Business letters are written when communicating with partners on almost any occasion. Ready-made examples and rules for drawing up such documents can be found in the article.

A business letter can be defined as a document that is sent on behalf of the entire company to another company, individual entrepreneur or individual (for example, an investor). Essentially, any company correspondence is business letters. Their purpose is very different:

1. about cooperation.
2. cooperation, negotiations.
3. A reminder of the need to fulfill obligations under the contract.
4. An explanation of your position, a response to a previously sent letter and many others.

The document is usually drawn up on company letterhead; it can be sent by regular or e-mail. However, if the partner is of special importance, it is preferable to print it on high-quality, thick paper and hand it over personally or by courier. The structure of the letter resembles a typical business document - you can schematically represent it this way.

What to pay attention to when drawing up

There are no specific rules or samples for such letters, so their structure, volume and design largely depend on the specific case. For example, a notification letter will be quite concise (3-4 paragraphs), but an employee recommendation or a business proposal may take more than one page.

However, there are also several general rules, which you should pay attention to when drawing up a paper:

1. The document itself does not have any legal force, but is drawn up according to all the rules of execution. Its structure and style of presentation must comply with generally accepted principles of modern document flow.
2. Sentences are constructed logically, in a clear sequence. Ornate, complex, emotional, and especially colloquial expressions are absent. The tonality is neutral.
3. The presentation is always carried out only from 1 person - either in the singular, if the text is written directly from the manager, or in the plural, if it is written on behalf of the entire company.
4. The specific purpose of the drafting and the expected actions of the addressee are spelled out (send a response, consider an employee’s candidacy, agree to negotiations, send a document, etc.).
5. The paper does not reflect the individual interests of the manager or other employees, but the goals of the company as a team. If you need to establish personal contact, it is advisable to do it differently and not position yourself as a representative of the company.

TOP 5 mistakes when writing

Errors can be divided into 2 large groups - some are associated with writing as a text (violation of logic, vocabulary, other language norms), others - with a violation of business etiquette itself:

1. Spelling and punctuation errors are not allowed - the text of the letter should always be checked at least 1-2 times before sending.
2. Violation business style presentation, the presence of emotional phrases, excessive politeness or, conversely, severity.
3. Negative tone - even threats must be written without unnecessary words- for example: “We reserve the right to go to court within 30 days from the date you receive this letter.”
4. Too large or, conversely, too small volume. Usually the entire text can be fit into 1-2 pages. However, this does not mean that all important information should not be conveyed to the partner. Volumetric data, diagrams, document forms can be included in applications.
5. Depriving the interlocutor of the right to choose. For example, you should not write: “We ask you to review and approve the final version of the contract.”

Typical template phrases

The use of standard phrases typical of business speech in the text is completely normal and even desirable. Below is a list of the most common clichés used in various situations.

situation	phrase
notice	We inform/Bring to your attention/Inform/Notify
explanation of the reason, motive	Based on/In accordance with/In connection with/For the purposes of/For reason/In support of/In pursuance
request	Please take action/Please inform, forward, do, confirm...
confirmation	We confirm/Assure/Accept your terms/We do not object to...
offer	We recommend/offer/invite/ask
	We guarantee
refusal	We are forced to refuse for a reason/We are rejecting your offer due to...
conclusion	We kindly ask/We hope for cooperation, understanding, assistance/We ask you to excuse, guide, do...

2019 samples

Here are a few ready-made examples letters that you can use as a guide when creating your own version.

Request data

Request

Commercial offer

Letter of guarantee

Claim

Gratitude

Apologies

Probably everyone has at least once had to deal with the need to write a business letter. When compiling it, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that it is not at all easy. There are many business letter writing rules and regulations that you need to know. The article describes in detail the process of drawing up a document, provides samples of business letters, and discusses their types and design.

Form

Ready-made forms will add solidity and indicate the reliability of the company. They contain the necessary information about the organization, such as:

• Name.
• Address.
• Contact phone numbers.
• Website.
• Email.
• Logo.
• Other contact details.

There are no strict rules regarding forms. Therefore, each organization independently decides what information to include in them.

How to write business letters correctly? Preparation

Business letters are written and formatted in a certain way, subject to their inherent rules and requirements. Depending on the goal, the author thinks through the content in detail in order to obtain the result he is calculating. He must clearly understand what information the addressee already knows about the subject of the letter, what to base it on and what will be new in it. The arguments depend on what goal the author is pursuing. The process of preparing a business letter can be divided into the following stages:

• Studying the issue.
• Writing a draft letter.
• Its approval.
• Signing.
• Registration.
• Sending to the recipient.

Structure of business letters

When composing a letter, it is necessary to saturate it with information, that is, put all the necessary information there. It can be simple or complex. In a simple letter, the content clearly and concisely conveys information that generally does not require a response from the recipient. A complex one may consist of several sections, points and paragraphs. Each paragraph presents one aspect of information. These types of business letter samples typically consist of an introductory, body, and closing section.

Below is an example of writing a business letter - its introductory part.

The main part describes situations and events, provides their analysis and evidence. It is in this part that they convince that they need to act in one way or another, prove how things were and inform about the need to participate in any event, giving various arguments.

The conclusion contains conclusions that are made in the form of proposals, requests, reminders, refusals, and so on.

An example of writing a business letter - its final part - is presented below. This summarizes the requirement stated in the main one.

All information provided should be optimally consistent and understandable.

Each letter begins with a centered address. This small part is extremely important. When choosing it, the author must consider:

• Addressee's position.
• The nature of the relationship.
• Formality.
• Etiquette.

There should be a polite form at the end of the letter. For example: “...I express hope for further cooperation (gratitude for the invitation)...” These phrases are followed by the author's signature.

Style

All letters must be written in an official business style, which means using formal language business relations. The features of such a language are formed under the following circumstances:

• The main participants in business relations are legal entities, on behalf of whose managers and officials letters are written.
• Relations in organizations are strictly regulated.
• The subject of communication is the activities of the company.
• Management documents generally have a specific addressee.
• Often, in the course of an organization's activities, the same situations occur.

In this regard, the information contained in a business letter should be:

• Official, impersonal, emphasizing the distance between participants in communication.
• Addressed, intended for a specific addressee.
• Current at the time of writing.
• Reliable and impartial.
• Reasoned to induce the recipient to perform any action.
• Complete for decision making.

Requirements

A business letter must meet the following requirements:

• Speech is standardized at all levels - lexical, morphological and syntactic. It contains many expressions, terms and formulas.
• The tone of writing is neutral, restrained and strict, without the use of emotional and expressive language.
• Accuracy and clarity of the text, without logical errors, clarity and thoughtfulness of wording.
• Conciseness and brevity - without using expressions that carry additional meaning.
• The use of language formulas formed as a result of repeated situations.
• The use of terms, that is, words or phrases that have special concepts.
• The use of abbreviations, which can be lexical (that is, compound words formed by removing letters from parts of words: LLC, GOST, and so on) and graphic (that is, word designations in abbreviated form: grn, zh-d, etc.).
• The use of constructions in the genitive and instrumental cases.
• Phrases with verbal nouns (“provide support” instead of “support”).
• Using simple common sentences.

The above business letter samples below are shown in full version(with the main part). The information meets all the requirements of an official business style.

Types of business letters

It is best to write a business letter on one specific issue. If it is necessary to solve several issues at once, it is recommended to draw up several different options.

Business letters can have the following content:

• Accompanying. Such letters are usually needed to inform you where to send documents.
  (How to write a business letter? A sample cover letter will help those who need to write this type of document.)

• Guaranteed. They are written to confirm any promises or conditions. For example, payment for work, rent, delivery times, etc. can be guaranteed.
• Thanks. They began to be used especially often in Lately. Such letters demonstrate good partnership tone. They can be issued on regular letterhead or on colored paper with a beautiful print.
  (How to write a business letter? A sample of the thank-you variety is drawn up in free form, depending on the tasks that it solves. In this case, the letter expresses its essence in the shortest form. Such a sample, made on colored paper with an ornament, can hang on the wall in the room company in a place of honor.)

• Informational.
• Instructive.
• Congratulations.
• Advertising.

There are also letters:

• Proposals for cooperation. Quite common in recent times, sent to organizations, are often of an advertising nature, for example, like this sample. It is quite difficult to write commercial letters; you need to take into account many nuances in order to get attention, and even more so, to become interested. But if you compose it according to the sample below, it has every chance of success.

• Invitations. They are sent, inviting them to participate in various events. They are usually addressed to the manager or official, but can also be addressed to the whole team.
• Requests.
• Notices.
• Requests and many others.

How to write a response to a letter. Example

The answer must begin by repeating the request stated in the first letter. Then the results of its consideration are given and approval or a reason for refusal is expressed. A business response letter may contain an alternative solution to the expected information. Typically it meets the following principles:

• Availability of a link to the first letter and its contents.
• Identical language means.
• Comparable scope and content aspects.
• Compliance with a certain sequence.

Decor

In addition to using corporate letterheads for business letters, it is necessary to take into account other subtleties when designing them. These are details, rules for abbreviations, writing addresses, headings, text length, field widths, and more.

Samples of a business letter help you compose it, taking into account all the subtleties and nuances. They are used by both beginning office workers and experienced workers. Thanks to the samples, they learn how to write letters correctly and save a lot of time.

According to GOST R 7.0.82013 “System of standards for information, library and publishing. Record keeping and archiving. Terms and definitions “addressee” is a document detail containing information about the recipient of the document (clause 67).

The “Addressee” requisite is used in business letters and internal information and reference documents (reports and memos, statements, etc.).

The “Addressee” details include:

• name of the addressee (recipient of the letter);
• postal address or telephone number, fax number, email address.

The recipient of the letter can be:

• official/several officials;
• organization;
• structural unit of the organization;
• group of organizations;
• individual.

ADDRESSEE - OFFICIAL

According to GOST R 6.30-2003, initials are written before the surname of any official. If the letter is sent to the manager government agency , then the name of the organization is included in the position, full name. are indicated in the dative case, the initials are written before the surname:

If the letter is addressed head of a commercial organization, then the position includes the name of the organization indicating the organizational and legal form (in full or abbreviated form), the initials are written before the surname:

If the letter is addressed deputy head, the name of the organization is included in the job title. The surname is indicated in the dative case:

If the addressee of the document is head of a structural unit, then first the name of the organization is indicated in the nominative case, then in the dative case the name of the person’s position indicating the structural unit, for example:

According to clause 5.15 of the new GOST:

• when addressing a letter to an official, the initials are placed after the surname;
• before the surname it is allowed to use the abbreviation “Mr.” (Mr.) if the addressee is a man, or “Ms.” (Mrs.) if the addressee is a woman:

ADDRESSEE - ORGANIZATION

If the letter is addressed to an organization, then its name (full or abbreviated) is indicated in the nominative case:

When addressing a letter to an organization, indicate its full or abbreviated name, for example:

Addressing to an organization is used in cases where the sender does not know who the head of the organization is, his last name, initials.

ADDRESSEE - STRUCTURAL DIVISION

The document can be addressed to a structural unit of the organization. As a rule, this method of addressing is possible if the consideration of the issue to which the letter is devoted is within the competence of the structural unit.

When addressing a document to a structural unit of an organization, the name of the organization is indicated in the nominative case in the “Addressee” requisite, below - the name of the structural unit in the nominative case, for example:

What does GOST R 7.0.97-2016 change? Nothing.

ADDRESSEE - INDIVIDUAL

Registration of the “Addressee” details when conducting correspondence with individuals has its own characteristics. First, indicate the surname in the dative case, then the initials and then the postal address:

What does GOST R 7.0.97-2016 change? Nothing.

ADDRESSEE - SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS
OR STRUCTURAL DIVISIONS

A business letter can have several addressees. GOST R 6.30-2003 establishes a method for generalized formatting of addressees when sending letters to several homogeneous organizations or to several structural divisions of one organization. There are two options for designing props here.

Option 1: indicate several addressees in the “Addressee” attribute itself. This design option is used when the letter is addressed to an organization or official (this is the main addressee) and, for information, to a number of other organizations or officials.

Addressing is formalized as usual in the upper right corner as a listing of the “Addressee” details for each body/organization or structural unit of the organization.

Wherein total There should be no more than four recipients.

All addressees are drawn up on the document itself; the word “Copy” is not indicated before the 2nd, 3rd and 4th addressees.

In this case, all printed copies of the letter are signed as originals. Each copy is sealed in a separate envelope, on which the postal address of a specific organization or structural subdivision is written.

Option 2: indicate the addressee in general, if we send a document to a group of organizations (heads of organizations) of the same type or to structural divisions (branches, representative offices, etc.) of one organization:

If the number of recipients is more than four, an additional list for mailing the letter (mailing list) is compiled, which indicates specific recipients and their addresses. A note about this is made in the “Addressee” attribute:

There is no approved form for the letter mailing list. The form of the sheet can be fixed in the organization’s office management instructions. In fact, the mailing sheet is the “Addressee” attribute transferred to a separate sheet, which means its content must correspond to this attribute. The “Addressee” detail contains three information blocks: name of the organization, position, initials and surname. In the mailing list for the letter, we reproduce the same information blocks, but place them in a line, and not by right side leaf. You can also arrange the data in table form. The order of the recipients can be arbitrary, but it is better to arrange them alphabetically.

Information about the outgoing letter number and date is entered after its registration (Example 1).

All letters sent to a group of recipients have one outgoing registration number; the incoming number for all letters will be different.

What does GOST R 7.0.97-2016 change? Nothing.

PLACING THE “ADDRESSEE” DETAILS ON THE FORM

The “Addressee” detail is located in the upper right part of the document (on a form with angular details) or on the right under the form details (on a form with longitudinal details). The location of the “Addressee” requisite is shown in Appendix B to GOST R 6.30-2003:

• on a form with corner details - Example 2;
• on a form with the details arranged longitudinally - Example 3.

What does GOST R 7.0.97-2016 change? Nothing. The “Addressee” attribute remains in the same place.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

• Should the elements of the “Addressee” props be separated by intervals?

The “Addressee” detail usually takes up several lines.

In clause 6.1 Methodological recommendations on the implementation of GOST R 6.30-2003 (approved by Rosarkhiv) it is said that the details of a document consisting of several lines are printed with one line spacing. The components of the details “Addressee”, “Document approval stamp”, “Mark of the presence of an application”, “Document approval stamp” are separated from each other by 1.5-2 line spacing.

A similar norm is contained in the new GOST R 7.0.97-2016 in section 3, establishing General requirements for the production of documents: “Multiline details are printed with one line spacing, the component parts of the details are separated by an additional spacing”:

• How to align the “Addressee” attribute?

The multi-line attribute “Addressee” is designed aligned along the left border of the zone occupied by the attribute, or centered relative to the longest line, for example:

People have been writing letters to each other since time immemorial. From letters one can judge a person’s character, his education, hobbies, and most importantly, how well he speaks the language in which he writes. Those who study a language will sooner or later be faced with the need to learn how to write letters in English correctly. English language.

The letter may be needed when entering a higher education institution abroad, when passing language exam, when applying for a job. But not only in the world business communication It is important to know how to write a letter in English. Informal correspondence can also have an impact on your life, communication with friends and acquaintances. Your letters will be used to judge you by those who read them. Do you want to leave a good impression? We will introduce you to the basic rules of correspondence in English. It's also worth repeating. Before you start writing a letter, you need to determine for what purpose you are doing this, and therefore determine the type of letter.

Types of letters in English

All letters can be divided into personal (Personal letter) and business (Business letter). We talked about correspondence with business partners and the main taboos of business correspondence earlier, today we will discuss the rules of personal correspondence in more detail. Are there general strict rules for writing letters in English? If we are talking about personal correspondence, the answer is obvious - no. In business documentation and communication with business partners, letter templates in English are often used. Personal correspondence is your own business, forgive the tautology. And yet, there are a few tips that will help make correspondence more enjoyable for you and the person with whom you are having an epistolary conversation. In addition, if you are new to the world of English, it is still better to try writing your first letters using templates.

Of course, stream of consciousness is a good thing, but only in the works of Joyce. If you want your letter to be read to the end, respect the addressee. Try to make the text easy to read. The structure of writing in English is the same important element, as well as the meaning you put into written words.

As a rule, a letter contains the following structural elements:

• request – separate line
• a short introduction (in which you can refer to previous contacts, previously written letters, etc.) - a separate paragraph
• main part – several paragraphs
• conclusion – separate line
• the final phrase is a separate line
• signature (name only) – separate line
• in the upper right corner you should indicate the author’s address and the date under the address

We offer a sample letter in English, with the following structure:

The form of address always depends on the degree of familiarity with the person you are addressing in the letter. Let's give a few examples.

• Dear John! – appeal to a friend, relative
• Dear Sir- an appeal if this John is your boss. Official appeal.
• My dear Sir – an address that can be used ironically in personal correspondence
• Dear Mr. Smith- an official address to a stranger (you don’t know who John is)

Tip 3. A few important points to pay attention to

1. If you do not know the gender of the recipient, write his full last name: Dear T.K. Spinazola

2. If you don’t know which abbreviation is better to use: Miss or Mrs, since you don't know if the woman is married, use a neutral Ms.

3. If you are writing a letter to two people, include both names in the address.

4. These messages cannot be shortened: Professor, Dean, Governor, Captain, Admiral, JudgeSister, Senator

5. These addresses should never be used in full Mr., Ms., Mrs. and Dr.

In order to write a letter correctly the first time, it is a good idea to have a sample letter in English at hand.

Template phrases for writing letters

5 introductory phrase templates:

• It was great to get your letter….
• Thanks for your letter. It was great/lovely to hear from you.
• Thanks for your long letter. It was really great to hear all your news, after not hearing from you for ages….
• Sorry I haven’t written for so long but….
• I was really pleased to hear that…

These phrases are neutral; you can start a letter with them to any addressee. Sometimes it can be difficult to find words, especially if you are not writing in your native language. Template phrases will help you structure the text of your letter and correctly formulate your thoughts.

5 Closing Phrases Templates:

• I would really like you to visit me this summer. Write to me and tell me your plans.
• Please give/send my regards (love) to your….
• And write and tell me your plans for….
• Write back soon!
• If you want to know anything else, just drop me a line.

Template for a letter asking for advice (5 options):

• I am writing to ask for your advice
• Can you give me your advice?
• I've got a problem and I need your advice.
• What do you think I should do?
• Do you think I should...?

Phrases for different letters:

We wish you only good and warm letters!