Business letters are formal paper communications between, to or from businesses and usually sent through the Post Office or sometimes by courier. Business letters are sometimes called "snail-mail" (in contrast to email which is faster). This lesson concentrates on business letters but also looks at other business correspondence. | Business Letters in English Business letters are formal paper communications between, to or from businesses and usually sent through the Post Office or sometimes by courier. Business letters are sometimes called "snail-mail" (in contrast to email which is faster). This lesson concentrates on business letters but also looks at other business correspondence. It includes: letter memo fax email Who writes Business Letters? Most people who have an occupation have to write business letters. Some write many letters each day and others only write a few letters over the course of a career. Business people also read letters on a daily basis. Letters are written from a person/group, known as the sender to a person/group, known in business as the recipient. Here are some examples of senders and recipients: business «» business business «» consumer job applicant «» company citizen «» government official employer «» employee staff member «» staff member person «» person Why write Business Letters? There are many reasons why you may need to write business letters or other correspondence: to persuade to inform to request to express thanks to remind to recommend to apologize to congratulate to reject a proposal or offer to introduce a person or policy to invite or welcome to follow up to formalize decisions Formatting Business Letters Block format is the most common format used in business today. With this format, nothing is centred. The sender's address, the recipient's address, the date and all new paragraphs begin at the left margin, like this: 1 Wicked Wax Co. Ltd 22 Charlton Way London, SE10 8QY « SENDER'S ADDRESS « may be printed company logo and address 5th December, 2006 « DATE Ms. Maggie Jones Angel Cosmetics Inc. 110 East 25th Street New York, NY, 10021 USA « RECIPIENT'S ADDRESS Your ref: 123 Our ref: abc « RECIPIENT'S REFERENCE (IF ANY) « SENDER'S REFERENCE (IF ANY) Dear Ms. Jones, « .
