Business English & Letter Writing

·Covered in this Diploma Program include:

Module 1 - Business Letters Examined

·Language used in business letters, clarity, wording, technical terms, good English

·Business letter objectives, styles or manners of writing

·Features of a business letters, layout, appearance, attracting favourable attention

·English language, dictionaries, spellings and meanings of words, vocabulary, suffixes, prefixes

Module 2 - Enquiries, Quotations, Estimates, Orders, Acknowledgements

·Letters of enquiry and responses to them, circular-type enquiry letters, trade references

·Quotation forms and letters, covering letters to quotation forms, estimates and tenders

·Proforma invoices, placing orders orally and in order forms and letters, invoices, credit

·Writing complete sentences, subjects, predicates, paragraphs, grouping topics, logical sequence

Module 3 - Letters Seeking Employment

·Letters seeking employment, presentation, style, handwritten and typed, content, information

·Postscripts to letters, attachments, references, testimonials, curriculum vitae/CV

·Response letters to arrange interviews, to unsuitable applicants, to offer a position

·Verbs: finite verbs, subjects and objects of sentences, compound sentences, conjunctions

Module 4 - Letters Concerning Employment and Promotion

·Internal recruitment, letters for internal transfer and promotion, letters replying to employee letters

·Letters of appointment, terms and conditions, letters of rejection, file copies, copies to others (c.c.)

·Employee recommendations, requesting a reference, providing information about former employees

·Nouns, numbers, singular and plural, gender, possessive nouns, pronouns, 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons

Module 5 - Letters Concerning Accounts and Other Financial Matters

·Accounting/financial terms, their use and meanings

·Documents used in accounts, invoices, credit notes, statements of account, credit

·Overdue account letters, final warning or demand letters, reminder about credit limit

·References on business letters, adjectives and their role, avoiding errors commonly made

Module 6 - Letters Between Employees

·Communication, the essentials, external, internal, vertical and horizontal communications

·Types of letters written between employees, admonishing a subordinate, warnings, congratulations

·Memoranda, meetings, customers, purchases, abbreviations, names, dates, technical terms

·Verbs, present, future and past tenses, conjugations, simple and continuous tenses

Module 7 - Sales Letters (1)

·Primary aim of sales letters, sales terminology, steps leading to a sales transaction, postscripts (PS)

·Essential features of effective sales letters, first approach sales letters, persuasion, information

·Sales literature, catalogues, price lists, discounts, manufacturers’ warranties and guarantees

·Adverbs, what they are, kinds, showing time, place, degree, manner, positioning, comparisons

Module 8 - Sales Letters (2)

·Sales circulars, circumstances when used, addressees of sales circulars, other circulars

·Responses to enquiries, information provided, response time, compliment slips

·Confirmations of orders, welcoming new customers, building good relationships, related sales

·Prepositions, connections between words, use with verbs, adjectives and pronouns

Module 9 - Sales Letters (3)

·Follow-up sales letters, offering something extra, reminders, preprinted follow-up letters

·Letters aimed at customer retention, to trade customers, new sales literature, lapsed customers

·Buying motives, sale or return terms, what is involved, their value in making sales

·Using the adverb “not”, using isn’t and aren’t, changes to statements, questions, replies, commands

Module 10 - Letters Concerning Complaints

·Complaints and complainants, justified and unjustified complaints, why complaints might arise

·Writing letters involving complaints, objectives, tones, settling complaints amicably, follow-ups

·Introductory statements in letters, use as references, signing “for and on behalf of”, use of “Messrs”

·Punctuation, stress, emphasis, tone, inflexion, using capital letters, punctuation marks

Module 11 - Letters on Miscellaneous Topics

·Letters about occupations, professionals and “the professions”

·Differences between private letters, social letters and business letters

·Signing letters on behalf of a firm, signing letters “for” a senior, the initials p.p.

·Colons, semicolons, dashes, brackets, question, exclamation and quotation marks, apostrophes

Module 12 - Aids to Business Letter Writing

·The value of letter references, copies of letters, the use of copies in a practical situation

·Files and records, the functions of filing, filing schemes

·Word processing (WP), computers, WP packages, spell check, thesaurus, personalising letters

·Confusing words due to pronunciation or spelling but different meaning, developing writing style