EXAMINING ENGLISH BUSINESS LETTERS

Now let's turn to the practical point of writing business letters. They  may be divided into official and semi-official. The first kind of letters is characteristic  of  those  people working in  business:  an executive,  a department manager,  a salesman, a  secretary  or  a  specialist  in   business   and technology. But also many people may want to buy something, to accept an invitation or to congratulate somebody - this  is  a kind of semi-official letters.  The first kind  of letters may in turn be subdivided into such groups as:  inquiries, offers, orders, and  so  on.  I  am  going  to examine this group more carefully looking at the correspondence of Chicago businessmen and English manufactures.

Example 1.

MATTHEWS & WILSON

Ladies' Clothing

421 Michigan Avenue

Chicago, III.60602

Messrs GRANT & CLARKSON

148 Mortimer Street

London WIC 37D

England                                  October 21, 1993

Gentlemen:

We saw  your  women's  dresses  and suits at the London Fashion Show held in New York on October 17.  The lines you showed for teenagers, the  "Swinger"  dresses  and trouser suits would be most suitable for our market.

Would you kindly send us your quotation for spring and  summer clothing that  you  could  supply  to us by the end of January next. We would require 2,000 dresses and suits in each of  the sizes 10-14,  and  500 in sizes 8 and 16.  Please quote c.i.f. Chicago prices. Payment is normally made by letter of credit.

Thank you for an early reply.

Very truly yours,

P.Wilson.Jr

Buyer

.

This is undoubtedly an import inquiry letter. In the first part of a  letter  there  is  a  kind  of  introduction  as  a prospective customer  approaches supplier for the first time ,and it  is  from  this  part  that  we  found  out  that   the correspondents are engaged in textile industry.

The second   part   expresses   request   for   detailed information about the goods in question, their prices and terms of possible transaction.

In this   example   we   come   across  the  abbreviation concerning the terms of delivery, that is commonly accepted  in the business  world.  It is interesting to know what this kind of abbreviations means:

c.i.f. - cost, insurance, freight.

If consignment  is  to  be  delivered  according to c.i.f., then the supplier insures  the  goods  and pays for the whole delivery.

f.o.b. - free on board.

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