MODULE: 2

Business Correspondence
Importance of Business Letter:
Business correspondence is an integral part of a business. A good letter must create an interest in
the reader’s mind. It must appeal him so that it will be read with adequate attention and interest. It
must create a good will in his mind. A thoughtless letter written carelessly will create a bad will
which is harmful to the business of the writer. A business letter has all the advantages of written
communication in that it is a permanent legal document; it can be stored and referred to when
required.

Important things involved in a letter:

 Format,
 Grammar,
 Punctuation,
 Openings and
 Closings.
(A business letter is not the place to try out fancy fonts or experimental writing styles)

LANGUAGE AND STYLE: The language used in business writing has to be formal one. It is
different from literary language. Heavy words should be replaced by simple and easy words. Use
positive and direct Statements. Show courtesy and consideration for the reader. A good style would
be a combination of elegance, flair, brevity, clarity, economy, vigor and completeness. The tone of
the communication should be appropriate enough to win trust and respect for the communicator.
Avoid Verbosity (an excessive number of words) and Participial (consisting of participles) ending.
Avoid Jargon (use of Technical terms), Cliché (language that has been overused over a long period
of time i.e. stereo type) and Slang (Casual spoken language like cool, ok, fine etc.)

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 PRINCIPLES OF CORRESPONDENCE:
7 C’S IN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENCE

CLARITY:

Clearness adds to the quality of writing. A business writer has to be clear about the purpose of writing.
His thinking should be clear without any confusion as to what he is going to express, to whom it is
being addressed and what should be the body or the content. The message should be adequately
expressed in such a language that can be understood by the reader without any difficulty.

COMPLETENESS:
It is necessary to write the message completely so that it should achieve its purpose. Completeness
in message helps to avoid the further correspondence. It is advisable to prepare plan or check list
before starting to write a message. It saves further unnecessary correspondence involving time,
energy and cost on the part of both the sender and the receiver.

CORRECTNESS:
The writer should ensure that the matter he is going to write is correct in its content to the best of his
knowledge. Correct facts, figure, diagrams, formulae, names should be ensured. Wrong data, fake
information should not be given to impress the reader. Secondly, he should use grammatically correct
language, the correct spellings and the correct sentence patterns along with the correct punctuation
marks. Thus, the correctness of the language of correspondence can be achieved.

CONCISENESS (exactness):
Conciseness of the message means avoiding unnecessary details in the correspondence. The message
should include only such matter that is relevant or most essential to be conveyed in the context.
Conciseness in writing needs accurate planning and organization of thoughts.
The letter should not be too lengthy nor should it be too short and inadequate. The length of business
writing should be adequate enough to understand the matter comprehensively.

COURTESY:
This is an essential part in effective communication. It should reflect respect for the reader. The tone
of every piece of business writing must be a polite one. A writer can spoil good business relations
just by using a rude or impolite tone in his business correspondence. Courtesy ensures goodwill of
the organization. Besides good words, prompt responses also work as courtesy.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
CONCRETENESS
Concrete communication implies being particular and clear rather than fuzzy and general.
Concreteness strengthens the confidence. Concrete message has following features:
 It is supported with specific facts and figures.
 It makes use of words that are clear and that build the reputation.
 Concrete messages are not misinterpreted.

CONSIDERATION:
It is seventh C of seven Cs of communication. While writing a business letter, we must be considerate.
We need to consider the condition of the reader and our priority. By considering our organization, we
have to write a professional business letter. A considerate tone will reduce the gap of communication
and prove beneficial. The study of above cited seven Cs of communication will help us to write a
perfect business letter.

YOU ATTITUDE:
This is a modern consideration to official correspondence used to persuade the reader to take an
appropriate action. It is used to give more importance to the reader. Every business writer writes not
only for himself but also for his reader. In fact, a business correspondence becomes more effective
when he writes from the reader’s point of view. In modern times, the reader is placed at the center of
the situation and is more respected and persuaded to act as desired by the writer. The ‘You-attitude’
emphasizes the receiver’s interests and shows that the writer or the speaker is concerned about the
receiver.
A writer can use the pronoun ‘You’ instead of ‘I’. It is more than just using ‘you’ and ‘yours’ instead
of ‘we’ / ‘I’ or ‘Ours’.
Instead of writing,
“We are happy to inform you that…”
You can write,
“You will be happy to know that...”

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 LETTER FORMAT

Complete block style (Full block style):

 In this format, all parts are observed starting from the left hand side.

 The paragraph is not indented. (i.e. no space from margin).

 It follows double spacing between the paragraphs.

 Open Punctuation is used. i.e. No comma or full stop in the Address, Date, after Salutation
and Complimentary close.

 Subject of the letter can be written in the left align.

 This format is widely used in business world as it looks elegant and saves time.

 But the letter is imbalanced and is very heavy on the left side.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 Parts of a letter/Structure
Essential parts:
 Letter head (Sender’s address),
 Date,
 Inside address (Receiver’s address),
 Subject
 Salutation,
 Body of the letter,
 Complimentary Close,
 Signature

Optional parts:
 Reference,
 Attention,
 Identification marks,
 Enclosures,
 Copy to,
 P.S:
 Each part has a proper place in the letter.

Essential parts
Heading (Return Address):

The heading is positioned at the center of the top of the page which consists of the logo of the
company, name of the organization, postal address, phone number, email address, website etc. If you
are using a plain paper it is positioned usually on the right hand corner.

Date:

The date is inevitable part of the business or official letter. The date provides legal validity to a
business letter. The position of the date line also differs from layout to layout. Leave two blank lines
after the Letter head. In Complete block date is left align while in Semi block and Modified; it is in
the right align.

No ordinals are used to write date.

The date is written in the following way: 20 March, 2017

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
Inside Address:

Leave two blank lines after the date. Then type the address of the person or company to whom you
are writing. The inside address shows the name and address of the recipient of the letter. This
information helps prevent confusion. Also, if the recipient has moved, the inside address helps to
determine what to do with the letter. In the inside address, include the appropriate title of respect of
the recipient; and copy the name of the company exactly as that company writes it. When you do
have the names of individuals, remember to address them appropriately: Mrs., Ms., Mr., Dr., and so
on. If you are not sure what is correct for an individual, try to find out how that individual signs letters
or consult the forms-of-address section in a dictionary. Don’t use ‘To’

Salutation:

The salutation line consists of the greeting addressed to the recipient. The salutation is generally
positioned two or three spaces below the inside address.
Type Dear, followed by the person's name. End the line with a colon (:) or comma (,). If you don't
know whether the recipient is a man or woman, traditionally you write "Dear Sir" or "Dear Sirs" and
just not worry about it.

Body:
Make sure that each paragraph is clear and concise.
The first paragraph of a typical business letter is used to state the main point of the letter. Begin with
a friendly opening; then quickly transition into the purpose of your letter. Use a couple of sentences
to explain the purpose, but do not go in to detail until the next paragraph. The paragraph will state
the reason for the communication. It may: Acknowledge previous correspondence, refer to a meeting
or contact, provides an introduction to the matter being discussed.
Example:
(1) Thank you for your letter of…
(2) It was good to meet you again at last week’s conference
(3) We wish to hold our annual conference at London hotel in September 2017.
Do not use: Myself, John … instead write I, John…
Beginning with the second paragraph, state the supporting details to justify your purpose. These may
take the form of background information, statistics or first-hand accounts (transaction data
maintained in general book). A few short paragraphs within the body of the letter should be enough
to support your reasoning.
Finally, in the closing paragraph, a simple one-line closing sentence is usually all that is necessary to

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
conclude a message. This should be relevant to the content of the message.
Example:
I look forward to meeting you soon,
I look forward to seeing you at next month’s conference,
a prompt reply would be appreciated,
Please let me know if you need any further information.
Closes such as the following are incomplete and should not be used:
(1) Hope to hear from you soon, (Instead use I hope to…)
(2) Looking forward to hearing from you (instead use I look forward….)

Complimentary Closing:

Leave two lines of space after your last body paragraph, then use a conventional closing, followed
by a comma or depends on type of letter.
Note: Sir = Yours faithfully, Name of person = Yours sincerely. Don’t use Apostrophe (‘s) while
writing Yours. You can design your own, but be careful not to create florid or wordy ones. Notice
that only the first letter is capitalized, and it is always followed by a comma or depends on type of
letter.

Signature Block:

Usually, you type your full name four lines below the complimentary close, signature and then
your name and at last mention your designation.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 Optional Structural parts

Reference:

This is given so that the receiver can refer to the previous letter. It is written as Ref: It is placed
below date. The reference line facilitates in keeping the record of received/sent letters. The
reference consists of initials of the department which is corresponding, serial number of the
letter and date or year of writing letter. For example: No.34/Aug. 2017/Dept. of CS

Attention:

The attention line facilitates the organization to forward the received letter to that specific person
or a specific department. It is suggested as Attn: and it is placed two spaces below the Inside
address and two spaces above the salutation. It contains the name of the person or department
whose attention is to be drawn.

For example: Attention: Dept. of English and also if required name of the concern person.

Subject:
It helps the reader to understand the topic of the letter by merely reading the subject. It is placed
below the salutation and just above the body of the letter or in between Inside address and
Salutation. It is placed at the Left margin in Complete Block and Modified Block. While in Semi
Block form it is at the centre.

Abbreviations at the end of a letter

Enclosure:
It is given below the signature in the left side. It is indicated as Encl: It informs the incoming
mailing department that the letter is having additional documents attached to it.

Carbon copy or copy to:

It is indicated as C.C: This is carbon copy notations that tell the receiver who the other
receivers of the letter are.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
Identification Marks:

The identification initials should contain the initials of the person who dictates and the typist,
who types the letter. It is presented in capital letters. This is types on the left hand corner at
the bottom of the layout of the letter. Example: JR/SN

P.S: Post Script:

This part of the letter has almost become redundant in the era of computers where pasting
messages, inserting any bit of information into the main body of the letter is possible. Earlier,
P.S (Post Script) made possible inclusion of any piece of information, which the writer had
forgotten to include in the main message and which was important from the writer’s point of
view. However, insertion of P.S. implied carelessness on the part of the writer who had not
planned his message properly.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 E- MAIL
E-mail: is the short form for electronic mail. It is a method of composing, sending, storing, and
receiving messages over electronic communication systems.

Netiquette: "Netiquette" stands for "Internet Etiquette", and refers to the set of practices
developed over the years to make the Internet experience pleasant for everyone. Like other forms
of etiquette, netiquette is primarily concerned with matters of courtesy in communications.
Netiquette for example requires internet users not to send unsolicited commercial e-mail or spam
to large numbers of other users. Many Internet Service Providers and discussion groups ban
users who consistently violate these rules.

Good Email Etiquette

 Avoid using SMS language.

 Use standard language respecting its formal grammar rules.
 Compose and edit your messages carefully, formally as they create your image.
 Observe all formal essential parts of letter writing.
 Treat email messages as other written documents
 Observe social norms by avoiding use of socially unacceptable slang, taboo words.
 Always be polite in delivering and replying your messages.
 Put short messages in subject line.

 Be sparing with graphics and attachments.

 Workplace email is for business only.

 Typing all capitals is considered shouting.

 Use bullet lists for brevity and clarity.

 Always include your name in the message.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan
 Avoiding Bad Email Etiquette
 Never assume privacy with company email.
 Don’t use cute or suggestive email address for business communications.

 Don’t send chain letter.

 Don’t send large attachments.
 Don’t flame people by sending them abusive email messages.
 Don't reply to an email message when angry, as you may regret it later. Once the message
has been sent, you will not be able to recover it.
 Don't type in CAPITALS as this is considered to be SHOUTING. This is one of the rudest
things you can do.

Instructions to send Email

1. Open your e-mail program and launch a new message window by clicking on the
appropriate icon.
2. In the TO box, type the name of the recipient. It should take this form:
contact@learnthenet.com.
3. Write your message in the message window. ...
4. Click the Send icon or select Send from the File menu and off it goes to the recipient.

What is CC and BCC?

In e-mail terminology, Cc stands for "carbon copy" and Bcc stands for "Blind carbon copy". The

difference between Cc and Bcc is that carbon copy (CC) recipients are visible to all other recipients

whereas those who are BCCed are not visible to anyone.

Business Correspondence
Notes Compiled by- Dr. Khushbu Trehan