Business letters usually consist of the following seven parts: letterhead, recipient's name and address, address, text, closing rhetoric, signature and others. In addition, some business letters also include the following items: delivery instructions, recipients or precautions, reasons, references, and cc instructions.
2. Requirements for writing business letters
Letterhead:
Stationery is located in the middle and upper part of the stationery, with the company name, address, telephone number, fax number, telegram registration and the name of the person in charge of the company printed. The design of stationery should be beautiful and concise.
If the letterhead is temporarily printed, the sender's name and address should be typed in the upper right corner of the letterhead, above the date. Official letters are only printed or prefixed on the first page of stationery, and other pages can be blank stationery, just write the page number, recipient's name and date.
Date:
The date of a business letter should not be omitted. The date should be typed on the right of the bottom four to six lines of the letter, or below the sender's address. Don't use abbreviations or numbers to represent months, but be sure to write them completely. There are two ways to write it: English is 19(th)April,1995; The United States in April 19, 1995. The English way of writing is that the day comes first and the month comes later, while the American way of writing is just the opposite. If all dates are expressed by numbers, it is easy to cause misunderstanding and should be avoided.
Name and address of the recipient:
The name and address in the letter should be rewritten again, and it is the same as the recipient's name and address on the envelope. It is usually typed on the left side of the letter paper, two or three lines below the date, or on the left side of the letter tail, about two or four lines below the signature.
How to arrange the names of the recipients should be strictly in accordance with the way set by the recipients. Out of courtesy and accuracy, please do not change it without authorization.
There are also some habits in the use of honorifics and shorthand. For example, sir.
Be crowned before a man's surname. Mess RS .(messiers ears) is the plural of English Mr., which is equivalent to Gentlemen. Messrs is not used for company names with the definite article The without names. In Britain, if a company's telephone number contains a name, it is usually Messrs. For example: Lake Kane Limited; ; If the wife is a married woman, write the husband's surname at the back, Mrs. Judd; ; Miss is an unmarried woman, and its plural is miss; Doctor (doctor) is crowned before the doctor's name; Rev can be used before the name of the priest, and the article The can be added. In addition, the names of mayors, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, ambassadors and judges should be preceded by Hon. Pres should be added to the names of presidents, general managers, presidents and university presidents, and Prof should be added to the names of professors.
The writing of the address in the letter is quite different from that in Britain and America. American writing: there is No no word in front of the house number and no comma behind it. English people write in the opposite way. For example:
Mr Clark Cooper
8 Queen Victoria Street
London, Council of Europe 2
England
Note: E.C.2 refers to East Zone 2.
Title:
The address in a business letter should be polite. A more formal courtesy title is often used in official documents: gentlemen. Dear sirs is often used in business letters such as company line numbers, and British people should add commas after them; Most Americans use Gentleman to address the company line number, but it is limited to the plural, followed by a colon. Gentleman and dear gentlemen don't use it at all. When the recipient only has a professional title and no name, you can't use the singular Sir alone, but add "dear" before "Sir", that is, dear Sir. You can also write your last name, such as "Dear Sir Lewis:".
Text:
The text is the content and theme of the letter. The text starts from the bottom two lines of the title and is written at the top (unlike Chinese letters, which need two spaces); There are two lines between paragraphs. The text should not be too long, especially the first and second paragraphs, and it must be shorter. When typing, plain paper occupies three-quarters of the position of the letter paper, and appropriate edges should be left on both sides and above the letter paper, and the space below should be larger. The left edge is vertical and tidy, and the right edge is as neat as possible.
Ending phrase:
The rhetoric at the end is equivalent to the words "×××" at the end of Chinese letters. Usually written next to the last line or two of the letter, with commas. More common ones are: you are real, you are very real, you are real, you are very real, you are loyal, and you are loyal. If the recipient is an individual, you can use: yours sincerely, sincerely yours.
Signature:
The signature is the name of the issuer. Because it represents the author, its form and writing should remain fixed. Sign with a pen. The signature must be difficult to imitate, clear and easy to understand. In order to make it easier to identify, general business letters often sign five lines at the bottom of the end, and then type the name of the sender or put their titles together. The signature format and rules are as follows:
When the signer represents the company name and line number, he should type all capitalized company names at the bottom of the last group of words before signing.
When a lady signs her name, she should put (miss) or (madam) before the typed name, so that the defendant can use the address correctly.
When the person in charge is absent and signed by the person in charge, the words by, for or perpro should be added.
Other matters:
Other matters include: precautions, reasons, future reference, attachments, postscript, etc.
Attn (abbreviation: Attn) is used when the sender asks a specific person to pay attention, which means "ask someone to read it himself" and "ask someone to pay attention". It is usually placed under "name and address" in the letter, or on the right side of the same line as the title.
Subject, whose function is to facilitate the receiver to quickly understand the main contents of the letter, is located at the top of the text and reminds the receiver to pay attention.
For future reference, in order to clarify the responsibility and facilitate future reference, write the first letter of the sender and typist's name at the bottom of the stationery. There are many arrangements, and the initial of the sender's name should be capitalized, ranking first.
Attachment (Encl), under "initial of sender and typist", should indicate several attachments for the convenience of the recipient. For example: encl A check (meaning to attach a check); Encl, a/s (refers to the attachment mentioned in the letter, and a/s is as mentioned).
P.s. (abbreviation for postscript) Postscript should be used reasonably, not in general. If the postscript text is separated from the letter, or if there is something new after the letter is written, you must inform the other party, then you can use it. It usually begins with p.s. and is written in the last line of the letter and the next line of the attachment.