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VOCABULARY for Today's Podcast
(to) look forward to - (to) be eager about a future event
(the) near future
- soon
(to) study abroad
- (to) study in a foreign country
politely
- in a manner that shows consideration for others
appropriate/appropriately
- suitable to the occasion or situation
(a) formal letter
- a letter written
in a formal style, that is, with conventional language, sentence structure
and punctuation. A business letter
and letter of application are all examples of "formal letters".
snail mail
- Mail that
is written on a piece of paper, inserted into an envelope, and mailed via
conventional means. It is referred to as "snail mail" since it takes
longer for the recipient to receive than email does.
hydrangea- A beautiful bush
(the) greeting
- (the) beginning of a letter, in which the recipient
is named and addressed
(the) salutation
- (the) beginning of a letter, in which the recipient is named and addressed
(the) body - (the) part of a letter that contains the main message
prior
- at an earlier time
(to) compliment
- (to) say something nice
to somebody about that person
(the) opening
- (the) way in which something, such as a movie or a play, begins
(to) comment on (something)
- (to) make mention of (something) and indicate an opinion about it
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Dear Help Desk!
How to Begin a Business Letter!
Dear Listeners,
The ESL Help Desk
is glad that you have stopped by! The ESL Help Desk is a unique podcast for learners of English because all of our
examples and activities are based on authentic language, either written or
spoken by others learners of English.
Our
Library contains audio stories, grammar and communication lessons. If you
are taking an English as a Second Language class or are learning English on
your own, the ESL Help Desk has something for you!
The Help Desk invites listeners to share their questions about English
with us.
I have recently had a very interesting communication with a new listener
and I would like to share our communication with you all in this podcast,
the topic of which is "How to Begin a
Business Letter".
Yours truly,
Jane
The ESL Help Desk
Dear Help Desk,
I have been enjoying your podcasts and look forward
to each one. In your podcasts you have invited us to share our
questions with you, and I would like to take advantage of your offer, if
you don't mind.
I have written a letter in English only
once or twice, but in the near future I want to send letters to foreign
universities. I would like to study abroad after graduation, so I'd like to know how
to write English letters politely. I'm particularly interested in
how to begin and end the letter.
Sometimes I send emails in English, and
I usually end the email with "bye".
I know that "sincerely", "love" and "yours"
are used to end letters but I don't
know how to use these appropriately.
Bye.
Daisuke
Dear Daisuke,
Thank you for sharing your question with the Help Desk. Yours is an
important question and I am sure that many others are wondering the same
thing: How to appropriately begin and end a formal letter. I hope my
answer will help you as well as others with a similar need.
Be aware that the culture of
email is very much different from the culture of written
correspondence. There are some similarities, however, and what I
write here can be used both in formal paper correspondence as well as
formal email correspondence.
There are two parts of the
ending of a letter, one is the "Complimentary Closing" and the other is
the "signature", and you are primarily interested in the complimentary
closing.
First of all, "bye"
is rarely used in written communication; it is mostly used in oral
communication. "Love" is definitely not appropriate for a formal
letter. although I did receive an email recently from an associate in the
United Kingdom that ended that way. Perhaps that is acceptable in
the UK but if this is the case, I would guess it would only be between
people who knew each other for quite a while: Definitely not appropriate
for a college application!
Cordially (yours)", "Respectfully (yours)", "(With) best regards" and
"(With) kindest regards". The closing that is used will depend on the
contents and formality of the letter, the writer's familiarity with the
recipient, and the recipient's level of authority. "Yours truly" and "Very
truly yours" are often considered more affectionate and omitted from
modern Business Letter style guides
[3],
but you will find them listed in older style manuals
[4],
and are often taught to non-native writers as a catch-all phrase, for use when the writer is uncertain how to
close the letter. Still, most attorneys close legal correspondence with
"Very truly yours."
In UK English, a closing is followed by a comma ("Yours sincerely,")
only if the salutation was followed by
a comma. That is, if a comma is omitted from the salutation, the letter should
be considered written in 'open punctuation', and the comma should
therefore be omitted from the closing also ("Yours sincerely").
In the UK, the use of the closing "Yours sincerely," is generally
reserved for a recipient whose name is known, substituting "Yours
faithfully," where it is not known.
Best,
Jane
Dear Jane,
Thank you for adopting my question on your podcast! It will be a
wonderful help for me and surely for many other learners of English.
To answer your question,
I'd like to know how to write postal letters in English. Do you have any rules for how to begin and end formal letters?
If letters sent by email should be
addressed and signed differently, I'd like to know that as well.
Respectfully,
Daisuke
Dear Daisuke,
In this particular letter to you, I hope to respond to your first
question: the greeting.
Regarding this question, whether it is an email or a
"snail mail" letter, the letter begins with what we call the "greeting" or
"salutation". The greeting should begin "Dear (person's name)". It
is preferable to use the person's last name, for example, "Dear President
Bush" or "Dear Mrs. Bush", rather than "Dear George" or
"Dear Laura". If you do not know the person's name,
begin the letter "To Whom It May Concern".
At this point, you have begun the "body" of the letter. For your
first paragraph, if you have had prior contact with the individual you are
writing to, it is appropriate to compliment the person in some way,
perhaps by writing "I enjoyed our telephone conversation last week" or
"Thank you for your wonderful podcast", as you have done to me, and
which I greatly appreciate. If you have never met or spoken to
the individual, your opening should be appropriate to the situation.
For example, you could begin "I have heard so many good things about
Boston University".
In a formal business letter, we do not generally comment on the weather,
the seasons or any other aspects of nature, or ones family.
I hope that I have answered your first question: How to
begin a letter. Next week I hope to answer your second question: How
to end a formal letter.
HTH,
Jane
ESL Help Desk
And this from one reader:
I was very excited as I listened it!! It was funny that the sender's name
is Daisuke(Japanese name!). Did you take it from Daisuke Matsuzaka(Red
Socks)?
Our answer: I had to keep the origial
corresponder's name confidential; yes, being a Boston Red Sox fan, I took
this person's name from Daisuke Matsuzaka!
I
hope you enjoy today's podcast and lesson.
We'd now like to thank you for listening in to this week's
ESL Help Desk podcast! Stay tuned as we continue this lesson on how
to begin and end a formal business letter. All the best!
Music Copyright,
permission of Luca De Bernardi
Photo of Headphones Copyright Karl-Erik Bennion
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