Business writing (деловое письмо). Палагина С.С. - 56 стр.

     Suggested answer:
     Rentax Ltd
     Components Manufacture 398 Bristol Road, Birmingham B2 5LH
     Telephone 031 222 333
     Ms Donna Blackburn
     Purchasing Manager
     RCF Systems Ltd
     New Estate Road
     London SEL 1DD
                                                            (date)
     Dear Ms Blackburn
     Thank you for your letter regarding our recent price increase. From my own
experience I know how difficult it is to accept these additional burdens but, as a
matter of interest, this is our first increase in three years so I feel we have been
particularly kind to our customers. I wish our suppliers could have been as kind to us!
We have only achieved this record by keeping our costs down to an absolute
minimum – much to the disbelief of some of our competitors.
     Of course I understand and appreciate your concern. I would like to come and
see you as soon as possible. I know my Sales Manager wants to join me. Would next
Thursday be too soon? If you telephone me as soon as you get this letter we can fix a
time and date. I feel sure a discussion at this stage would be to our mutual advantage.
I hope it also shows our intention to continue to provide a service to our customers
which is second to none.
       Yours sincerely,
       Jane Grimond
       Assistant Manager, Sales Department

      3.15 Some Words about Grammar and Punctuation

     Passive Voice is widely used in business letters.
     For example: We have been informed that…
                  This funds were forwarded…
                  Your answer is awaited …
     Don’t use the shortened variants of analytical verb forms.
     It is NOT RECOMMENDED to use something like: “‘ve arrived” or “’d be
splendid”. Use only generally accepted abbreviations. Too long sentences hinder the
understanding of the content of a letter. On the other hand, too laconic sentences may
sound rude. It is recommended to use sentences of medium length and alternate
simple sentences with complex ones, compound (asyndetical and with conjunctions
‘and’ and ‘but’) and complex with conjunctions ‘so’, ‘or’, ‘yet’, etc. For example:
     ‘You have not sent the invoice, we have to ask you…’
     ‘You have not…, so we … ‘
     Try to avoid repeating homogeneous sentences.
     Pay attention to the fact that English punctuation rules differs from Russian
ones.
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