Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company

Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company

Nowadays, it’s easy to see just how important English is around the world Asthe integration among countries became stronger and stronger, the need forinformation exchange between people also drastically increased As a result, it is amust for us to learn four English skills, namely listening skills, speaking skills,reading skills and writing skills

Among these skills, writing, which is considered as the most challenging skillamong four language skills, is very essential in business To be specific, in manycompanies, it is necessary for employees to recognize the importance of writingbusiness correspondence and its requirement of dedication to practice However,writing skill in business letters of employees in companies is not really effective

After four years of learning at the university, the researcher decided to choose topic " Suggested some solutions to improve business correspondence writing skill in Bluetech Joint Stock Company " with the purpose of researching on problems and

causes that linked to staff’s business correspondence writing ability

In order to achieve the aims, the researcher used two data collectioninstruments: questionnaires and interview The author also reviewed some theoriesregarding writing skill, and then analyzed the informant’s attitudes on theirdifficulties when writing letters The results from the study showed that employeeswere aware of the importance and the level of difficulty of writing business letters.The findings from this thesis are hopefully of benefit not only for staffs inBluetech., JSC but also others in different companies

In general, improving business correspondence writing skills is a process thattakes a lot of time and practices with the proper learning approach The authorhopes this study would be useful for people who desire to better this skill, which isinteresting but challenging

In this completion of this graduation paper, I would like to express my deepestand most sincere gratitude to many people for their invaluable help during theconduct of the research

First and foremost, I would like to send my heartfelt gratitude towards my

supervisor Ms Trần Thị Thu Hiền for her constructive and timely feedbacks as

well as her constant and assistance which were decisive factors to the completion ofthe study

Last but not least, I express my truly gratitude to all employees in BluetechCompany, especially in Import and Export department for their precious help andenthusiastic participation during the time the study was carried out

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research subject 4

1.5 Scope of the study 5

1.6 Research methodology 6

1.7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 8

2.1 Overview about business correspondence 8

2.1.1 Definition of business correspondence 8

2.1.2 Parts of a business letter 9

2.1.3 Common mistakes when writing business correspondence 12

2.1.4 Essential Qualities to write a good business correspondence letter 15

2.4 Several types of business correspondence 19

2.5 The importance of business correspondence 21

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 24

3.1 Participants of the survey 24

3.2 Data collection instruments 25

3.3 Procedure of data collection 25

3.4 Research question 1: What are the difficulties of the staff in writing business correspondence? 26

3.4.1 Different language and different culture among nations 26

3.4.2 Difficulty in selecting types of letter 26

3.4.4 Workload pressures 28

3.5 Research question 2: What are the common mistakes do the staff often encounter when writing business correspondence? 28

3.5.1 The importance of writing business correspondence at work 28

3.5.2 Self-assessment of the staff on their writing skills 29

3.5.3 The frequency of making mistakes in writing business correspondence.30 3.5.4 Common mistakes in writing business letter 31

3.6 Research question 3: How is their attitude in self-study to improve writing business correspondence skills? 32

3.6.1 Employees’ level of interest in writing business correspondence 32

3.7 Research question 4 : How to deal with difficulties in writing business correspondence? 34

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 35

4.1 Suggestions to improve business correspondence writing skills of the staff in Bluetech Company 35

4.1.1 Suggestions for the company 35

4.1.2 Suggestions for the staff 35

4.2 Limitations of the study 36

4.3 Recommendations 37

CONCLUSION 38 REFERENCES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale of the study

As the intergration of the world gradually have become more and moreexpansive, people from around the world with the urge to explore and interact withother culture have felt the need for a shared language to bring countries into contact

It can be seen that English is supposed to be the dominant language all over theworld and has never diminished but only increased

To make use of English fluently, we need to master 4 skills, which arelistening, speaking, reading and writing Of these four skills, writing is thought to be

an important factor, playing an extremely essential role in mastering the language.Writing is considered an act of coding an idea, a thought, a reflection, a process ofputting one's thoughts into words If the writer wants to convey his thought well, heneeds to select and organize appropriate words Written text requires the writer tohave a rich vocabulary, and to know how to build sentences coherently and then usegood grammar, syntax, morphology of words to create a standard language product.Specifically, in this study, we focus on business correspondence, which is a specificarea of English writing skills Therefore, it needs specific requirements, professionalknowledge and skills related to commercial English

Recognizing the importance of English, the Vietnamese State, manyorganizations and companies in Vietnam have really concentrated on thedevelopment of English for employees at the company Bluetech, JSC where theresearcher interned is not an exception Bluetech, JSC is a company specializingindustrial valve equipment, it has developed for many years and is currentlycooperating with a lot of foreign partners Therefore, the company always requiresthe employees to use English fluently Especially, Import and Export department is

a hub for connecting with foreign partners and customers and dealing withdocument, contracts and emails from foreign partners However, during myinternship, the author realized that the staff still encountered many shortcomings, sothe business letters were not handled correctly, which caused lots of inconveniences

to customers

Wishing to help all employees in the company to find out solutions to improvethis problem, as well as to build a solid foundation of writing businesscorrespondence skills, the author decided to conduct this research with the title

Here are some studies made by both foreign authors and Vietnamese authors

According to As Shafa Firda Nila (2017) said in ‘‘Problems in Writing English Business Letter: Errors and Factors’’, there are four classifications of

errors: morphological, lexical, syntactic and mechanical error These four of errorare divided into eight types: verb, noun, article, word choice, sentence structure,spelling, punctuation, and capitalization Also, there are three major factors thatcause these errors: language transfer, overgeneralization, and context of learning

As a result, the identified problems of error found in English business letter writingand explained the factors cause the problems

In term of the style in this topic, Malyuga EN (2012) in ‘‘Professional

have clear and unambiguous structure and the paragraphs of business letters tend

to be short, some only a sentence long He also added that business letters arenot read the same way as articles, reports, or other literature for detailed information

or analysis, therefore, paragraphs over ten lines in business correspondence mayrequire much concentration may not be read carefully or read at all

With respect to language and grammar peculiarities in business letter, Gillaerts

P (2008) in ‘‘Genre Variation in Business Letters: Linguistic Insights’’ proved that

choosing positive language will make our letter well-turned Business writers andspeakers recognize that positive, optimistic people are more open to newideas and change than unenthusiastic people Therefore, it is better to find positiveways to express bad news in business letters Often, business letters must give badnews which should be conveyed in a tactful way to reduce the chances of endingbusiness relations with the recipient of the bad news To convey bad news

positively some words are better avoided (e.g cannot, forbid, fail, impossible, refuse, prohibit, restrict, deny, etc.) He also added that in business letter, the verb

must always agree with subject No matter how many words separate the subjectand the verb, make sure they agree Moreover compound subjects always take a

plural verb (e.g The contract and financial statement are authorized by our CEO).

Shuhui Zha (2010) also mentioned language matter in business

correspondence in ‘‘Analysis of Language Features in Business Correspondences’’

proved that there are four basic characteristics of vocabulary in businesscorrespondences: using of terminology, polysemy, conciseness and formalness ofvocabulary, special usage of general words From this point, the author determinedstructures and format of business correspondences and stylistic features of businesscorrespondences

According to Vu Thi Huong Giang (2010) in ‘‘Analysis of Some Techniques

to Improve Writing English Business Letters’’, essential techniques in writing

English business letters are your attitude, positive emphasis, tone and language Tohave this conclusion, she gave theoretical background of definition, importance,purpose, format and some types of a business letter She also found out somecommon mistakes in writing English business correspondence

With the development of time, the studies on business correspondence aremore omnipresent both for English and other fields Almost research proved theuseful implementation of business email in working environment and the way toupgrade writing skills However, to develop the ability of creating an Englishbusiness email, the staff needs to understand about the difficulties that they have toface at first Thus, this thesis will focus on the difficulties in writing commercialcorrespondence which is researched to the staff in Bluetch, JSC.

1.3 Aims of the study

This study is being conducted in the hope that it is possible to recognize thedifficulties of the employees in writing business correspondence, so the writer willdelve into the difficulties in practicing writing skills and the common writingmistakes, along with their attitude in self-study From the gained factualinformation, the researcher attempts to find some practical solutions which mightimprove writing business correspondence skills in general More specifically, thestudy is an attempt to answer the following 4 questions:

 What are the difficulties of the staff in practicing writing businesscorrespondence?

 What are the common mistakes do the staff often encounter when writingbusiness correspondence?

 How is their attitude in self-study to improve writing businesscorrespondence skills?

 What are the solutions to improve writing business correspondence skills?

1.4 Research subject

Business correspondence writing skills is one of the most essential skills atwork because it plays a key role in processing transaction documents, contracts orbuilding relationships with customers But even long-term employees are notimmune to familiar mistakes while writing English, which is a problem worthconcerning There doesn't seem to be much research on this specific field Moststudies only focus on general English writing skills

The researcher conduct study on difficulties of the staff in writing business

and the employees will be the direct research objects to carry out this research Theresults of the study will also serve the company directly, it will contribute to helpthe company have an effective orientation to improve the writing ability of allemployees.

1.5 Scope of the study

This thesis studied the employees' reality of business correspondence writingability in Bluetech Company Because the ultimate purpose of this research is tofind out a better method to develop English letters writing skills for the employees

in the company, the study focuses only on surveying the staff of Bluetch., JSC, thenthe author drew lessons for all office workers in general

In addition, the research is going to specifically focus on the employees ofImport and Export department, because these people have to deal with a range ofEnglish letters every day, they have a better English level than the rest of thecompany Moreover, they are accustomed to a high-pressure environment andalways have to try their best to improve their English skills to achieve high workingefficiency

Secondly, the content of the questionnaire will be limited to research issuesabout obstacles while practicing writing business correspondence skills Theresearcher also suggests some practical solutions to solve the difficulties Theresearcher will therefore not deal with prob lems that are unrelated to these tworesearch matters This is no exception to some of the interview questions Theinterview question is directed only at a small number of participants and concernsonly the research issue mentioned above

At the same time, due to time and references materials constraints, this studycould not delve into all aspects of business correspondence, it only focuses onclarifying the difficulties that employees often face with and the way they self-study Discussions about the disadvantage of poor writing skills or other areaswould not be found in this study

1.6 Research methodology

Firstly, the design of this research was survey quantitative Survey designs areprocedures in quantitative research in which investigators administer a survey, asample to the entire population of people in order to describe the attitudes, opinion,behaviors, or characteristics of the population.

The second point is about the instrument of the research, it is the tool using tocollect the data from the respondent of the research In this research, the firstinstrument that the researcher used is questionnaire The questionnaire was aboutthe difficulties, the common errors as well as the way of self-study, and it wasdistributed to all the staff in the Bluetech Company Technique of Collecting Datawas applied To collect the data, the researcher asked the students for giving theirresponse by filling the questionnaire The answers in the questionnaire were themultiple choices It is refracted into A, B, C, D and E, the design of the answer is

drawn as Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree.

Thirdly, another data gathering instrument which was used in this study wasinterview The purpose of the interview was to consolidate the information gatheredthrough the questionnaire, so that the researcher could delve into the causes behindthe difficulties in practicing writing at workplace as well as self-study at home.Additionally, by giving the staff opportunity to report with their own words, theresearcher could gain some insights of their understanding and attitudes towardwriting skills

After collecting the answers from the participants, the researcher will removethe inappropriate answers and then use excel to calculate the number intopercentage Then, the calculated results will be presented as a chart showing thepercentage of those who share the same answer

1.7 Organization of the study

The study consists of four chapters as below:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study

This chapter provides a general overview of the study and is divided into 7sections, namely the rationale, the previous studies, the aims of the study, theresearch subjects, the scope of the study, the research methodology and the

Chapter 2: Literature review

In the second chapter, all the relevant theoretical background of the research ispresented The chapter provides the most complete knowledge base of businesscorrespondence

Chapter 3: Research findings

This chapter presents the results of the research In other words, after thequestionnaire was given to the participants, the figures which were collected formthe survey would be shown and analyzed in this chapter This is an important part ofall the study

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions

Form analyzing in previous chapters, the fourth one presents the summary andthe limitations of the study The recommendations and some suggestions forimproving the skills of writing business correspondence for Bluetech Company’employees would be also given

The study also consists of some other parts They are abstract,acknowledgements, table of contents, list of abbreviations, list of tables and charts,the conclusion and references and appendices as well

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Overview about business correspondence

2.1.1 Definition of business correspondence

To understand what the staff in Bluetech., JSC have to face when writingbusiness correspondence, it is necessary to consider some definitions related tobusiness correspondence, especially, parts in the research topic clearly which areBusiness English, writing skills, correspondence and business correspondence

First of all, in terms of ‘‘Business English’’, it is a part of English for specific

purposes and can be considered a specialism within English language learning andteaching, or a variant of international English Many non-native English speakersstudy the subject with the goal of doing business with English-speaking countries,

or with companies located outside the English-speaking world but whichnonetheless use English as a shared language or lingua franca Much of the Englishcommunication that takes place within business circles all over the world occursbetween non-native speakers In cases such as these, the object of the exercise isefficient and effective communication

Business English means different things to different people For some, itfocuses on vocabulary and topics used in the worlds of business, trade, finance, andinternational relations For others it refers to the communication skills used in theworkplace, and focuses on the language and skills needed for typical businesscommunication such as presentations, negotiations, meetings, small talk,socializing, correspondence, report writing, and a systematic approach [2

Secondly, about writing skills, we can simply skills understand that writing

means Writing skills include all the knowledge and abilities related to expressingideas through the written word The ability to clearly communicate ideas throughwriting is in high demand for employers in any industry Well-written documents,emails and posts can persuade customers to purchase a product or convinceinvestors to partner with a company Writing skills allow you to communicateclearly with others and create useful resources for the workplace Even professions

that don't focus on writing require written communication skills, from the initialapplication to daily tasks and record-keeping.

Technical knowledge about writing conventions, style guides and formattingfor different situations are also an important part of writing skills Knowing whatsituations call for different styles of writing and being able to set an appropriatetone over text are both important writing skills that any person can use at work

Thirdly, we go into clarify what correspondence is A correspondence is a

written form of communication between two parties In other words, it is way topass on ideas in writing So, what does correspondence mean in Business?Correspondence is a commonly used form of communication in business In thepast, correspondence was mostly exchanged through written physical letters ortelegraphs In today’s world, the definition of correspondence has expanded by theinclusion of digital media Correspondences may come in the form of letters,emails, text messages, documents, voicemails, notes, or postcards Correspondencesare important for most businesses because they serve as a paper trail of events frompoint A to point B Therefore, the law firm may require all employees to archivetheir correspondences so that they could be retrieved as a reference point forpending cases

The final point is Business correspondence We can understand that Business

correspondence means the exchange of information in a written format for theprocess of business activities Business correspondence can take place betweenorganizations, within organizations or between the customers and the organization.The correspondence refers to the written communication between persons Henceoral communication or face to face communication is not a businesscorrespondence

2.1.2 Parts of a business letter

In order to write a business letter, it is extremely essential to know thestructure of the letter, in other words, which parts are included in a business letter

We know that there are many types of business correspondence, but all of themfollow a certain structure, including twelve following basic parts

 Heading: This is the information of the sender, containing the name and the

postal address of the business, E-mail address, Web-site address, Telephonenumber, Fax number, Trade mark or logo of the business

 Date: It is the time (day, month, year) when the letter is written It normally

lies on the right-hand side corner after the heading There are two ways of writingthe date, the first is in the order of day-month-year, for example, 3rd April, 2020; thesecond is in the order of month-day-year, for instance, April 3rd, 2020

 Reference: This part is written on the left-hand corner of the letter, after the

heading It shows the information of letter number and the department from wherethe letter is being sent and the year, all of them are helpful for future reference Wecan write reference number as AB/HRDept /2020/13

 Inside address: It shows the information of the recipient, it includes the

name and full address of the person or the firm Letters should be addressed to theresponsible head like the Manager, the Principal, The Secretary, the Chairman, …The proper position for this part is on the left-hand side of the sheet below thereference number

 Subject: It is a brief statement mentioning the matter to which the letter

relates It should be clear, eye catching, short, simple, and easily understandable.Thanks to the subject, the receiver can quickly know what the letter is about Someexamples are:

Subject: Complaint about the Sharp washing machine

Subject: Your order No A123/4 dated 15th March, 2020

 The salutation (or greeting): It often begins with “Dear {Person’s name}.”

Once again, be sure to include the person’s title if you know it (such as Ms., Mrs.,Mr., or Dr) If you’re unsure about the person’s title or gender then just use theirfirst name For example, you would use only the person’s first name if the personyou are writing to is “Jordan” and you do not know whether they identify as male,female, or non-binary

 Body of the letter: This is the main part of the letter as it conveys the

actual message of the sender It is placed below the salutation The body of the letter

should be clear and simple to understand and it is basically divided into three maincategories:

 Opening part: The first paragraph of the letter must state the introduction of

the writer, it also contains the previous correspondence, if any

 Main part: This paragraph states the main idea of the reason for writing, so

it must be clear, concise, complete, and straight to the point

 Concluding part: It is the conclusion of the business letter It shows the

suggestions or the need of the action The closing of the letter also shows theexpectations of the sender from the recipient, the sender often shows that he islooking forward to getting a positive response The writer always ends his mail bycourteous words like thank you, warm regards, look forward to hearing from yourside, etc

 Complimentary close: It is a humble way of ending a letter and is typed

two spaces below the last line of the body of the letter It is written in accordancewith the salutation

Table 1.1: Some samples to write the complimentary close

Dear Sir/Dear Madam

Dear Mr Smith

My Dear Sarah

Yours faithfullyYours sincerelyYour very sincerely

 Signature: It places right below the complimentary close It includes the

signature, name, and the designation of the sender It can also consist of some otherdetails like contact number, address, etc The signature is handwritten just above thename of the sender, it should be legible too Sometimes, the name of the companycould be included below the designation of the writer if there is no letterhead is inuse

 Enclosures: Enclosures shows the document attached to the letter The

document can be anything like cheque, draft, bills, receipts, invoices, lists, etc Theyare listed one by one in serial number Enclosure is generally written in theabbreviated form For instance:

Encl: (i) Bill of the order AB124/3

(ii) The list of goods coming in the next month

 Copy Circulation: It is needed when the copies of the letter are sent to

other people who are involved in the matter It is denoted as C.C For example:C.C (i) The Director, Bluetech Company

(ii) The S&M Manager, Bluetech Company

 Postscript: The sender can mention it when he wants to add something

other than the message in the body of the letter It is written as P.S For example:P.S – Early payment will be discounted 10%

2.1.3 Common mistakes when writing business correspondence

Writing great business letters requires both attention to detail and formalEnglish It can be easy to mess up a business letter if you’re not careful Areas ofcommon mistakes are usually in the formatting and the use of language Here aresome common mistakes of writing business letters that the author collected

i) Unprofessional Formatting

The format of your letter is important because it is immediately noticeable.You want to get it right to make a good first impression Formal letters shouldinclude the date at the top, followed by the address of the company The text of theletter should be aligned left with spaces in-between paragraphs Be sure to use

an appropriate greeting and closing

There are many types of formats for business letters The user can check thebest format for your industry by doing a quick search online or reading a sampleletter written by a trusted colleague If you don’t feel comfortable formatting yourown letter, you can use a template

ii) Not Deleting the Template Examples

It is not uncommon for people to use a template To be clear, using a template

is not wrong, per se However, a common mistake is to forget to delete the sampleinformation from the template This creates confusion in the document due tomismatching pieces of information Thus, the only remedy against this faux pas isdiligence or the failure to use a template It is necessary to carefully review and edityour letter before you send it off

Using Informal Language

The very definition of a business letter is that it should use business English,which is formal or polite language In writing a business letter, only formallanguage is acceptable The nature of a business letter precludes it from manyforms, everyday writing and speech, which is primarily informal language Thus abusiness letter should utilize business English, which is not only official but alsorespectful

In a business letter, try not to use informal transitions and adjectives Forexample, instead of saying that a decision is crappy or annoying, you can say that it

is challenging And you can use words such as therefore instead of because, andlikewise instead of also

iii) Writing Too Many Idioms or Phrases

Knowing idioms and phrases is great for conversational English, but they aretoo informal to use in business letters Native English speakers do not usually usethese phrases in professional letters Therefore, only use expressions that areappropriate for business You can let your English skills shine in your writing byusing formal, appropriate phrases that are related to the topic of the letter

iv) Including Casual Greetings and Closings

Your greeting at the beginning is very important Many English learners makethe mistake of using the same informal greetings they use with friends, such as Hey

or Hi Thus, business letters should always reflect professionalism The bestgreeting is Dear followed by the person’s family name Common closings are Bestregards or Sincerely, followed by a comma

v) Failing to make a good impression

To effectively capture the reader, one must pay fine detail to two key parts of aletter, the introduction and conclusion A business letter sample must contain apowerful introduction and a good conclusion A commanding introduction willdraw the reader to the message being put across whilst a good conclusion serves toleave a lasting impression If your readers are not intrigued from the beginning,your document might not serve its purpose and may just be tossed away

To avoid this, write an interesting introduction and make the reader see theimportance of your letter Don’t forget the conclusion as well If your conclusion isgood enough, it will leave a long-lasting effect on the reader.

vi) Complicated jargon

Based on your target audience, use language that will be simple for them tounderstand and avoid using big words unnecessarily Simple understandableEnglish written in the correct format, grammar and free of any typos or slang willbenefit you and the reader

To better capture the readers, business letters need not contain a bombardment

of jargon that would render the letter hard to comprehend Readers desirefamiliarity, and can better digest content in which they can apprehend, other thanone which contains so many complicated terms that they feel put down Thus, anyforeign terms need to be expounded and the message would be direct

vii) Spelling Errors

Spelling mistakes can make your writing look unprofessional Misspellings areeasy to check, so when people see these errors they often discredit the entiremessage A lack of editing or proofreading shows that you are not serious about thecontent of your letter

If you’re unsure of the correct spelling, use an online dictionary If the word is

a business term that’s not in the dictionary yet, you can also do a simple onlinesearch The best way to avoid mistakes is to slow down and use spell-check (Ifyou’re sending an email, give the error-checking tool a chance to run before hittingSend.)

viii) Grammatical and punctuation errors

Everyone makes mistakes because of our imperfection, but this is not anexcuse for less than average work After writing a business letter, read through itagain or ask a colleague to proofread it for you

This will help you realize errors you may not have seen while you werewriting, or alternatively, you can use a comma checker to avoid punctuation errors.Remember that potential investors or clients will not have much confidence in your

ix) Long and intricate sentences

The use of long, complicated sentences only serves to bore and confuse thereader whose attention was divided anyway The more the content, the moredisheartening it is to read, and the more likely the reader will skim through it ratherthan adequately peruse through the letter

Your goal should be making your document as easy-to-read as possible so youshould space your lines and avoid writing lengthy sentences Use visuals likegraphs, charts, images etc if possible and leave some white space so the reader canread the content without a struggle The appearance of your document is also just asimportant so you should use the correct font and choose the font size wisely Ashort and to the point approach should be taken in the writing of business letters asthis ensures the message is conveyed in a timely and concise manner

x) Being Vague

Be specific and write the necessary statistics whenever it’s possible Avoidusing non-quantified sentences like “The Company made a lot of profit” but rather

specify in detail the amount of money the company made Additionally, vague

statements are often prone to misinterpretation To guard against this, it’s important

to wherever possible, quantify statements Specificity is crucial

2.1.4 Essential Qualities to write a good business correspondence letter.

Everyone should maintain the quality of the business letter The qualities of abusiness letter make it presentable It becomes easy for a person or an organization toimprint an impression onto the others The qualities of a business letter can beclassified as:

efficiency in handling its work Incorrect language spoils the message, distracts thereader’s attention and harms the image of the sender Completeness is dependentupon correctness A letter is complete when it presents all the necessary ideas.

(a) Correctness of details: It is necessary that the facts presented in a business

letter are correct One should not transmit any message unless one is absolutely sure

of its correctness If your message involves any legal matter, you should know thecorrect legal position before you commit anything

(b) Correctness of time : All messages must be transmitted and responded at

the most appropriate time Outdated information involves wastage of time, moneyand human resources

(c) Correctness of language : The letter should be correct from the language

point of view It means that the writer should be careful in spelling, grammar andother aspects of language use

(d) Correctness of format : The writer of a business letter should be careful

about format It means all the parts of structure of a business letter should be placedproperly Incorrect format creates wrong impression in the mind of the reader

(2) Clearness:

The message of the letter must be clear at the first reading Clearly writtenmessages avoid misunderstandings and also save time Clearness depends upon fourfactors:

1 The words should be simple, common, everyday words which everyone canunderstand There should not be excessive use of technical words Such wordsshould be avoided when writing to persons who do not have technical knowledge

2 The sentence should be simple and short Long sentences confuse thereaders and often confuse the writer also Phrases and clauses should not be added

(3) Conciseness/ comprehensiveness:

Conciseness means expressing much in a few words; using as few words aspossible In business writing it means keeping to the point, without sacrificingclarity or courtesy Conciseness can be achieved by:

- Leaving out unnecessary words

- Leaving out unnecessary details

- Reducing unimportant ideas and phrases to single words, if possible

A writer who is quite clear about what he wants to say and fully understandsthe information he has to convey, uses very few words Using more words thannecessity, makes the idea confused Brevity of expression wins the attention of thereader The writer should include only the relevant facts He should organize hismessage well before actually beginning to write the letter

(4) Courtesy:

In business, we must create friendliness with all those to whom we write Thefollowing principles enable us to achieve courtesy

Answer the letters on time: In business, it is a general practice to answer a

letter the same day it is received Sometimes one needs time to refer to differentdepartments for clarification of certain points In that case one should inform aboutthe received letter and inform the probable time, require to send a full reply

Omit irritating expressions : Some words and expressions are negative and

irritate the reader Expressions like, ‘you forgot’, ‘you failed’ etc are bound toirritate or hurt the reader

Apologise sincerely for an omission and thank generously for a favour: If you

have failed to do something, express your regrets promptly and make up, for theomission at the earliest If someone does a favour to you, acknowledge it promptlyand thank the person generously for being kind to you

(5) Coherence:

Coherence means logical connection between different parts of a businessletter In other words all the paragraphs of a business letter should be contributory toone another Usually a business letter is divided in three paragraphs Coherencemeans the first paragraph should lead the reader to the second paragraph andaccordingly the second paragraph should lead the reader to the third paragraph.Secondly he must have good command over language All three paragraphs should

look like parts of a single whole rather than individual unit Moreover, the ideasexpressed in a letter should be logically connected.

(6) Cheerfulness:

A business letter projects the personality of the writer In other words it carriesmoods, nature, likes and dislikes of the writer A business letter written in a sadmood fails to create effect on the reader’s mind The writer should select theappropriate time and condition to write a letter A letter should be written in acheerful mood

(7) Completeness:

This is a sum total of all other essential qualities A letter is complete only if it

is clear, courteous, coherent, cheerful, concise, correct and individualistic(character) Moreover a business letter is said to be complete only if it presents allthe necessary ideas

as given below

(1) Stationary: Business firm should take extra care while selecting

paper/stationary, for the purpose of writing a business letter The paper selected forthe purpose of writing a business letter, should be smooth, durable and white orlight in colour Dull paper spoils the image of the firm As business letters are to befiled and recorded for a longer period, the texture of a paper should also be of finequality

(2) Letterhead: A sheet of paper on which the firm’s name and it’s full postal

address are printed at top center is known as letterhead Letterhead also contains thesymbol of the firm Letterhead can be made attractive by limiting information to beconveyed

(3) Paragraphing: Paragraphing is not merely a matter of drafting It is a

into logical and readable units The business letter has three paragraphs, althoughthey are separate they contribute to one another It should give a unified impression

to the reader Each paragraph should be as long as is necessary to develop an idea

(4) Typing: Usually business letters are typed ones Typing should be neat

and even A good business letter must be free from typing errors There are noparticular rules regarding spacing, but the typed part should look balanced with theblank part The typist should make proper use of punctuation marks and correctspellings

(5) Margin: The typist should keep proper margin on all sides of the

letterhead Generally, a margin of inch and a half is kept on either side of a letter.Margin is also useful while filing a letter It enables proper filing of the letterwithout any loss of content

(6) Folding: It is our common mentality that folding of a leter is the least

important aspect of letter writing Generally, two to three folds lengthwise and one

or to folds widthwise are advisable

(7) Envelope: The envelope should match with the inside letter in terms of

colour, quality and size The most popular size of the envelopes are 3.5” X 5.5” forsingle sheet letters and 4.5” X 10.5” for letters with more sheets Window envelopeshave a transparent panel where the receiver’s address to be printed In case of suchenvelops the letter is folded in such a way that the inside address can be read fromoutside, which saves time and energy

2.4 Several types of business correspondence

Business letters are the most formal method of communication followingspecific formats The different types of business letters used based on their differentcontexts It is written the book Business Correspondence that there are common fivemain types of business correspondence They are: