ENGLISH FOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

(EWC662)

GROUP ASSIGNMENT

LECTURER’S NAME :

MADAM RUSILAWATI BT AMIRUDDIN

PREPARED BY :

1 SITI NUR FATEHAH BT MAZLAN 2017174917

2 NUR NAJWANI BT BAHARIN 2017322869

3 SUFEENA NURSHIKIN BT SUZUMAN 2017147681

4 NORAZLIN SHAFIQAH BT ZAINAL ABIDIN 2017117361

1. QUALITIES OF GOOD BUSINESS LETTER

A good business letter can be your public relations officer (PRO). Well-written and

imaginatively drafted letters can play the role of a salesman, a relationship officer, an

ambassador and a PRO for business establishments. This is true especially for small

businesses which cannot afford to employ people specifically for carrying out these

functions.

Let us now briefly discuss the requisites or essentials of a good business letter.

1. Clarity:

A letter must have clarity. The underlying message should be expressed in clear

terms. Care should be taken to avoid ambiguity. The purpose of communication should

be made clear. Whether it is to inform, invite, reiterate, emphasize, remind, announce,

seek participation or clarity and correct the earlier message, the purpose should clearly

be stated.

If a letter writer is writing a letter on behalf of somebody else, it should be done after

obtaining clear instructions. There are occasions when one may receive a letter

informing the date and the venue of a meeting without an accompanying invitation or

request to attend.

The reader or the receiver of the communication, in such an instance, will be in a

dilemma. Is the invitation intended and implied but not specifically stated? Or is the

letter just meant to be informative and no invitation is being extended? One way or the

other, the message should be clear.

Just imagine the embarrassment that is caused when people not meant to be invited

turn up at the venue and have to be turned back or when people who have to attend

the meeting feel there is only intimation and no invitation and hence fail to turn up!

When this happens due to lack of clarity in communication, any business suffers.

2. Impact:

The letter should create the necessary impact. Behind every letter there is an objective

and the letter should have a clear purpose. The purpose of writing a letter is not just

to reach out to the customer. Every letter has an intended impact which must be felt.

To create the desired impact, it is often necessary to lay emphasis. Emphasis can be

laid in many ways. It can be done by proper positioning—placing them in an important

position. It can be done by repetition.

It can be done by underlining or using a larger type or font. Similarly, to create the right

impact, the letter writer should address the letter to the right person. The right person

is the specific person who is the target of the communication, and whose action or

response the business considers to be of value.

Creating an impact also calls for establishing an appropriate wavelength. The letter

writer should write keeping in view the skill, knowledge, and status and comprehension

ability of the reader or the addressee.

Yet another requisite of an impact-creating letter is coherence. It is necessary to use

words, phrases and clauses clearly, so as to form balanced sentences. Coherence

seeks to establish a proper relationship and links sentences to make the intended

message clear. Coherence brings consistency and orderliness to the encoded

message.

3. Relevant Information:

The letter should provide the relevant details forming part of the message. Facts,

figures, illustrations and other such information, which are accurate and reliable, as

well as relevant to the context of the communication, should be incorporated in the

letter.

The principle of communication that we are referring to here is also known as

adequacy or completeness. A communication can be said to be complete only when

it contains all the facts and details which the receiver needs to know in order to respond

or act on the basis of that communication.

Not giving all the required details leads to protracted correspondence, loss of

customers or lack of response. Worse still, although non-submission of full details

maybe due to an oversight or inadequate attention to details, the receiver may infer

that there is a deliberate attempt to withhold or conceal facts and figures.

Imagine a letter received from a departmental store announcing the opening of a new

branch and seeking your patronage that does not give details of the new address or

timings. Another requirement of a business letter is concreteness.

A communication is said to be concrete when it is specific, definite and to the point

and not vague and generalized. Often the letters are so rambling in nature that one

can imagine the reader screaming, ‘Please come to the point and be specific.’ A

concrete letter does not ramble and is sharp and focused.

4. Brevity:

Any good communication—oral or written—should necessarily incorporate this

essential feature. Brevity is a very important attribute for any business letter. For

everyone connected with business, time is of essence.

The time that one can allot for reading business letters is certainly limited. The receiver

does not have unlimited time to spare towards reading and re-reading the letter and

drawing out the message in its entirety.

On the contrary, any business letter is competing with a huge mass of business-related

and other communication targeted at the receiver, waiting to catch attention and time.

Recognizing this, any business will have to value the receiver’s time. Brevity in letter

writing, therefore, is a must. Long letters, whatever are their merits, are often kept

aside for ‘later reading’. Brevity in communication is also referred to as conciseness.

Conciseness refers to the skill of conveying what one wants to convey in the fewest

possible words, without sacrificing completeness or courtesy. Conciseness eliminates

unnecessary words and phrases, repetitive sentences and keeps the letter focussed.

A good letter makes economical use of words. Brevity is a skill that a business

communicator must develop. As people move up in an organizational hierarchy, their

ability to condense messages into brief and focussed letters counts for a lot.

In typical bureaucratic and hierarchical work situations, one can see the ‘drafts’ of

letters prepared by the junior staff moving upwards tier by tier ‘for final approval’ and

much time and effort are wasted if brevity is not ensured.

2. FORMAT FOR MEMO

Company Name Company Address Date of Memo

Engineers and scientists use memos to make requests, to give announcements, and sometimes to communicate reports. Memos that make requests or announcements are read quickly. For such memos, get to the point in the first paragraph--the first sentence, if possible. In other words, state what you want up front. In the format suggested here, you should single space your memos and use a serif typeface. Skip a line between paragraphs. The following link shows this format in a pdf display. In memos that make requests or announcements, keep the sentence lengths and paragraph lengths relatively short. Sentences should average fewer than twenty words, and paragraphs should average fewer than seven lines. Also, keep the total memo length to under one page, if possible. Sometimes companies use memos to communicate short reports (two pages or more). For these types of memos, the format changes, as shown in the following example. For instance, you often include illustrations, attach appendices, and break the memo's text into sections. If references arise in the memo, you include a list at the end. In memos that act as reports, the style changes as well. For instance, the sentences and paragraphs are typically longer than in memos that simply provide announcements or make requests. For all types of memos, space your memo on the page so that it does not crowd the top. Also, send copies to anyone whose name you mention in the memo or who would be directly affected by the memo. Finally, remember that final paragraphs of memos that make requests or announcements should tell readers what you want them to do or what you will do for them.

Attachments.

Copy to: Name to Receive Copy Name to Receive Copy

*Initials should be written in ink

To:

From:

Subject:

Recipient of Memo

Writer of Memo Writer's Initials*

Title of Memo in Initial Capitals

3. FORMAT FOR EMAIL

Subject: Enquiry about Conference Centre Timings

Dear sir/madam,

I am writing to enquire about the timings for the conference centre at {place}. Our company is hosting a delegation from {place} and is interested in booking the centre for an important corporate event on {date}. I checked your website but could not find the information I require.

If you could kindly send across the timings when the conference centre is available, we can design an itinerary at the earliest and share the schedule with you to initiate the booking procedure.

Looking forward to an early response.

Thanks, {Your name} {Phone nmber} {Designation, company}

4. FORMAT FOR LETTER

Your Name Your Job Title Your Company Your Address City, State Zip Code Your Phone Number Your Email Address

Date

Recipient Name Recipient Title Recipient Company Recipient’s Company’s Address City, State Zip Code

Dear Mr./Ms. Last Name,

Title

I would like to invite you to attend our upcoming Liberal Arts department job networking event. The event will be held on the afternoon of February 1, 20XX. We wish to provide our graduating seniors with an opportunity to meet business leaders in the area who may be looking for new hires who hold degrees in the Liberal Arts.

The event will be held at the Cox Student Center at Northern State University, and will last about 2 to 3 hours. If you have an interest in attending or sending a company representative to meet with our students, please let me know at your earliest convenience and I can reserve a table for you.

Thank for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.

Respectfully,

Your signature (hard copy letter)

Your Typed Name Your Job Title

5. MEMO OF ENQUIRY

Branding Sdn Bhd Jalan ampang 23, 43000

Selangor 15 march 2019

To : Mr. Baron, From : Killua Zoldyck, Executive Director Subject : ENQUIRY ABOUT THE PRICE When we attended the Jakarta Fair (PRJ) in Kemayoran in July, we visited your booth and we are very interested in your product is water paint brush motors. We are very interested in old motorcycles during a demonstration painting be like new again and be dimensional colour. Quality can rely on for the long term. We believe that the consumer market is ready to accept paint. We have a store in Bogor. Our store already has many branches with well-recognized name in the ranks of motorcycle accessories shop. Can you send us a price list and literature of this cost? either way, we are pleased to provide general credit and a great appreciation for the customers if we decided to order from your company.

Management department

6. E-MAIL OF ENQUIRY

Dear Sir or Madam

I read on your web site that you offer Music CD copying for large quantities of CDs. I’d

like to inquire about the procedures involved in these services. Are the files transferred

online, or are the title sent by CD to you by standard mail? How long does it usually

take to produce approximately 500 copies? Are these any discount on such a large

quantity?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I look forward to your response.

Your faithfully

Jack Finley

Sales Manager, Young Talent Inc.

(709)567-3498

7. LETTER OF ENQUIRY

Golden Gate Engineering

Prince Square, Prince Street, Kowloon

23 July 2010

Pro Skills Training Centre

Jubilee Building

Silver Road

Wan Chai

Dear Sir or Madam

Enquiry about Quality Control Course

I am writing to enquire whether your company could offer a course on Quality Control

for our managers.

I saw your advert in the HK Daily on Thursday, 22 July 2010, and the Quality Control

Training Course (Ref : QC 101) mentioned in the advert might be suitable for us. I

would like to know if it is possible for you to offer a 3 month training course starting

before or, at the latest, on Tuesday, 10 August 2010, for a group of 20. Could you

send us some information about the teaching staff and the possible schedule for this

course.

I am looking forward to receiving you reply.

Yours faithfully

Chapmen au

Chapmen au

Managing Directors

8. EMAIL REPLY TO INQUIRY

Dear Mr. Williams,

Thank you for inquiring about our new email marketing enterprise application. A team

member will contact you tomorrow with a detailed explanation of the product that fits

your business need.

Thanks again for your inquiry.

Sincerely,

James Burton

9. LETTER REPLY TO ENQUIRY

THE BIG CO.

Cilegon

West Java

Your ref : DS/RC

2 July 2009

Our ref : DL/RC

THOMAS Co. Ltd.

Regrent Street 435

London W.i

Dear Madam

Re : Request for catalogue

Thank you for your inquiry letter of 25 June 2009 and interested in our advertisement.

As requested, we enclose herewith the latest illustrated catalogue together with price

list and the terms. Dispatch of product will be sent after we receive yours order letter

in two weeks and we could give 3% cash discount in 30 days from invoice date.

We are looking forward to your order soon

Yours faithfully

Mr. Gardon

Marketing Manager

10. MEMO OF PROCUREMENT

To : Widgets Inc. Pittsburg Office Accounting Department

From : Widget Inc. CorporatelT (ISD)

Date : 9/12/2011

Re : New Computer

ISD has received to purchase new computers for the Pittburg’s Accounting

department. However, not all of the requests have been made through Widgets

procurement/chain web site.

We like to stress that using the new chain supply websites is easy and allows for

quicker turnaround time. As we learned in the training sessing, the websites is easily

accessible from our internal Widget internet via the “Chain Supply” link. To use :

1. From you desktop Click the “intranet” icon

2. Log into the Widget Intranet using your user name and password

3. In the upper right hand corner click “Chain Supply Form”

4. Fill out the form with your requests, information such as name, address and

phone will auto complete.

Thank you for supporting out new system!

11. EMAIL OF PROCUREMENT

To: Kim Gun <kgun@kc-e.com>

Cc: All Staff

From: Jack Long <jlong@kc-e.com>

Subject: Welcome to our Team!

Dear Kim,

Welcome to our Team!

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the staff of KC Electronics. We are excited to have

you join our team, and we hope that you will enjoy working with our company.

On the first Monday of each month we hold a special staff lunch to welcome any new

employees. Please be sure to come next week to meet all of our senior staff and any

other new staff members who have joined us this month. Alice Peters will email you

with further details.

If you have any questions during your training period, please do not hesitate to contact

me. You can reach me at my email address or on my office line at 340-2222.

Warm regards,

Jack

Jack Long, Sales Manager

KC Electronics

jlong@kc-e.com

Tel: 340-2222

12. LETTER OF PROCUREMENT

711 Purdy Street

Jesup, IA 99393

(000) 999-9996

May 10, 2018

Mr. Jim Carey

Manager Human Resources

Ace Inc.

3901 Morningside Road

Jesup, IA 91111

Dear Mr. Carey:

This letter and enclosed resume are with reference to the advertisement for the position of a Procurement Manager at Ace Inc. I would like to offer my services for the same as my qualifications and experiences are in-sync with your requirements.

I am presently working for Almonds Galore where my job as a procurement manager provides me the exposure to a lot of things in a single working day. Since this position requires that a person is organized and result oriented, I work hard to manage the logistics of supplies and goods procurement. I have had great success in achieving cost reduction for my company by employing purchasing techniques that I believe very few people in this industry grasp of. With my strong negotiation skills, I consider myself a breed apart whether it is managing everyday work or picking up new projects to do.

Moreover, I am highly skilled in preparing purchase requisitions, approving and issuing purchase orders, coordinating vendor activity, and negotiating service agreements.

I will be on Morningside Road on Monday for some procurement work, and I am wondering if we may meet up and discuss this employment option. If you are not free on Monday, please let me know, and we can set a meeting time at your convenience.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, (Signature) James Hall

13. EMAIL REPLY OF PROCUREMENT

14. LETTER REPLY OF PROCUREMENT

Star Trading co. Ltd

Station Road, Chittagong

10th March, 2012

Purchase Manager

EYE VIEW ELECTRONICS

12, Bijoy Sharani, Tejgaon, Dhaka

Sub: Execution of Order dated March 1st 04

Dear sir,

We are pleased to inform you that we have dispatched your Ordered 500 TV sets as per your specification. Those TV sets have been manufactured with best technology and delivered through Karnaphuli express Train having special packaging. We hope our product will meet your satisfaction.

As the credit terms are 2/20, net 40, we will appreciate proper remittance from you. For your convenience, we have sent Invoice and Railway Receipt (RR) through standard chartered Bank, station Road Branch, Chittagong. You can receive’ such documents from Standard Chartered Bank, Head office, Dhaka

We thank you for this order and hope to be benefited with your further order-in consideration of the quality of our product, please confirm the arrival of goods sharply.

We assure you of our best services and co-operation at all times.

Yours faithfully,

Probir Roy

Sales Manager

Star Trading co Ltd.

15. MEMO OF COMPLAINT

Inspire Electronics Center

Jakarta, Indonesia

Official memo

To: All Employees

From: Muhammad Lutfi, Manager

Date: June 21st, 2013

Subject: Farewell Ceremony

It is used to tell you all that the farewell ceremony in honour of Aldi Dafian, Assistant Manager, will be held at 07:00 PM on June 25, 2013. All people in this company are required to attend the ceremony.

MEMO

Dear Sir,

Thank you very much for the shipment you have made yesterday, but when I unpacked the new refrigerator. I received from you, I surprised to see that, it was red colour instead of while colour as specified in the order (invoice no: 1234). I am expecting customer on October 25; I would like to have this white colour refrigerator before 25 October 2012. I should appreciate your taking care of this matter as quickly as possible and tell me what should I do with the red one.

Very truly yours

Signature

Purchase department

16. EMAIL OF COMPLAINT

To: howard@mail.com

Subject: Complaint regarding cookies and chips with receipt number T 6789

Dear Mr. Howard,

I had purchased a box of cookies and a packet of chips from your outlet located at 23

Regina High Road, New York, New Jersey 4578 on 10th of March 2012. The receipt number of the purchase is T 6789.

When I reached home and opened the box of cookies I found that they were all crushed and as a result I could not eat the cookies and throw them in the dustbin. I have been purchasing products from your outlet since last two years but have never faced such problem. I am very dissatisfied this time and I want a complete refund of my purchase.

I would be highly grateful if you could look into the matter and make an arrangement for the refund of my purchase amount. I would request you to take immediate action.

Regards,

Scot Ridley

17. LETTER OF COMPLAINT

AJ Bregman

8 Kennedy Circle

Sydney

NSW 2010

11 November 2015

Customer Services Manager

Evans Electrical Products

7 Swan Street

Sydney

NSW 2011

Subject: Easy Iron Electric Iron (Model No. 2279)

Dear Sir or Madam:

I wish to express my dissatisfaction with the above iron, which I purchased from

The Electrical Store in Newtown on 10 October 2015. On using it for the first time, I

found that the temperature control was faulty; it was not possible to set it for any

temperature apart from the highest, for cotton.

When I attempted to return the iron to the store, the cashier said that the store was

unable to replace it or offer me a refund but advised me that it could be sent away

for repair. As I need an iron on a daily basis, and it was not clear how long a repair

would take, this option was unsatisfactory. As the iron clearly does not function as it

should and therefore does not comply with the legal standards of product quality, I

am writing to you to ask for a full refund of the £35.99 retail price.

I look forward to hearing from you within the next two weeks.

Yours truly,

Jenny Hawkins

18. EMAIL OF ADJUSTMENT

To: Martin Si (Marin_Si@TTA.com.hk) From: CustomerService@MTB.com.hk

Date: 20 May 2014

Subject: Complaints about a day trip

Dear Mr Sir

Thank you for your email dated 18 May, regarding the day trip on 9 May. We very much regret that you are so dissatisfied with our service. We have investigated your complaint about the driver arriving late at the pick-up point. The driver has explained that his watch was out of order, but of course, he should have consulted the office clock, and has been given an official warning not to let this happen again. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to your company and the tourists. We will take every step to make sure that this does not occur again.

In the email, you also mentioned that the air-conditioning system only worked sporadically during the bus trip, making the passengers uncomfortable. We are terribly sorry about that. It is due to the lack of maintenance. Therefore, after the trip, we immediately examined and fixed the air-conditioning system and other parts of the bus. We have also enforced our policy to examine and fix the buses more frequently. Please accept our apology.

For your inconvenience, we would like to offer a partial refund to all the passengers, as you have suggested. However, before that, I would like to clarify a few points first. I greatly regret the trouble that your company has been put through due to the delay of the tour, and I fully understand the dissatisfaction of the passengers, but it is not our policy to cancel or skip any activity listed on the itinerary. We admit that the guide might be a bit impolite. However, he was just doing his duty to ask the passengers to do some shopping because shopping at the jewellery shop was listed on the travel schedule.

Therefore, I am sorry we cannot agree to offer a refund amounting to a total of $2,050. Instead, we would offer a total of $1,025 to all the passengers. May I once again express our regret about the inconvenience caused to your company and all the passengers, and thank you for taking the time to write to us. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time if you have any further criticisms or suggestions. We look forward to serving you again in the near future and guarantee our best services at all times.

Yours sincerely

Chris Wong

Customer Service Representative

19. LETTER OF ADJUSTMENT

Isolve Computer Repair 125 J. Urgello StreetSambag I6000 Cebu City May 13, 2014 Mr. Pedro Dela Cruzas Managing Partner Wana, Sevilla, Kong and Associates Pardo 6000 Cebu City Dear Mr Dela Cruzas: We received the claim letter you’ve sent last May 12, 2013 and regret the inconvenience that it has caused the operations of your Accounting firm. Our company will find a way to help you avoid in encountering this problem. After the investigation, we found that the error was due to the volume of files stored in your computer that results to computer performance interruptions. To address the problem, we will provide you with our technician to address the problem. We advise for you to check the data storage meter in your computer often. Thank you for letting our company know your concerns. This will help us in the advancement and upgrading of our services to our clients. Sincerely yours, Mr. Juan Dela Cruz Mr. Juan Dela Cruz Head- Consumer Complaints Department

20. LETTER OF RESIGNATION

AJ Bergman 209 20th St NW Grand Forks, MN, 56300 (407) 554-8922

February 16th, 2017

Tessa Mae YMCA Family Center 211 Demers Ave Grand Forks, MN, 56730

Dear Ms. Mae,

I, AJ Bergman, present to you this letter of resignation from my current position of children’s counselor at the YMCA Family Center, effective February 30th, 2017.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for the years of enjoyable and fulfilling employment. I have learned a lot during my time here and will be leaving with many great experiences and fond memories.

I would be happy to help find a replacement and train them, as I know this is somewhat short notice and out of the blue. I hope you realize my quitting is in no way a reflection of your ability to manage, but I must move on for personal reasons.

Best regards,

AJ Bergman

AJ Bergman

References

1. 11+ Memo Format Apa. (2018, May 22). Retrieved from Shawn Weatherly:

http://shawnweatherly.com/11-memo-format-apa/

2. 5+ Complaint Email Examples & Samples – DOC. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.examples.com/business/complaint-email.html

3. Ayush. (2018, May 5). HOW TO REPLY EMAIL PROFESSIONALLY

SAMPLES. Retrieved from https://topformtemplates.com/how-to-reply-email-

professionally-samples/

4. Doyle, A. (2019, May 14). The Best Formatting for a Business Letter.

Retrieved from Careers: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-format-a-

business-letter-2062540

5. Examples of Inquiry, Order, Complaint, Application Letter and Memo. (n.d.).

Retrieved from http://alvinochristian.blogspot.com/2013/10/examples-of-

inquiry-order-complaint.html

6. Jay. (n.d.). Adjustment Letter Sample. Retrieved from Scribd:

https://ar.scribd.com/doc/234531627/Adjustment-Letter-Sample

7. Kadu, D. (n.d.). 10 Essentials of a Good Business Letter? Retrieved from

Share Your Essays: http://www.shareyouressays.com/letters/10-essentials-of-

a-good-business-letter/111738

8. Mehra, I. (2014, November 19). Retrieved from SlideShare:

https://www.slideshare.net/IshitaMehra/salesvfvf-promotion-letter

9. Sample Cover Letter for Procurement Manager. (2018, May 10). Retrieved

from https://coverlettersandresume.com/manager/sample-cover-letter-

procurement-manager/

10. SAMPLE EMAIL TO SUPPLIER. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.maine.edu/about-the-system/system-office/facilities-management-

and-general-services/strategic-procurement/sample-email-supplier/

11. Sample Memo Format. (2007, May). Retrieved from

http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/workbooks/memo_format.html

12. Sample Welcome Email for New Staff. (n.d.). Retrieved from English Club:

https://www.englishclub.com/business-english/correspondence-welcome.htm

13. Santia, D. D. (2019). ORDER LETTER AND COMPLAINT LETTER IN

BUSINESS LETTER. Retrieved from

https://dinadwisantiaa.blogspot.com/2016/11/order-letter-and-complaint-letter-

in.html?m=1

14. Smith, L. (2015, March 31). Best Practices for Optimizing Order Confirmation

Emails. Retrieved from https://litmus.com/blog/best-practices-for-optimizing-

order-confirmation-emails

15. Stephanie, C. W. (2015, March 4). An Email of Adjustment. Retrieved from

https://www.carmelss.edu.hk/buddingwriters/archives/2007

16. Team, N. C. (2019, April 29). How To Write A Formal Email? (Email Format

and Samples). Retrieved from Naukri Blog: https://www.naukri.com/blog/how-

to-write-a-formal-email-format-and-samples/

17. Yey, R. (2016, December 26). INQUIRY & REPLYING INQUIRY LETTER.

Retrieved from https://reynaldiskom.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/inquiry-

replying-inquiry-letter/