Teacher Discussion Forums

In the U.K. the preferred business format is now full-block with no punctuation after the salutation or closing. If you do use punctuation, you should use a comma after both. However, from what I can tell from other textbooks, in American English the salutation should always be followed by a colon in business writing. Firstly, how strictly is the American rule followed and secondly, does anyone know what the norms are for European (continental) business letters?

Thanks

In Germany we are ordered to stick to BE
e.g for the LCCI exams

Siân

I don't think that the colon is expected. There is a good handout from purdue's online writing lab on accepted American English business letter writing formats. I link to it from my website: www.eslgo.com/resources/ba.html which is a work in progress...

Hello all,

It should be noted that, here in the United States at least, ideas about what is and is not "accepted" in business letter writing is undergoing rapid and substantial change. Nearly any text about it written more than a year or two ago is almost certainly out-of-date. Business letter writing now is much more flexible than it was in the past--particularly in the 'distant' past, which would be more than, say, a decade ago. But most instructional materials and most teachers' ideas on the subject are mired in the straight-jackets of early 20th century thinking on the subject. Whether a colon or a comma is used in the salutation or the closing is entirely up to the preferences of the writer. Block style is OK, modified block is also OK, and many letters, which are perfectly acceptable, are written in a breezy, informal style. It all depends on the purpose of the letter. There is a vast distinction between a letter written to complain about an accounting error, and one written as a marketing letter to which the writer wants a favorable action in response. Yet both most certainly are "business letters." If you are preparing students to pass some kind of exam, I suppose you'll have to stick to the old fashioned basics, but if you want to prepare your students for the real world of businss as it exists today, you have a great deal more lattidude, and you would do well by them to let them know about it. Perhaps you could collect a series of real letters recently written on business letterhead to serve as examples.

Larry Latham

Using example letters is a good diea. Barron's ESL Guide to American Business English is half well written example business letters, and half useless grammar exercises. If anyone knows of a source for authentic business letters please share.

Hello James,

If you personally know a business person, why not simply ask him or her to save or photocopy some of the letters received and/or written. They will have certain letters which they do not feel are sensitive that they may be willing to share. You will have to either go through them carefully to select those you consider good examples, or else plan to take all of them to your students with the plan of analyzing them in class so that the students can determine whether they think the letters are good examples.

What you are likely to find is that there are astonishingly few really good business letters. That, in itself, may serve to inform your students about what the real standards are like, regardless of what the textbooks say.

Larry Latham

Hi Larry!

Exactly, then my students ask WHY must we learn all this stuff if nobody uses it in real life?

I answer because you want to pass the LCCI or IHK exams...

I do use real letters I remove the names of the companies etc.

It cheers my students up a lot when they see how many mistakes they can find

However Larry the companies who hire me want me to prepare the pupils for these exams, thus they expect good results!

Best wishes

Siân

Dear Sian,

Precisely!

Larry Latham

Why use bad authentic writing as an example? Many business letters are unoragnized, but if we can get our students to organize their letters it will do more than help them pass an exam. It will help them communicate their ideas.

I had students who work for an American company here in Korea. They often communicate with the main office in America. They clearly met the company's standards (else they wouldn't have been hired), but they knew they could be more efficient.

Sure enough by following organizational guidelines in the OWL (purdue university's online writing lab) handout, they improved their ability to communicate with American colleagues.


Larry wrote: What you are likely to find is that there are astonishingly few really good business letters. That, in itself, may serve to inform your students about what the real standards are like, regardless of what the textbooks say.

I would go as far as to say that, in U.S. business letters, putting a colon after the salutation and a comma after the closing are required. We also must use a period after Ms., Mr., and Mrs.