letter

5. Offering letter

6. Replying business letter

01
PRINCIPLES OF
LETTER WRITING
7 Cs of business communication
7 Cs of business communication

 Consideration / Conversational (Your attitude)

 Courtesy (Be courteous)
 Clarity (Be clear)
 Concreteness (Be convincing)
 Correctness
 Conciseness
 Completeness
CONSIDERATION
“We are unable to pay bonuses now. The business is awaiting
payment from a major client. Once this payment is received, we
can consider paying contractual bonuses as soon as is
practicable.”

“Unfortunately, we are not presently in the position to pay your bonus.

However, as soon as our major client has settled their account, we will
pay any bonuses owed to you. We’re sorry about this delay, but are
sure you understand our need for positive cash flow and the long-term
benefits this will deliver to you.”
COURTESY

“I don’t appreciate how your team ignores requests for collaboration from
my team. The work we do is equally as important as your work. Could you
make certain that your team collaborates more readily from now on?”

“I understand that your team is extremely busy and receives many requests to
collaborate on project work. However, my team is working a highly urgent project
with enormous mutual benefits. I would greatly appreciate if you could ask your
team to collaborate more effectively with mine to move this project forward faster.
If there is any help that we can provide to make this happen, please let me know.”
CLARITY

“We have considered the consequences of the existing policy on

the hiring strategies we employ with our human resources
department and updated them accordingly,”

“We have updated our hiring policy.”

CONCRETENESS

“Your sales numbers are on the low side. They need to be

improved to at least the team’s average.”

“Your sales conversion rate is below 50%. You must improve this to
the team average of 65% or higher.”
CORRECTNESS

“You may enter the building during opening hours but must show
relevant I.D.”

“You may enter the building during the opening hours of 9am to
5pm daily, but must show your employee identity card.”
CONCISENESS

“As a matter of fact, during the month of June, all employees

must ensure that they wear appropriate clothing to ensure they
stay cool while the air-conditioning is being repaired.”

“Indeed, during June, employees must wear appropriate clothing to

stay cool while the air-conditioning is repaired.”
COMPLETENESS

“You haven’t completed the task that I set you,” is a message full
of ambiguity. Instead, make sure you include all relevant facts.

“The data analysis for client ABC that I asked for on March 5 should
have been completed by today. Will you have it finished this
afternoon?”
02 Letter Format
03
Layout of Business
Letter
Block, Modified Block, Semi-block
 Heading &
Inside Address
Block Format Style
Modified Block Style
Semi-Block Style
Salutation
& Body
Block Format Style
Modified Block Style
Semi-Block Style
Signature
Block Format Style
Modified Block Style
Semi-Block Style
04 Kinds of letter
05 Offering Letter
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER

Business Heading

A
B
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Business Heading: Includes information about your business and theirs, such as the business
name, address, and points of contact.
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER

Introduction & Statement of Purpose

A
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER

Introduction & Statement of Purpose

B
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Introduction: Frames why you are sending the letter and then shares a bit about your business as
well as teases the purpose.
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Statement of Purpose: Summary of the most important contents of your business proposal
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Call-to-Action & Outro and Signature

A
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Call-to-Action & Outro and Signature

B
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Call-to-Action: End your proposal with a sentence that tells the reader what to do next.
Usually, this next step will be to read your attached proposal.

 
• “You can find the proposal below, attached to this email. Please give it a read and feel free to call
us at (Your Phone Number) if any questions arise.”

• “Please read the proposal below and give us a call or send us an email when you’ve finished to set
up time to talk about the proposal, answer any of your questions, and discuss the possibility of
working together.”

• “Please read the proposal below. To make sure you have all the information you need, let’s put
some time on the calendar for me to answer any questions and hear your thoughts. Are you
available next week at (Three Date/Time Options)?”
 ELEMENTS OF OFFERING LETTER
Outro and Signature: End with a polite outro stating how excited you are about the opportunity to
work together. Finally, sign the document.
06
Replying Business
Letter
THE HEADING

Return
Address

Date

Recipient
Address
SALUTATION & BODY
SIGNATURE

ALTERNATIVES:
• Regards
• Sincerely
• Cordially
• With gratitude
• Kind Regards
• With appreciation
• Yours truly
SUMMARY
Information to remember
 1.
1. Focus on Receiver

2. Be Soft & Gentle

3. Be clearer in Delivering

1.4. Be Specific
Principles Write Perfectly, Mistakes
5. Free

6. Be Short, but Complete

7. Complete the Message

 Heading
1.
1. Business name, address, contact

Inside Address
2. Recipient address

3.
Format
Salutation

Body
1.4. Introduction, reason for writing &
purpose

5. Signature
 1.
1. Block Format

2.
Layout Modified Block

3. Semi-block
 Heading
1.
1. Business name, address, contact

Inside Address
2. Recipient address

3.
Types
Salutation

Body
1.4. Introduction, reason for writing &
purpose

5. Signature
 Business Heading
1.
1. Business name, address, contact

Introduction
2. Reason for writing & purpose

Offering 3.
Statement of Purpose
Summary of the most important

Letter
contents

Call-to-action
1.4. What to do next

5. Outro & Signature

 Heading
1.
1. Return address, recipient, date

2. Salutation

Reply Body
3. Introduction,
reason for writing & purpose

1.4. Signature
THANK YOU