Generally speaking, there are two main formats of business English letters: traditional indentation format and modern box format.

According to the traditional practice in Britain, abbreviated forms need to indent five or six letters in each paragraph of letters, and sometimes they may indent more. Nowadays, head butting is very common in business English letters. Its outstanding feature is that the contents of all letters start from the left side of the letter paper, leaving two or three more lines between paragraphs than indented letters for easy distinction. This format is called block format. But sometimes putting the date on the left side of the stationery will bring inconvenience to the search, so people use an improved form of occlusion, that is, putting the date on the right and other contents on the left.

Generally speaking, we usually use single spacing to lay out a letter, which will make our letter feel compact, but some people prefer to use double spacing when writing short messages.

According to the preference of individuals or companies, you can choose to use the haircut type or the shrinking type. But no matter which format you choose, the structure of general business English letters includes the following parts:

(1) letterhead

(2) Case number and date (references and date)

(3) The name and address in it are copyrighted by www yaoqinghan com.

4 address forms.

(5) The information or text of the letter.

(6) honorifics are close.

(7) The signature and design of the author.

(8) attention line

(9) Subject line

(10) reference symbol

(1 1) cabinet

(12) CC (carbon copy symbol)

(13) Postscript (Postscript)

In business English letters, each of the above items has its own fixed position and contains its own unique content, which cannot be exchanged at will.

The letterhead contains the basic information of the writer, including name, address, telephone number, telex number, fax number and even email address. The letterhead is on the top of the stationery, and some companies directly print the letterhead on their own stationery. Good quality stationery and neat and symmetrical stationery can show the elegance of a company and improve its reputation.

The case number is a letter or number given when writing a letter for reference. We usually use "our referee" and "your referee" to distinguish. Its position is generally on the right side of the letterhead. The date is three or four lines below the letterhead. Whether it is straight or indented, the date is usually placed at the right end, which can play the role of ending the line and make the letter look more neat. In business English letters, the date must be written completely, not in the form of numbers, because the date marking methods in the United States and Britain are different. The date marking method in Britain is "March 24th". 2002 ",and the date marking method in the United States is" March 24, 2002 ". Use commas after months and days, and don't use punctuation after years.

The name and address in the envelope, that is, the name and address of the recipient, should be placed on the top left of the stationery and three or more lines below the date, which can be determined according to the length of the letter.

The name and address in the envelope should be tied together.

Close to the left side of the letter paper, which will make the letter look neat.

For the writer, the initial address is a polite way. In general business English letters, dear sir, dear Sirs or Gentlemen are often used. They are arranged independently, and there are three lines under the name and address in the envelope. Use a comma after "Dear Sir" and a colon after "Sir".

Letters are substantive contents, and the writing requirements of letters are concise, clear and polite; Correct grammar, to the point; The paragraphs are clearly divided, and each paragraph revolves around a theme; Print accurately and the layout should be artistic, so that your letter looks pleasing to the eye. Pay special attention to the margin, which is the framework of information. Most messages are single-spaced and some short messages can be double-spaced.

The honorific words at the end are polite words at the end of a letter. It's just a polite expression, which has no practical meaning in the letter. Tradition makes it necessary and a habit, so it has been used ever since. Traditional concluding remarks include: Yours faithfully, Yours truly (mostly used in America) and so on. There are some people who use it backwards to faithfully yours, truly yours, etc. The honorific words at the end must be closely connected with the letter, and cannot be separated, let alone start a new page. In this case, the letter must be rearranged and printed.

A signature is the name or mark of the author or the company he represents. The company name can be printed, and the signature of the person in charge must be handwritten. Neither can be replaced by seals. This part is three lines below the honorific at the end, leaving about five lines or more space.

The idiom to express attention is: to express attention or simple attention, and a horizontal line is usually added below. This expression is used when the letter is addressed to a specific person or department. It's two lines above the opening remarks. In addition to the head-tail type, it can be placed in the middle above the letters.

The cause or title is two lines below the opening remarks, and a horizontal line is added below. Except for the head-to-head style, it is generally placed in the middle of the message. Usually one word or several simple words are used to express the theme of a letter, so that the recipient can understand the content first.

The operator code is signed in the following two lines. Is the initials of the typist's name, which can be lowercase or uppercase.

The attachment is two lines below the handler code. The writer can mark one or more attachments mentioned in the letter. Commonly used forms are: Enclosure, paddock and encl. ，Enc。 And so on.

Cc is two lines below the attachment. There are two ways of Cc: bright and dark. The clear mark is cc, followed by the name of the recipient or company, which can be printed on the original and copy. The implied mark is bcc, followed by the name of the recipient or company, which is only printed on the copy and only known to the writer and the recipient.

Copy the postscript to the following two lines. If the writer wants to add something he forgot to mention in his letter, he can use this method, but he should try to avoid it. Because it may give people the illusion that you didn't put the letter in order before writing. This may affect your credibility.

Among the above thirteen parts, the first seven parts are essential parts of every business English letter, and the last few parts are dispensable.

In short, when you write a business English letter, you must keep in mind: choose a format, stick to it, and don't change it; The content in the structure should be arranged reasonably and appropriately, and none of the seven necessary parts can be less. A well-prepared letter is a good start for the transaction between the two parties. An elegant and dignified letter will leave a good impression and promote further exchanges between the two sides until a deal is reached.