1Chapter 1 Parts and Formats of Busniess Letters 商务书信写作组成部分及其格式Learning Objectives:Understand the structure of a business letter.Know the importance of standardizing the business letter writing.Learn the designing of an elegant letterhead, a standardized inside address and a perfect letter body.Master the correct arrangement of various parts of a letter.2. The Aim of Learning International Business EnglishIn order to do excellent international trading work it is necessary to keep good communications with others for offering a perfect understanding between each other. After getting necessary, correct and prompt information the business men can come into contact with their partners involved and make their business concluded. Business men should be keen on promoting mutually beneficial business arrangements and on making quick and correct reactions to the business information.3. The Keys of Learning Good Business EnglishIn order to learn good business English only equipping yourselves with business knowledge is not practicable. The solid English foundation and certain ability of translating from English into Chinese and from Chinese into English are both required. Therefore, it is necessary for the readers to remember the words, phrases and sentence patterns in foreign trade from the early beginning of Chapter 1. Write them down in your notebook, put it in your pocket and take it along with you anywhere in order to recite the words, phrases and sentence patterns at anytime when you are free. When you use your business English in your letter writing, dont create the words, phrases and sentences by yourselves, try your best just to imitate and to follow the good English usage. As you know, your skill comes from practices and your successes arrive only when your conditions are ripe.4. Structure of Business Letters There are 13 parts of the Business Letter as follows：(1)Letterhead(2)Reference and Date(3)Inside Address (4)Attention Line (5)Salutation (6)Subject Line(7)Body Opening or Introduction; Details; Response or Action; Close(8)Complimentary Close(9)Signature(10)Initials(11)Enclosure(12)Carbon Copy(13)Postscript 5. The Ways of Using the Writing Parts and Their Standardized Designs1. Letterhead6. The Ways of Using the Writing Parts and Their Standardized Designs72. Reference and DateIn business correspondence, reference will be given by a firm to another. Reference may include a file number, departmental code, or the initials of the signer, followed by that of the typist of the letter. They are marked as “ Our Ref: * ” and “ Your Ref:* ” to avoid confusion. Example (1)Your Ref: JVD/ZH Our Ref: WDC/LF Example (2)Our Ref: SEL/SYYour Ref: No. 145/17083. Inside Address Generally, the inside address should include the receivers name and title, company name, street address, city, state (province), post-code, and country (if necessary). They are typed at the upper left-hand margin of the sheet, starting two to three lines below the last line of the letterhead.9104. Attention LineAttention line is used when the writer of a letter addressed to an institution or an organization wishes to direct the letter to a specific individual or specific department. It is generally placed between the inside address and the salutation, underscored or not underscored and is centered over the body of the letter. If it is used in the full block format, it will be typed at the left-hand margin.ExampleAttention: Export DepartmentDear Sirs,4. 经办人行经办人行此行通常在信内地址和称呼之间，文字下面使用或不使用划线均可。一般在正文上方的中央部位，如果经办人行用全齐头式，则应位于左侧边缘。115.SalutationSalutation is placed two lines below the inside address. The salutation is “Gentlemen” if the letter is addressed to an organization, even if there is an attention line directing the letter to a particular individual within that organization.In business correspondence, the most commonly used salutation forms are:Dear Sirs, (British Style)Gentlemen: (American Style)Dear Sir,Dear Madam:Dear Mr. Brown:126.Subject LineSubject line is actually the central idea of a letter. It is inserted between the salutation and the body of the letter. If the letter is in the full block form, it is placed at the left-hand margin. In other styles, it is centered over the body of the letter. In order to invite the receivers attention, it is usually underlined. In front of it “Re:” or “Subj:” is written as the following examples.Example (1)Dear Sirs, Re: Womens BlousesExample (2)Gentlemen: Subj: Tin Foil Sheets Sometimes, the subject line can be underscored.6.事由行事由行事由行实际上是一封信的中心思想，位于称呼和正文之间。如果信是全齐头式，事由行就放在左侧边缘；在其他格式中，则位于正中。为了引起收信人的注意，通常在其下加下划线，在前面写“Re:”或“Subj:”。如例(1)和例(2)。137. BodyThis part is the most important one in business correspondence. The body of the letter generally consists of four essential parts.(1) Opening(or Introduction)(2) Details(3) Response (or Action)(4) Close148. Complimentary CloseComplimentary Close is used to provide the letter a courteous ending. The correct position for complimentary close is two spaces below the body of the letter to the right side of the page, in line with the date block at the top.159. SignatureThe signature is the signed name of the person writing the letter. It is signed by hand in black or blue ink. Since the hand-written signature is illegible, the name of the signer should be typed below the signature. The name should be written out in full, as initials may be misleading or confusing. It is common to have the writers name typed several lines below the complimentary close, leaving space between for the hand-written signature, followed by his job title or position.1610.InitialsThe initials line firstly show the name of the dictator of the letter, and secondly show the typist of the letter. In the initial line, the dictators name should appear before the typists. And one method of the following four may be used:WT/FM WT:FM WT-FM WT/fmOccasionally the full name of the dictator is used, followed by the typists initials, as:Wu Tong /sm1711.EnclosureIf it is necessary to enclose something with the letter, such as a photo, a bill, a cheque or a brochure, attention should be called to it by writing “Enclosure” or “Enclosures” below the signature in the lower left-hand corner.Enclosures: A. 2005 Price List B. 2005 CatalogueEncls: 2 ChequesEnc. Under Separate Cover1812.Carbon CopyThere are two types of carbon copy notation. One is indicated by “CC” followed by the names of the “CC” receiver. This notation is typed both on the original and the carbon copies, as,CC: Shanghai BranchThe other type of CC notation is to type “bcc” only on the copy, not on the original letter, as,bcc: Mr. John Black1913.PostscriptWhen the letter writer forgets to mention or to emphasis something in his letter, he may add his postscript two spaces below the CC notation, as,P.S. The catalogue will be airmailed to you under separate cover.20. The Styles of Business LettersThere are several styles of business letters. The main styles of them are Full-blocked style, Semi-blocked style, Indented style, Modified style, and Simplified style. 211.Full-blocked style1. Full-blocked style22232. Semi-blocked style24Notes：(1) In writing the inside address, if the name of the firm is too long to be combined into a single line, it may be placed into two lines with the commodities which it engages in not to be separated from each other and not to be arranged into the next line to continue the writing of the firms name. For finishing the writing of the firms name the second line must be indented for two spaces. For example:The correct writing: China National Light Industrial Products Import & Export Corporation China National Cereals, Oils and Foodstuffs Import & Export Corporation25(2) If the firms name is too long, it may be abbreviated as follows: Import & Export Corp. Imp. & Exp. Co. I/E Co.(3) The names of the countries may as well be abbreviated, for example: Britain as U.K. (UK) America as U.S.A. (USA) Peoples Republic of China as PRC26(Mr. *) General Manager Xian Electric Machinery Imp. & Exp. Co. Fengdeng Road, Xijiao, Xian Shaanxi, PRCThe above address may be confined into three lines: (Mr. *), General Manager Xian Electric Machinery Imp. & Exp .Corp. Fengdeng Road, Xian, Shaanxi, China.(4)If the letter is not too long, you may adopt double line-spacing for each paragraph. As shown in the above letters of (1)、(2).273. Indented Style284. Modified Style295. Simplified Style30.Ways of Envelope addressing and Their Standardized Designs(1)Use your pencil and ruler to divide the envelope into four equivalent quadrants with dotted lines according to the necessary number and length of the lines. (2)Fix the starting points and finishing points of each line properly according to the length of the address and to the lines in need to make your addressing well balanced and symetrized.(3)Address the envelope with your pencil firstly (Note: Good balancing and symetrizing are very difficult to do well, so you must for the first step to practise with your pencil. (4)Trace in black or blue ink over the envelope words written with pencil after your feeling satisfied with your envelope addressing.(5)Brush away the pencil dotted line and pencil marks with your rubber. (6)When you address the envelope in American style, you must make sure which is the address of the sender and which is the address of the receiver. Dont make these two addresses transposed. In this way, your letter will not reach into your partners hand. 31The styles of Envelope AddressingThere are two styles of envelope addressing:(1) The British style;(2) The American style.321. The British style envelope addressing333435