How to Format and Write a Simple Business Letter

People write business letters and emails for a variety of reasons such as requesting information, to conduct transactions, to secure employment, and so on. Effective business correspondence should be clear and concise, respectful in tone, and formatted properly. By breaking down a business letter into its basic components, you can learn how to communicate effectively and improve your skills as a writer. The Basics A typical business letter contains three sections, an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.   The Introduction:  The introduction indicates who the writer is addressing. If youre writing to someone you dont know or have met only briefly, the introduction may also a brief reason of why youre writing. Typically, the introduction is only a sentence or two in length.The Body: The letters body is where you state your business. This section may be as short as a few sentences or several paragraphs in length. It all depends on the degree of detail necessary to describe the subject at hand.The Conclusion: The conclusion is the final section where youll  call for future action. This can be a chance to talk in person, to request additional information, or to conduct a transaction. Like the introduction, this section should be no more than a sentence or two and must make clear what you would like from the person reading your letter. The Introduction The tone of the introduction depends on your relationship to the letter recipient. If youre addressing a close friend or a business colleague, using their first name is acceptable. But if youre writing to someone you do not know, its best to address them formally in the greeting. If you do not know the name of the person youre writing to, use their title or a general form of address. Some examples: Dear personnel directorDear sir or madamDear Dr., Mr., Mrs., Ms. (Last name)Dear Frank (use this if the person is a close business contact or friend) Writing to a specific person is always preferred. Generally speaking, use Mr. when addressing men and Ms. for women in the greeting. Only use the title of Doctor for those in the medical profession. While you should always begin a business letter with the word Dear, doing so is an option for business emails, which are less formal. If youre writing to someone you dont know or have met only in passing, you may want to follow the greeting by providing some context for why youre contacting that person. Some examples: With reference to your advertisement in the Times...Im am following up on our phone call yesterday.Thank you for your letter of March 5. The Body The majority of a business letter is contained in the body. This is where the writer states his or her reason for corresponding. For example:   I am writing to inquire about the position posted in The Daily Mail.I am writing to confirm the shipment details on order # 2346.I am writing to apologize for the difficulties you experienced last week at our branch. Once you have stated the general reason for writing your business letter, use the body to provide additional details. For example, you may be sending a client important documents to sign, apologizing to a customer for poor service, requesting information from a source, or some other reason. Whatever the reason, remember to use language that is courteous and polite. For instance: I would be grateful to meet with you next week.Would you possibly have time for a meeting next week?I would be delighted to give you a tour of our facility this coming month.Unfortunately, we will have to postpone the meeting until June 1.Enclosed you will find a copy of the contract. Please sign where indicated. It is customary to include some closing remarks after youve stated your business in the body of the letter. This is your opportunity to reinforce your relationship with the recipient, and it should just be a sentence. Please contact us again if we can help in any way.If you have any questions, feel free to call me.You can also use the closing to request or offer future contact with the reader.I look forward to hearing from you soon.Please contact my assistant to schedule an appointment. The Finish The final thing all business letters need is a salutation, where you say your goodbyes to the reader. As with the introduction, how you write the salutation will depend on your relationship to the recipient. For clients that youre not on a first-name basis with, use: Yours faithfully (if you dont know the name of the person youre writing to)Yours sincerely, (if you do know the name of the person youre writing to. If you are on a first-name basis, use: Best wishes, (if youre acquaintances)Best regards or Regards (if the person is a close friend or contact) Sample Business Letter Kens Cheese House34 Chatley AvenueSeattle, WA 98765October 23, 2017Fred FlintstoneSales ManagerCheese Specialists Inc.456 Rubble RoadRockville, IL 78777Dear Mr. Flintstone,With reference to our telephone conversation today, I am writing to confirm your order for: 120 x Cheddar Deluxe Ref. No. 856.The order will be shipped within three days via UPS and should arrive at your store in about 10 days.Please contact us again if we can help in any way.Yours sincerely,Kenneth BeareDirector of Kens Cheese House

Heart of Darkness A Character’s Walk to a Station

This passage, told from the viewpoint of a character, describes said character’s walk to a station. On the way, he encounters a group of dying black people, overworked and starved, as well as a spotless white man. The passage is mainly concerned with giving thorough descriptions of each, and thus establishing a direct contrast between the two appearances. This passage is told from a first-person point of view, and the narrator is clearly a figure involved in the story. In fact, at least in this passage, the speaker is the central character, recounting his story to the reader. The passage is written in past tense, which further adds to the impression that the story is being directly recounted to the reader by one of the characters, who has†¦show more content†¦The narrator speaks of him as a â€Å"vision† and â€Å"miracle†, and he seems rather unreal to the reader as well. This man also seems to bring up the theme of how important it is to â€Å"[keep] up [one’s] appearance.† – to the reader today, this mention almost brings up a feeling of bitter humor, as it seems like a ridiculous concept to walk around in a â€Å"high starched collar† when a few steps away dozens of people are dying. This may convey some of the colonial attitudes of the time. As the passage is told from the point of view of a person in the story, the reader also gets conveyed much of the narrator’s opinions. One thing that is very noticeable is that while the narrator is â€Å"horror-struck† at the sight of the dying people, he never once adopts a tone of pity or evokes a feeling of sympathy – he simply moves on – as if the spectacle, while terrifying, were something natural, and normal. This demonstrates the attitude of the times to the reader – the narrator instead respects the white man with the flawless appearance: â€Å"I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair.† The author not only appeals to the reader’s sense of color, but also to that of hearing. Upon entering the forest, the speaker hears â€Å"an uninterrupted, uniform, headlong, rushing noise† – again, the author has used a series of adjectives to provide aShow MoreRelatedWilliam Conrad s Heart Of Darkness And Lord Jim, And The Importance Of Being Earnest1763 Words   |  8 Pagesâ€Å"To Live is to Be†: Existentialism in Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, and The Importance of Being Earnest During the modernist era of literature; a recurrent theme was prevalent in their works of art. The idea of existentialism revolving around the notion that you first experience life before you can begin to exist and understand yourself. This ideology stemmed from the main fear of the era; the end of the century. The fear of the unknown; the fear of what was to come in the following century (if itRead MoreModernism And Existentialism1814 Words   |  8 Pageswhile you might have certain values in life there are moments that will either solidify them or change them. Therefore, experiences rather than internalized beliefs are what makes a person who they are. For example, in the works of Conrad; Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim, and Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, all the characters struggle with a certain perception of themselves. They all have internalized ideas of who they want to be or rather who they think they are but through the novels

Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor Free Essays

Introduction to Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor by Karen L. Enz Though a short novel, Wise Blood is a dense and complicated one with various levels of meaning. Many readers are confused and shocked by the novel as there is a distinct lack of likeable characters and there is much violence. We will write a custom essay sample on Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor or any similar topic only for you Order Now A key element in understanding the novel’s construction and meaning is to understand the literary influences on Flannery O’Connor. Flannery O’Connor was deeply influenced by Roman Catholicism that informed her own religious sensibility which echoed in her literary voice. Her religious views envisioned a deeply flawed world that could only be redeemed by the intercession of grace. Her Southern origins brought that vision into high relief with her use of casts of grotesque characters who were often involved in violent incidents. She subjected her characters to microscopic evaluation of their religious and existential obsessions. To lighten its dark tone, Flannery O’Connor utilized her masterful satiric wit to increase the spectrum of the colors in her literary canvass. A second influence was O’Connor’s intense exposure to the predominant literary style, New Criticism, which was at its apex during the middle of the twentieth century. New Criticism was a complicated formulaic style that often utilized dense symbolism, paradox, irony, tension and ambiguous meaning, all hallmarks of O’Connor’s writing. New Criticism also professed that a work was to have a high degree of unity and self-containment. If we see Wise Blood through both O’Connor’s religious sensibility and its permeation in New Criticism, the structure and meaning of the novel fall more easily into place. Haze Motes, (note the symbolism of his name hazy vision and mote in the eye) is a the epitome of the religiously obsessed individual. The more he professes unbelief, the more unsure and shortsighted he becomes. The ultimate paradox occurs in his blinding, when he finally realizes his need for redemption. The text is rife with symbolism, much of it religious. The sky is permeated with clouds that look like a simplified God’s beards and curls, roadside pigs that are symbols of the devil, a shrunken man who was a symbol a false idol, an old Essex which was symbolic of a search for meaning and homecoming, and glasses that obscure vision. Some critics see the novel as a condemnation of modernity in its cult of shallow self-absorption and nihilistic pursuits. Haze is so focused on his pursuit of unbelief that he fails to see anything around him, including the needs of Enoch (who is driven by instinct â€Å"wise blood†) and Sabbath. A satiric note is sounded in Chapter 7, which can serve as a microcosm of the novel, when Sabbath receives a letter from Mary Brittle (note the symbolic nature of the name) who advises Sabbath â€Å" Perhaps you ought to re-examine your religious values to see if they meet your needs in Life. A religious experience can be a beautiful addition to living if you put it a proper perspective and do not let it warp you. Read some books on Ethical Culture. † Sabbath, though she is trying to seduce Haze, can be seen as a Christ figure in that mentions â€Å"I can save you, I got a church in my heart where Jesus is king. † Haze is unconvinced and he drives off leaving behind a blinding white cloud that turns into a bird with long wings that disappears in the opposite direction. Wise Blood is a complicated and multi-faceted novel that is not for the faint of heart. For those who can plumb the novel’s meaning, it can challenge and inform. How to cite Wise Blood by Flannery O’Connor, Essay examples

The Minutemen and Their World free essay sample

The Great Awakening of the 1 asss and sasss greatly affected colonial society prior to the American Revolution. In Robert Grooms novel The Minutemen and Their World these changes are stated specifically for the town of Concord. These changes are also contributed to helping lead the town to support the revolution. But, in the same sense, the American Revolution helped to remove the changes set to the town by the Great Awakening. Concords population was spread out over many farms and much land around the center of the town.The families who lived far from town, sometimes called the outlives, had too far to travel to the school and church in Concord to attend theses on a regular basis. This problem and the coming of the Great Awakening both pushed the dividing of opinions throughout Concord. The first issue Was in 1738, when Concord Was forced to fire their current minister because he drank too much. These local problems were momentarily put on hold with the emergence of the aspect of a Revolution.The unity required to overcome the enslavement by the British Crown was much more important to the people of Concord than their somewhat meager problems and bickering. The main aspect behind the peoples will to remain free was that they wished to retain and protect their traditional life, however by fighting to protect that life, Gross would point out that the Concordia in effect opened themselves to change. The changes the Revolution had on the people of Concord were the building blocks of our democratic society as we know it today. By joining together to overthrow the crown the people of Concord overcame the barriers of residence and Men in all ranks of the society wanted to protect their freedom, therefore after the Revolution the strict rules concerning the elitist model of government in Concord rarely existed. Gross points out that after the Revolution the newly elected delegate was sent a strict set of rigid rules for him to follow in 63). With new emphasis placed on the people and their rights, politics was rarely about religious status anymore but more about equal representation.Also, after the revolution, Gross point out that by 1 790 there are no slaves in Massachusetts. With the Concordia fighting for their freedom in the Revolution, it would be typical for the Concordia to see enslavement of any persons as hypocritical, when that is the very the inning they were fighting against. Agriculture also was stabilized by reform and intensive farming. This resulted in a richer social life and landscape. Generally, the contest between generations was abated and sons continued with their families instead of moving away.All in all, a richer economic and social attitude ensued the people of Concord after the Revolution, however not right away. It can be thought that with the closer look at Concord, Gross means to represent Concord as a model of a normal colonial town during the Revolution. The characters in the book give the reader a sense of why the people in this town chose to revolt. By representing the people of Concord and their reasons to fight, Gross effectively represents all of the colonies who fought in the Revolution; As Gross puts it in his book, The Concord fight was an incident in a wider war.