Partner to Partner: Business Correspondence

PARTNER to PARTNER
Business correspondence for Public Administration
Lector dr Marius Velică

Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to business communication 5
Chapter 2. Letter of intent and CV 21
Chapter 3. Letter of enquiry 31
Chapter 4. Letter of complaint 44
Key 55
Bibliography 60
Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

Chapter 1 – Introduction to business communication
Objectives:
o To familiarize the students with the structure
of the communication act;
o To explain the two major layouts of a business
letter;
o To familiarize the students with the elements
of a business letter.
1.1 General remarks

We live in a century of speed and communication and sometimes the
speed at which we communicate deeply affects our business and/or our
personal lives as well. One could not emphasise enough the importance of a
fast communication; however, one should also not neglect the quality of the
communication. Whether we communicate verbally or in written form, we
should constantly take into account the specific rules characterizing that
particular form of communication that we resort to. E-mails, faxes, memos,
leaflets, brochures, catalogues, business letters of all kinds and telephone
conversations are all ways of sending a certain message. Consequently, they
share a number of general rules and display a particular set of characteristics
that should be taken into consideration by the sender of that message.
Irrespective of the chosen means, the process of communication
presupposes several basic elements without which the mere concept of
communication could not exist: the emitter (sender), the message, the
channel (medium), the code and the receiver (addressee). These elements
establish certain relationships among them and the easiest manner of
analysing these relationships is to draw a simplified model of the
communication act in the shape of a diagram.
Code
Emitter Message Receiver
Medium
Figure 1
The emitter sends a message to the receiver via a medium using a
certain code of signs. The medium could be the air (in the case of a face to
face conversation), the paper (in the case of a written message), electric
impulses (in the case of a phone conversation), the virtual support provided
by the Internet (in the case of an e-mail message), etc. The nature of the
medium is closely related to the nature of the code employed by the sender;
one could say that they are interdependent to a certain extent. If we take for
instance the smoke that Native Americans used to resort to in order to
communicate with other members of the tribe or another tribe altogether, the
only medium which would allow communication is the air. The same
principle holds valid in the case of those African and South American tribes
that used to communicate or still do by means of drums. Two of the most
frequent misunderstandings that occur inasmuch as the concept of
communication is concerned are the following:
(i) communication is characteristic to humans only and
(ii) communication is necessarily oral and linguistic.
There is nothing further from the truth. In reality, communication
takes place among animals and even plants as well. The range of codes is far
larger than that of media, spanning from pheromones, colours and textures
to sounds, movements and, in the case of humans, articulated language.
According to the various natures of media, codes and participants
communication as a process could be classified into several large categories
as follows:
(i) human – non-human
(ii) verbal – non-verbal
(iii) linguistic – non-linguistic
(iv) visual – non-visual
(v) audio – non-audio
Simple or complex, linguistic or not, the code needs to be shared both
by the emitter and the receiver. Otherwise, the message cannot be decoded
and, consequently, it cannot be understood. Fundamentally speaking,
communication is a matter of turn taking, a dialogue during which the
participants become in turn emitters and receivers using the common set of
„signs‟ to encode and decode the messages that travel between them.
The principle valid for communication in general holds true for
business communication in particular also. A communication situation in a
business environment still requires the presence of at least two participants, a
message, a medium and the use of a common code. Since the main purpose of
this course is to outline the major principles that constitute the foundation of
written business communication, the medium under scrutiny will be paper (be
it real or virtual – in the case of electronic correspondence) and the code will be
the complex linguistic set of signs that we call articulated language.
People have communicated in written form for millennia so the
written correspondence has an impressive tradition. As a result of this,
written correspondence (private or official) has developed a unifying set of
rules governing the manner in which a letter should be organised. Multiple
criteria are taken into consideration when writing a letter, especially in the
case of formal letters where a simple mistake may sometimes have
unsuspected outcomes.
In spite of their diversity, all types of business letters share a similar
organization and display a number of compulsory elements, some specific to
business correspondence, others to letters in general.
1.2 Main parts of a business letter

The international business correspondence makes use of two general
styles of organizing the text of a letter, two layouts:
(i) the blocked style and
(ii) the indented style.
The former is favoured by the American companies while the latter is specific
to the European business environment. Mention should be made that under
the significant influence of the American companies and due to the leading
role played by the USA economy, there is a strong tendency to replace the
indented style with the blocked style. On the other hand, companies enjoy a
certain degree of freedom in choosing the style of their layout; thus, two more
varieties of layout appeared as a result of the combination of the classical two:
the semi-blocked style and the modified blocked style. In the case of these two
derived varieties, some parts of the letters are aligned according to the blocked
style rules while others obey the rules specific to the indented style. Whether a
company uses one layout or another is a matter of internal policy but once we
choose to use a particular layout, it is advisable to continue using it
throughout the correspondence because switching from one style to another
might denote inconsistency and/or lack of professionalism.
1.2.1 The blocked style
In this style (see Fig. 2) the text of the letter is aligned in the same
manner in which a text written on computer would be if we selected the
„justify‟ alignment from the tool bar. The main parts of the letter are
numbered from 1 to 7 and they are as follows:
1. Sender‟s address (or letterhead as in Fig. 3)
2. Receiver‟s address
3. Date line
4. Salutation line
5. The body of the letter
6. Closing lines
7. Signature
Some of these elements are given different names in other books
treating the topic of business correspondence. Thus, the receiver’s address
may become the inside address; the letterhead may be called letter-heading
or simply heading; the paragraphs making up the body of the letter could be
classified according to the purpose they serve in the economy of the letter;
the closing lines are also known as the complementary close. Moreover,
some other parts could be inserted if the case be; thus, a letter may further
contain:
(i) attention line,
(ii) subject title,
(iii) reference line or
(iv) enclosures.
All these elements (both the compulsory and the additional ones) are
present in the letter irrespective of the type of the letter or its layout. Each of
these components of the letter will be discussed in the following section of
this chapter.
1_________
__________
__________
2_________ 3_________
__________
__________
4________
5________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
_____________________
6___________________
________________
____________
7__________
___________
_____
Figure 2
1.2.2 The indented style

As far as this style is concerned (see Fig. 3), the salutation line, the
closing lines and the first line of each paragraph are 4-5 spaces indented in
contrast with the blocked style where all lines are aligned to the left.
As the figure shows, the inside address could be replaced by a
letterhead which takes the upper central position on the page. The custom is
that those letters written on behalf of an individual should use sender‟s
address and those letters sent by companies should use a letterhead.

1___________________________
_________________
_________________
2_________ 3_________
__________
__________
4________
5_________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
_________________________________
__________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
____________________
6___________________
_______________
____________
7__________
___________
_____
Figure 3.
12.3 Sender’s address
The sender‟s address takes top right-hand position on the page; in
other words, it is the highest element on the page. This form of identification
is used when writing a letter for personal reasons (e.g. letter of application,
letter of complaint, etc.). It is customary that the name of the person signing
the letter should no be mentioned in the address itself but at the end of the
letter (or within the introductory paragraph if necessary). Therefore, the
sender‟s address will contain information about the street, number, city,
postal code and country of the sender. Here follow an example in blocked
and in indented style:
44 Arrow Street 44 Arrow Street
Königburg, WH5 Königburg, WH5
SWEEDEN SWEEDEN
The letterhead plays for a company the same twofold role that a
business card plays for a person, i.e. it both provides key information and
sends a certain message about that person. Besides vital information about
the company such as name, address, phone and fax numbers, e-mail, web
page and sometimes the name of top managers, the letterhead has a
supplementary function; by its layout, colours and symbols it should send a
message to the potential partners regarding the professionalism, credibility
and/or tradition of that company.
INTERNATIONAL TRADING GROUP
Bridge House, 22 Lake Street, Wilford MO3, UK

Telephone (043) 678 942 Fax (043) 678 943
e-mail inttradgr@yahoo.com
Figure 4
1.2.4 Date
As one can see from Fig. 2 and 3, the date line is placed one line below
the sender‟s address aligned to the right side of the page. Special attention
should be paid to the manner in which the date is written. The European
system places the day before the month while the US system is to mention
the month first followed by the day. Thus, ambiguity may occur if we do not
know what system has been used. For instance a date as the one in Fig. 5
could be read in two different ways according to the system you adopt:
10.8.2004 could mean:
The European system The US system
the 10th of August, 2004 the 8th of October, 2004
Figure 5
In order to avoid such an ambiguity one should not write the month
using figures but its full name. The abbreviation of the name of the month is
also unadvisable because it makes the letter look untidy, as if written in a
hurry. The importance of writing the date in a clear manner is worth
underlining since misplacing a letter on account of a confusing date might
lead to serious consequences. Once we have written the month in full name,
it does not matter anymore whether we place the day before or after the
month:
e.g. August 10, 2004 = 10 August, 2004
October 8, 2004 = 8 October, 2004
It is possible to write the figures with or without the ordinal suffixes
(as in the examples above) but it is not advisable to alternate letters in which
you use these suffixes with letters in which you do not because inconsistency
of style might denote lack of professionalism. Sometimes, the place is
mentioned along with the date. In this case, the name of the city/town is
placed before the date itself: Rome, 7th December, 2003.
1.2.5 Receiver’s address

As far as the style of the receiver‟s address is concerned, there are
several aspects to be taken into consideration. This address is written below
the sender‟s address/the letterhead and on the left side of the page (see. Fig.
1 and 2). The amount of information provided by the receiver‟s address is
organized according to a series of rules. Thus, if you are writing to a person
whose name you know, this will be written first, preceded by an appropriate
courtesy title:
 Mr. – for a man (married or not);
 Mrs. – for a married woman;
 Miss – for an unmarried woman;
 Ms. – for a woman whose marital status you do not know (it may
be used for both married and unmarried women);
 Messrs. - for two or more men
These are not the only courtesy titles that may be used in the receiver‟s
address. There are also some special titles related to nobility, profession,
military rank or seniority, such as:
 Esq. - placed after the name and used for a man in UK holding a
nobility title (when using this title do not use Mr also):
e.g. Stephen Plott, Esq. not Mr. Stephen Plott, Esq.
 Sir - for a man who is a Knight (different from Sir used in the salutation
line);
 His/Her Excellency – for a person holding a high position in government
or diplomacy such as minister, ambassador or governor;
 His/Her Highness – for a king/queen or a member of the royal family;
 Doctor/Dr.
 Professor/Prof.
 General/Gen.
 Judge
 Junior/Jr. – for a man and placed after the name
 Bros. - short for brothers and placed after the names.
In the USA you may also mention the function/position of the person
you are writing to after the name of the person separated by a comma:
e.g. Ms. Paula Winston, Human Resources Manager
Mr. James Ratley, Marketing Director
Dr. Jennifer Drake, Head of Surgery Department
Maj. Robert Ground, Chief of Staff
Inasmuch as the UK business correspondence is concerned, the
function/position is placed before the name in which case the use of courtesy
titles such as Mr./Mrs./Miss/Ms. is no longer necessary:
e.g. Human Resources Manager Paula Winston

Marketing Director James Ratley
but
Head of Surgery Department Dr. Jennifer Drake
Chief of Staff Maj. Robert Ground.
When you do not know the name of the person you are writing to but
you know or can assume his/her position in the company, you may use it in
the address. Do not forget to use the definite article The before you mention
the position:
e.g. The Human Resources Director
The Chief Assistant
The Marketing Director
If you use an attention line (which is regularly placed two lines below
the receiver‟s address), then you may mention this position there too (make
sure that you underline the entire attention line):
e.g. For the attention of the Personnel Manager
Attention: The Personnel Manager
Attention the Personnel Manager
You may also address your letter to a department or an entire
company in case you know nothing or cannot assume anything about the
person(s) running that particular department or company:
e.g. The Production Department
The Client Service Department
The Chang Appliances, Ltd.
The International Trading Group
If the mane of the company does not have a definite article in front
position, you may use it directly or you may precede it by Messrs.:
e.g. Continental Distribution, Ltd.
Messrs. Continental Distribution, Ltd.
Speed & Toys Co.
Messrs. Speed & Toys Co.
Besides the name of the receiver, the address should also contain
information about the exact location of the company as well as the postcode
of the area. The order in which these elements should be introduced is the
following:
Name of house or building
Number of building and name of street
Name of town/city and postcode (for US: state also)
Name of country
There are some European countries (Romania among others) which
place the number of the street after its name and it should not be considered
a mistake. However, for the sake of uniformity it is advisable to follow the
order given above. When addressing the letter to an American receiver, it is
customary to mention the name of the state after the name of the city/town
as there may be more than one city/town with the same name situated in
different states (see appendix for a full list of USA states and their
abbreviations):
e.g. Washington, D.C. vs. Washington, Pa.

Although strict, addresses, in general, and the receiver‟s address, in
particular, may suffer certain variations in terms of order and punctuation.
Consequently, the postcode may be written on a separate line, the name of
the country may be written in capital letters or reduced to its initial only, the
name of the city/town can be also written in capital letters and the
punctuation may be open (i.e. without any commas). Moreover, the address
could be blocked or indented according to the general layout of letter. Check
the next page to see how these elements combine in a list of several samples
of receiver‟s address; notice the various degrees of information contained in
each example and how they may differ from one another without being
necessarily wrong.
1. Ms. Paula Winston, Human Resources Manager,
44 Victory Street,
Charlston CT5 3DG,
United Kingdom
2. Mr. James Ratley

Marketing Director
Mondovision Ltd.
23-25 Luther Road
Sandville, Ind., 5RT N2
USA
3. Head of Surgery Department Dr. Jennifer Drake,

St. Helen‟s Memorial,
110 Gospel Avenue,
Lowshire, LS 320, UNITED KINGDOM
4. The Chief Assistant

Speed & Toys Co.
15 Bridge Street
Midtown MT4 JN
SCOTLAND
5. The Client Service Department

Entertainment Ltd.
29 Riverbank Road
Castleburg CB6 IL2, GB
Attention: Head of the Client Service Department
6. Messrs. Continental Distribution, Ltd.

1-3 West Avenue
Washington, Pa., WH4 33J
USA
For the attention of the Marketing Director
1.2.6 Salutation line

This element is placed three lines below the receiver‟s address or the
attention line. There are not many salutation formulas but you should be
very careful when using them in order to avoid awkward
misunderstandings. When choosing one formula or another, you should ask
ourselves three questions:
(i) Do I know the surname(s) of the person(s) I am writing to?
(ii) Do I know the gender of the person(s) I am writing to?
(iii) How many persons am I writing to?
Based on the answers to these questions you may choose the most
appropriate salutation formula. Thus, if you know the surname and gender
of the addressee, you may use one of the following salutations:
 Dear Mr. + Surname, – for a man;
 Dear Mrs. + Surname, – for a married woman;
 Dear Miss + Surname, - for a single woman;
 Dear Ms. + Surname, – for a woman you do not know whether she is
married or not.
If you do not know the name of the addressee but you know the
gender, you may use one of the following salutation formulas:
 Dear Sir, - for a man;
 Dear Madam, - for a woman, whether married or not.
If you do not know the names of the addressees but you know their
gender, you may use these formulas:
 Dear Sirs, - for two or more men (US, Gentlemen:);
 Dear Madams, - for two or more women, whether married or not.
Another possible situation is that when you do not know either the
name, or the gender of the addressee. In this case, you may use this
salutation formula:
 Dear Sir or Madame, (Dear Sir/Madam,).
There are several other situations in which you may use some other
formulas, such as:
 Dear President Smith, - for a man/woman whose first name you do not
know;
 Dear Mr. Chief of Staff, - for a man whose name you do not know.
 Dear all, - when you write to a group of people (subordinates or equals at
most) with whom you have a rather long business relationship.
Irrespective of the salutation formula you use, it should always be
followed by a comma. However, in the USA, when addressing a company or
a group of men, the letter usually opens with Gentlemen followed by a colon
(see the previous page).
1.2.7 The body of the letter

As the name of this element suggests, this is the essence of the letter,
the message of the letter lies here. Therefore, special attention should be paid

to the way this section of the letter is organized. As a rule, the body of the
letter has a threefold structure as follows:
1. a introductory paragraph in which the subject of the paper is usually
stated;
2. the message of the letter (it may consist of more than one paragraph);
here is the place where the sender states the purpose of the letter in well
balanced and organized sentences (preferably not too long);
3. a concluding paragraph in which the sender draws a conclusion based on
the facts presented in the previous section (the nature and shape of this
conclusion vary according to the letter type).
Any business letter (no matter how long or short) presents this
tripartite structure; there should be left at least 1 line space between
paragraphs, especially in the case of the blocked style. The only aspects that
vary are closely interrelated and they are the length and the volume of
information. Both the length and the amount of information depend on the
type of the letter; to put it in other words, the tone, the style and the degree
of details that the letter should provide depend heavily on the purpose of the
letter. These aspects will be discussed in the following chapter dedicated to
style.
1.2.8 Closing line

Also known as the complimentary close, it is usually placed 2 or 3
lines below the body of the letter towards the middle of the page (in the case
of the indented style) or aligned to the left (in the case of the blocked one).
The choice of the complementary close is closely related to the
salutation formula that was used at the beginning of the letter. Thus,
Salutation line Closing line

Dear Sir, / Dear Sirs, Yours faithfully,
OR
Dear Madam, / Dear Sir or Madam, Faithfully yours,
Dear Mr. Robin, Yours sincerely,

OR
Dear Mrs. Plott, / Dear Ms. Smith, Sincerely yours,
Yours truly,
The American correspondence OR
Truly yours,
Figure 6.
It is worth mentioning that the rules of combination are not as rigid as
they seem, on the one hand, and that some specialists suggest other
combinatory rules, on the other. As a result, you may use:
 Yours faithfully, OR Faithfully yours, when writing to a company, an
institution, a firm, etc.;
 Yours sincerely, OR Sincerely yours, when writing to a known person;
The complimentary close is most often than not preceded by a few
other standard formulas, such as:
 We are looking forward to hearing from you.
 I am looking forward to meeting you.
which are placed 1 or 2 lines below the last paragraph and aligned as the rest
of the letter (i.e. to the left if the letter is written in blocked style or 2-3 spaces
indented from the left margin if the letter is written in indented style).
1.2.9 Signature
The signature does not depend on the closing line in terms of style.
Whether you use Sincerely yours or Yours faithfully, the letter must be signed
anyway. This element of the letter is structured on two levels: (i) immediately
below the complimentary close you sign in handwriting and (ii) below the
signature you must type your name and position (if any). The use of courtesy
titles is desirable though not compulsory (it might clarify the gender of the
person signing in case the sender may not otherwise assume it).
e.g. Yours sincerely, Truly yours,
K. Browning L. Thomson
Mr. K. Browning Ms. L. Thomson
Chief Accountant Sales Manager
Very frequently, the letter is signed not by the person whose name is
mentioned under the signature, but by some other person, most often that
not by the assistant or secretary of that person. In cases like this, the term per
pro (or its abbreviation p.p.) should be placed before the name of the person
on whose behalf you are signing the letter.
e.g. Sincerely yours,
(Ms.) Jennifer Morris
p.p. Mrs. Judith Richards
Personnel Manager
In the example above, the official sender of the letter is Mrs. Judith
Richards, The Personnel Manager of the company, but the letter is signed on
her behalf by Ms. Jennifer Morris, most probably her assistant or secretary.
Some letters use per pro instead of the abbreviation p.p.; this is itself an
abbreviation of the Latin expression per procurationem meaning on behalf
of.
1.3 Additional elements/parts of a business letter

As we have already mentioned, a business letter may contain –
besides the compulsory elements we discussed – a number of additional
elements (see p. 6). Even if not compulsory, these elements might often prove
extremely useful and, as a result, certain companies use them on regular
basis. Thus, the attention line may sometimes appear on the envelope also
along with the other elements that constitute the addresses of the sender and
of the receiver.
When the receiver‟s address is unknown to the sender, the latter
might address the letter to a person/company who/which is in the position
to deliver the letter to its proper addressee. Under these circumstances, the

address of the person/company that acts as the „middleman‟ between the
sender and the final receiver should be preceded by the abbreviation c/o,
meaning care of. Compare the following samples of envelopes which
exemplify the last two situations above mentioned.

Bridge House stamp
22 Lake Street
Wilford MO3, UK
SPEED & TOYS Co.

15 Bridge Street
Attention: The Production Manager Midtown MT4 JN
SCOTLAND

Bridge House stamp
22 Lake Street
Wilford MO3, UK
Mr. Jim McLuren
c/o SPEED & TOYS Co.
7 Freedom Road
Midtown MT4 JN
SCOTLAND
Figure 7.
As far as the second example is concerned, the presence of the
attention line on the envelope is no longer necessary; nevertheless, it will be
mentioned in the letter.
The subject line is also useful since it allows the reader to identify at
once what the letter is about. On the other hand, when dealing with a rich
correspondence on various subjects and spanning over a long period of time
(which eventually means tens of letters), the subject line might help in
organizing the letters according to their subject. The immediate effect of this
procedure is a better management of time and effort.
The third additional element of a business letter that we mentioned in
the list on page 6 was the reference line. The importance of this element is
closely related to the previously analysed element, i.e. the subject line.
References are given in order to indicate what the letter refers to, on the one
hand, and the correspondence to refer to when replying, on the other. This
procedure proves valuable, as in the case of using a subject line, when there
is an intense correspondence between two companies and the volume of
letters becomes considerable. If the filling system of all these letters is not
efficient, i.e. clear and precise, information might be lost or misinterpreted.
There are two general manners of writing the reference line:
(i) in figures: 25 / 4 where 25 refers to the number of the letter and 4 to
the number of the department or
(ii) in letters: JM / JR where JR stands for Judith Richards and JM for her
assistant.
Sometimes, you might encounter a combination of letters and figures
on the reference line, such as 12 Oct. 2003 / JM where the first part points to
the date of the letter referred to and the initials stand for the person signing
it. The reference line has two components:
(i) Our Ref. (or OR) meaning Our Reference and
(ii) Your Ref. (or YR) meaning Your Reference.
The last additional element to discuss is the Enclosures. This is used
when the sender attaches certain documents to the letter proper. These may
be price lists, catalogues, CVs, diplomas, invoices (in original or copies), etc.
The necessity of mentioning the enclosing of such extra documents lies in the
fact that in the case of a voluminous correspondence, there is always the
possibility of misplacing some documents on their way to the addressee.
Thus, if this happens, the person reading the letter sees the term Encl.
mentioned at the bottom of the letter (followed by the list of documents
accompanying the letter) and realizes the loss of those documents. As a
result, the documents may be searched for and eventually recovered.
1.5 Self-evaluation test

1. Which of the following series contains all the compulsory elements of a
basic communication act?
a. message, code, receiver, medium, receptor;
b. code, message, medium, sender, support;
c. sender, message, code, medium, receiver;
d. sender, meaning, code, medium, receiver;
e. sender, message, decode, medium, receiver.
2. Which of the following statements are false [F]?

a. The code used in a communication act does not have to be shared
by both participants. [ ]
b. The nature of the medium is closely related to the nature of the code
employed by the sender [ ]
c. Water is the only medium which would allow communication in the
case of Native Americans who used smoke to send their messages. [ ]
d. Communication is characteristic to humans only. [ ]
e. Communication is necessarily oral and linguistic. [ ]
f. The message can be decoded and understood even if the code is not
shared by the participants in the communication act. [ ]
g. Fundamentally speaking, communication is a dialogue during
which the participants become in turn emitters and receivers. [ ]
h. A communication situation requires the presence of at least two
participants, a message, a medium and the use of a common code. [ ]
i. Articulated language is a complex linguistic set of signs. [ ]
j. All types of business letters share a similar organization and display
a number of compulsory elements, some specific to business
correspondence, others to letters in general. [ ]
3. Which of the following series contains all the main parts of a business
letter?
a. sender‟s address, receiver‟s address, salutation line, the body of the
letter, closing lines, signature;
b. sender‟s address, receiver‟s address, date line, salutation line, the
body of the letter, closing lines, signature;
c. receiver‟s address, date line, salutation line, the body of the letter,
closing lines, signature;
d. sender‟s address, receiver‟s address, date line, the body of the letter,
closing lines, signature;
e. sender‟s address, receiver‟s address, date line, salvation line, the
body of the letter, closing lines, signature.
4. Match the elements on the left with their equivalents on the right.
receiver‟s address complementary close
letterhead inside address
closing lines letter-heading
5. Which of the following parts of a letter are additional and not compulsory?
a. enclosures;
b. date line;
c. subject line;
d. signature;
e. salutation line.
6. Which of the following additional parts of a letter should be underlined?

a. enclosures;
b. reference line;
c. subject line;
d. attention line.
7. Which of the following layouts resembles the “justify” alignment of a

Word document?
a. indented; b. blocked.
8. The blocked style is favoured by the American companies.

a. true; b. false.
9. The indented style is specific to the European business environment.

a. false; b. true.
10. The sender‟s address takes top right-hand position on the page.
a. true; b. false.
11. The name of the person signing the letter should be mentioned in the
address itself and not at the end of the letter.
a. false; b. true.
12. Which of the following dates are ambiguous and should be written in a
different manner?
a. 10.06.1998;
b. 08.15.2002;
c. 05.11.2005;
d. 22.04.2009.
13. Writing the month in its full name is advisable because:

a. it is more elegant;
b. it avoids ambiguity;
c. the Americans decided so;
d. numbers do not look nice.
14. Which of the following courtesy titles is not given the right explanation?
a. Mr. – for a man (married or not);
b. Miss– for an unmarried woman;
c. Ms.– for a woman whose husband is dead;
d. Mrs.– for a married woman;
e. Messrs.- for two or more men.
15. The mention “Encl.” at the bottom of the last page of the letter means:
a. the signer of the letter belongs to an enclave;
b. the letter is accompanied by one or more documents;
c. the letter encloses a serried of other previous letters;

Chapter 2 – Letter of intent and CV
Objectives:
of a letter of intent;
o To explain the two major situations requiring
the writing of such a letter;
of a curriculum vitae.
2.1 Letter of intent

One of the most important letters from the perspective of one‟s
professional career is the letter of intent. This is usually the first contact one
has with the company in which one plans to work. Most often that not,
people fail to get a job not because they do not have the necessary expertise
but because they do not know how to „build‟ and „sell‟ their image to the
potential employer.
This type of business letter is, as its very name suggests, a vehicle of
expressing the sender‟s intention to acquire a certain position or apply for a
job, a scholarship, a visa, etc. Writing such a letter could be either entirely the
sender‟s initiative or his/her reaction to an advertisement. While the latter is
a letter of intent proper, the former is called an unsolicited letter of intent;
irrespective of the type, a letter of intent should provide certain information
about the signer of the letter and about the circumstances under which
he/she decided to write it. Thus, the first paragraph is supposed to mention
the advertisement (if it is a regular letter of intent) or the person (in the case
of an unsolicited one) that provided the sender with the information about
that particular job, vacancy or whatever the sender is applying for. Here are a
few examples of how such an initial paragraph should be organized:
I am writing concerning your advertisement in The Observer, issue of 21

February, referring to the position of assistant manager.
I am replying to the advertisement you placed in last month’s issue of

Science Today in which you were asking for specialists in deep
underwater welding with more than five years experience.
I would like to apply for one of the 12 scholarships for foreign students
you advertised in this month’s newsletter of your college.
I was strongly recommended by Ms Olivia Lashton who is the general
Manager of one of your largest customers to contact you regarding a
possible vacancy in your accountancy department.
I am writing to you on Mrs. Robert Krum’s suggestion about the position

of project manager that has recently became available.
Mentioning the source of information in the case of unsolicited letters

of intent is a proof not only of integrity but also of good faith and
trustworthiness.
The main part of the letter should be dedicated to mentioning the
enclosing of a C.V. and of those skills and qualifications that recommend the
sender as the right person for that particular job as well as the circumstances
under which these skills have been acquired.
As it could be seen from my C.V., my qualifications meet all the

requirements mentioned in the advertisement. In addition to these, I am
also familiar with much of the welding techniques that have been
developed by your company in the last five years.
The level of my knowledge of foreign languages, as the C.V. clearly shows,

is more than satisfactory. Moreover, I have a two-year experience as an
interpreter for The High Court of Appeal in Bucharest during which I
covered mostly cases of economic nature.
I am enclosing a C.V. which - I hope – will recommend me as highly

qualified for this position especially due to the three-year project I
supervised in the Columbian rain forest in the spring of 2002 working for
the Greenpeace organization.
The final paragraph of the letter is usually used to express the

readiness to offer any further information necessary as well as to mention the
availability for an interview:
If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me

and I will be more than willing to provide you with it. If there are some
details that require personal contact, my schedule allows me to come for
an interview every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon starting
from 15.00.
Please let me know if there is any other information that you need in order
to make a decision regarding the arrangement of an interview.
Feel free to contact me provided there is any further information you

might find relevant. I am also confident that an interview would be the
best way to assess my eligibility for this opening position.
The closing line followed, of course, by the signature marks the end of
the letter. The fact is worth mentioning that, from a strategic point of view,
one should not offer all the information in the letter and the C.V. since, if one
does this, there will be nothing left for the interview and getting to the
interview is usually the most important goal of a letter of intent. The content
of the letter together with the c.v. should be „attractive‟ enough for the
receiver so as to arrange an interview.
2.2 Curriculum vitae

The curriculum vitae (also called résumé) is perhaps the best-known
element of business correspondence. It is a summary of a person‟s educational
qualifications, skills, publications and professional activities, prepared when
applying for a position. When it accompanies a letter of intent, the latter is
called covering letter. A C.V., as the letter of intent itself, may be either
required by the advertisement or sent on the applicant‟s initiative. There are
numerous and various patterns of C.V. and the possible differences do not
depend on whether it was required or not. In spite of this diversity, there are
several categories of information that should always be present in a
curriculum vitae and they are as follows:
a) information about the identity and residence of the person

writing the C.V.;
b) information about his/her educational history;
c) information about the work experience that he/she has acquired
till the moment of writing the C.V.
The structure of a C.V. is rigid and flexible at the same time. It is rigid
in that the curriculum vitae always begins with the section dedicated to the
information concerning identity and residence of the candidate and it is
flexible since the second section can be either the one dedicated to education
or the one dealing with work experience. Moreover, the way the information
within these two sections is organized is, on its turn, flexible; in other words,
the information could be presented in a chronological order (from the oldest
to the latest) or in a reverse chronology (starting with the latest event and
moving „backwards‟ toward the oldest).
According to the purpose of such a document, a curriculum vitae can
be of two major types:
a) a fully fledged curriculum vitae stipulating all the steps of

educational and professional evolution of the candidate (acting as
a simplified autobiography);
b) a targeted curriculum vitae mentioning only those items of
information that are relevant at a particular moment for a
particular purpose (in this case whole chunks of information
might be overlooked completely).
Other sections that frequently appear in a curriculum vitae are

dedicated to
supplementary information such as reasons for applying for the position,
reasons for leaving the previous and/or present employment;
personal qualities and skills thought relevant by the candidate for that
particular position;
current salary;
hobbies;
references;
professional and/or personal goals;
articles/books published;
conferences/conventions attended, etc.
The following pages contain two examples of letters of intent and a

sample C.V. that might serve as models.
45 Summer Street
Arad 360641
Romania
Eurobanks June 14, 2004

25 Market Boulevard
Bucharest 335703
Romania
Attention: Human Resources Department
Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to you in connection with the advertisement
you placed in The Financial Review this month referring to
a position of Sales manager.
As you will see from my c.v., this would not be the first
time I take this position in a company from this field but
working for your bank will provide me with the perfect
opportunity to further improve myself and, thus, be able to
add more value to the company.
I strongly believe that my experience and results
recommend me as the right person for this position and
should you need any further information, please contact me.
I am looking forward to meeting you.
Yours sincerely,
Sergiu Petrinoiu
Mr. Sergiu Petrinoiu
Enc.: c.v.

36 Square Street
Alba-Iulia 250602
ROMANIA
Belleview Hotel April 8, 2004

4 Breeze Street
Mamaia 340021
Romania
Att. of the Head of Accountancy Department
Dear Mrs. Alicia Thornton,
I am writing on the recommendation of Mr. Cosmin

Brunescu, the Economic Director of ROMTOUR Bucharest,
one of your oldest partners.
Two weeks ago we met at an international tour operators

convention here in Alba-Iulia and he let me know about an
opening in your department as a chartered account
suggesting that I should contact you in order to arrange an
interview. As it can be seen in the c.v., my expertise is quite
vast and I am very familiar with the accounting systems on
both sides of the Atlantic.
Should you need further data, I would be more than

willing to come for an interview.
I look forward to meeting you.
Sincerely yours,
J. Greenhut
Jane Greenhut (Mrs.)
Encl.: C.V.
PERSONAL DATA
Name: Edward White
Date of birth: August 4, 1971
Address: 34 Long Street, Galati 800008
Tel.: +04 0236 440066 e-mail: ed@yahoo.com
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
1998 – 2000 “Lower Danube” University, Faculty
of Economics, MBA
1991 – 1996 “Lower Danube” University, Faculty
of Economics, Bachelor of Sciences,
Banking and Finances
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
March 2001 – present VOXIM Ltd., 20 Rose Street,
Galati 800332, Sales manager
May 1999 – Feb. 2001 VelBankRo, 151 Royal Street,
Galati 800166, PR assistant
manager
June 1997 – April 1999 VelBankRo, 151 Royal Street,
Galati 800166, cashier
OTHER DATA
Languages: English (advanced)
French (upper intermediate)
Driving license: B, since 1990
REFERENCES
Mrs. Judith Meadow, Dean of the Faculty of Economics,
217 Southeast Street, Galati 800551
Mr. Michael Stratton, General Manager, VOXIM Ltd.,
20 Rose Street, Galati 800332
Ms. Olga Vinsky, General Director, VelBankRo, 151 Royal
Street, Galati 800166

1. An unsolicited letter of intent is:
a. a letter written by a solicitor;
b. a letter written by more than one person;
c. a letter of intent written at the initiative of the signer;
d. a letter written against the solicitation of a company;
e. a letter that is not necessary.

a. A letter of intent should provide information about the receiver of
the letter. [ ]
b. A letter of intent should provide certain information about the

signer of the letter. [ ]
c. An unsolicited letter of intent is totally the opposite of a regular

letter of intent. [ ]
3. Mark the following statements with T (true) or F (false).

a. The first paragraph is supposed to mention the advertisement (if it
is a regular letter of intent) or the person (in the case of an unsolicited
one) that provided the sender with the information about that
particular job, vacancy or whatever the sender is applying for. [ ]
b. This type of business letter is usually the first contact one has with
the company in which one plans to work. [ ]
c. The main part of the letter should be dedicated to mentioning the

enclosing of a C.V. and of those skills and qualifications that
recommend the sender as the right person for that particular job as
well as the circumstances under which these skills have been
acquired. [ ]
d. The final paragraph of the letter is usually used to express the

readiness to offer any further information necessary as well as to
mention the availability for an interview. [ ]
e. Strategically speaking, one should offer all the information he/she

has in the letter of intent and the accompanying C.V. and leave
nothing else for the interview. [ ]
4. Which of the following samples could be used in the first paragraph?

a. The level of my knowledge of foreign languages, as the C.V. clearly shows, is
more than satisfactory. Moreover, I have a two-year experience as an interpreter
for The High Court of Appeal in Bucharest during which I covered mostly cases
of economic nature.
b. If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me
and I will be more than willing to provide you with it. If there are some details
that require personal contact, my schedule allows me to come for an interview
every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon starting from 15.00.
c. I am replying to the advertisement you placed in last month’s issue of
Science Today in which you were asking for specialists in deep underwater
welding with more than five years experience.
d. As it could be seen from my C.V., my qualifications meet all the

requirements mentioned in the advertisement. In addition to these, I am also
familiar with much of the welding techniques that have been developed by
your company in the last five years.
e. I was strongly recommended by Ms Olivia Lashton who is the general

Manager of one of your largest customers to contact you regarding a possible
vacancy in your accountancy department.
5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part?

a. I am enclosing a C.V. which - I hope – will recommend me as highly qualified
for this position especially due to the three-year project I supervised in the
Columbian rain forest in the spring of 2002 working for the Greenpeace
organization.
b. Feel free to contact me provided there is any further information you might
find relevant. I am also confident that an interview would be the best way to
assess my eligibility for this opening position.
c. If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me and
I will be more than willing to provide you with it. If there are some details that
require personal contact, my schedule allows me to come for an interview every
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon starting from 15.00.
d. I am replying to the advertisement you placed in last month’s issue of

e. As it could be seen from my C.V., my qualifications meet all the requirements

mentioned in the advertisement. In addition to these, I am also familiar with
much of the welding techniques that have been developed by your company in
the last five years.
6. Which of the following samples could be used in the final paragraph?

a. Please let me know if there is any other information that you need in order to
make a decision regarding the arrangement of an interview.
b. The level of my knowledge of foreign languages, as the C.V. clearly shows, is

more than satisfactory. Moreover, I have a two-year experience as an interpreter
for The High Court of Appeal in Bucharest during which I covered mostly cases
of economic nature.
c. Feel free to contact me provided there is any further information you might

d. If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me
7. A curriculum vitae may also be called résumé.

a. true; b. false.
8. When a C.V. accompanies a letter of intent, the latter is called covering

letter.
a. true; b. false.
9. A curriculum vitae is a summary of a person‟s educational qualifications,

skills, publications and professional activities, prepared when applying for a
position.
a. false; b. true.
10. A curriculum vitae should contain:

a. information about the identity and residence of the person writing
the C.V.;
b. information about the identity and residence of the person reading
the C.V.;
c. information about the work experience that he/she has acquired till
the moment of writing the C.V.
d. information about his/her educational history;
e. information about the receiver‟s educational history.
Chapter 3 – Letter of enquiry
Objectives:
o To introduce the specifics of the letter of
enquiry
o To familiarize the students with samples of
such letters.
3.1 General remarks
Any relationship, whether personal or professional, starts with a first

contact which is consequently extremely important since it constitutes the
foundation for a potential partnership. As far as business correspondence is
concerned, the first step in a commercial relation is represented, most often
than not, by a letter of enquiry. This is the document that initiates what is
generally called pre-contractual correspondence. The two parties (or more)
involved in a business letter exchange are interested in signing a contract on
the basis of which all parties could make a profit. In order for this contract to
be signed, a number of steps need to be taken:
a) making an enquiry;
b) replying to enquiries and making an offer;
c) placing an order;
d) agreeing on payment methods;
e) delivering the object of the contract;
f) if the case be, dealing with complaints.
There are specific rules for every of these steps and they will be
discussed in details in the following chapters of this book. The purpose of the
present chapter is to analyse the circumstances under which one could send
a letter of enquiry and what other elements related to this type of business
letter should be known to the sender.
A letter of enquiry is basically a request for an offer or for any
information which might eventually lead to asking for an offer. There are
two large possible situations in which one could send a letter of enquiry:
a) the sender is not writing for the first time to the receiver of the letter and
b) the letter of enquiry is the very first contact.
In the first case, the letter could be shorter and the author might skip
the details about his/her own company since the two parties know each
other already. The letter can be concise and very forward but polite at the
same.

e.g.
Best Services Ltd.

30-32 Market Street, Galati 800008, ROMANIA
Tel.: +40 0236 477 725, e-mail: bestserv@yahoo.com
Mr. R. Green, Head of Sales Department June 23, 2004

First Suppliers Co.
64 Army Avenue
Glasgow 4G 88T
UK
Dear Mr. Green,
I am sure you remember the conversation we had at our last meeting
when I invited you to see how the construction of our new office
building was progressing. I am happy to let you know that we are in
the position to start furnishing the place and, naturally, I thought of
your company to provide all the necessary furniture. Could you send
me an estimate for the inventory we talked about?
I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
WLongarm
William Longarm
If there has been no previous contact with the receiver of the enquiry, the
letter should contain a short description of the sender and the circumstances
under which the enquirer has found about the services / products offered by
the receiver‟s company. Thus, the description should state:
the field of activity;

the size of the company;
the target customers.
Here are a few samples of opening lines that should be included in the
first paragraph of the letter:
We are importers and national distributors of computer hardware and

communication equipment.
Our company is among the very few ones in this part of Europe that are trading
organic food.
We are a branch of a large wholesaler addressing a wide range of customers.

Our company is one of the major players on the IT national market having a
distribution network that covers over 40% of the urban area of the country.
We are a local non-profit organization dedicated to helping mentally challenged

children.
Our group of firms plays a leading role on the construction market at a national
level as far as holiday houses are concerned.
As we have already stated, it is absolutely important that the sender
should mention how he/she heard about the company he/she intends to
write to. The various ways of gathering information about other companies
on the market could be generally grouped into three major categories as
follows (each category will be followed by a few samples):
a) commercials and advertisements:

We read your advertisement in The Economic Review, April 20, 2004,
regarding your wide variety of winter shoes.
Our company is interested in the new model of drilling machine that you
advertised last month in The Craftsman Magazine.
b) first-hand contact with the company‟s products/services by means of

showrooms, fairs, conventions, etc.:
I was impressed by the quality of tool-machines displayed on your stand at last
month convention in Bucharest.
The selection of armchairs that were exhibited in your Galati subsidiary

showroom two weeks ago made us contact you for further information.
c) recommendations:
Your company was recommended to us by Mr. Robert Green, of First Suppliers Co.
Our local Chamber of Commerce suggested that we should contact you since
your company is one of the top producers of boat equipments.
Most frequently, letters of enquiry ask for price-lists, prospectuses,

catalogues, brochures or estimates. The request could be a general one or could
be very specific and ask for detail information on a particular item. In this case,
the sender should pay extra attention to dates of catalogues, code numbers of
products, figures and percentages, etc. so as to avoid unpleasant
misunderstandings that might further lead to even more unpleasant situations
and/or conflicts between the parties involved in the trading process (see chapter
on complaints). Here follows a set of examples of most frequently used
constructions in enquiries:
We are particularly interested in winter clothes for children so we would appreciate your
sending us the catalogue for December with the correspondent price-list.
Our company intends to enlarge our area of customers and we decided to add catering
to the list of services we already provide. Could you send us your latest price-list and
catalogue for china and cutlery?
We are planning to expand our transportation network and we are interested in

your minivans. Therefore, we would appreciate your sending us a catalogue
accompanied by a price-list and the technical charts for each of your models.
In case the author of the enquiry is not satisfied with the information
he/she has about a certain product, he/she might ask for a sample or a
demonstration by means of a representative before placing an order. Since
most suppliers are interested in receiving orders from potential important
customers, they would not hesitate to send the requested samples; however,
if more convenient, they might invite the sender of the enquiry to visit one of
their showrooms (especially if the object of the demonstration is a heavy
piece of equipment or a certain precision device that might deteriorate
during transportation).
Another specific feature of this type of business letter is the fact that
besides requesting additional information, the sender often suggests a certain
method of payment that best suits him/her. Very frequently, a letter of
enquiry could also ask for a trade, quantity or cash discount based on the
company‟s usual practices and trade relationships with other
partners/suppliers. Of course, one should not consider that once they made a
suggestion regarding any of the aspects above mentioned, the recipient of the
enquiry will agree with every term without any objection. As a matter of fact,
most often than not, large suppliers have rather rigid price and discount
policies; however, since the aim of any transaction is to make profit, the reply
might contain certain adjustments to the terms suggested in the letter of
enquiry. Here are several examples of how to ask for samples and/or suggest
discounts and methods of payment:
We were wondering if you could send several samples of cloth along with the
summer catalogue.
Could you send me an inspection copy of the dictionary I mentioned in the

previous paragraph?
We would appreciate if you could send a representative to make a

demonstration of how the coffee machine we are interested in functions. If we
are satisfied with the results of the demonstration, we are ready to order at least
one of these machines for each of our main offices and branches in the country.
I was impressed by the efficiency of your cleaning services but before deciding to
sign a contract with your firm I would like to know more about your discount
policy.
Since we are planning to order a significant number of your leather bags, we

would expect an appropriate quantity discount.
We would like to mention that we have an agreement with our regular suppliers
that allow us to settle the accounts by monthly statements. We would
appreciate if you could offer us the same terms of payment.
Provided you have a cash discount policy, we are more than willing to adopt
this way of payment.
Many companies, especially retail houses, prefer not to take big risks
and, as a consequence, they adopt a safe attitude towards a new
product/service or line of products: they suggest the supplier to deliver an
initial quantity on approval or on a sale or return basis. This mechanism is very
simple: the two parties establish a period of time at the end of which the
supplier has to either receive the money for the goods or the goods themselves.
Naturally, in order to accept these terms, the supplier should know the retailer
well. If this is not the case, he/she might ask for some trade references from
previous partners of the retail house that requires such an agreement.
Our marketing department suggested that there might be a niche on the market
as far as this type of dog food is concerned. In order to exploit this opportunity,
we would like to display your range of products on a sale or return basis.
Our customers seem to be more and more interested in organic food. Confident
in the good reputation of your company, we would like to try a range of your
organic products to see if we can build a market over here. We would therefore
appreciate if you accept to supply us with a selection of your soybean-based
products on a sale or return basis.
A very specific type of letter of enquiry is that in which the enquirer is

asking for an estimate (an approximate calculation, an assessment of the likely
price of something, such as an item/device to be bought/installed or a job to be
done). This kind of enquiry is usually employed when the object of the contract
is s rather complex operation or a significantly large job such as redecorating a
hotel, building a highway or an entire amusement park.
Some letters use the term tender (from the verb to tender which means
to offer to undertake a job) instead of estimate when the job is much larger.
As a rule, if the beneficiary is a state owned company or the undertaking is
very large, the enquiry is done in the shape of an advertisement in a widely
circulated newspaper (or newspapers). Some private companies could do the
same or might prefer writing a letter of enquiry asking for an estimate to
several companies (a so called circular letter) that could complete that
particular job. As you will see from the following samples, sometimes the
beneficiary might invite some representatives of the contractors to gather
more information about the job before submitting an estimate.
The Ministry of Transportation invites tenders from road construction
companies to modernize the highway between Bucureşti and Constanţa.
Tenders should be delivered to the Infrastructure Development Department by
the end of next month. (newspaper advertisement)
The National Museum of Visual Arts invites tenders from the private sector to
restore the façade and the roof and to erect a new three-storey wing. Further
information can be obtained every weekday calling the following telephone
number … (newspaper advertisement)
We are writing to a series of catering companies to invite estimates for making

the necessary arrangements for an international convention to be held in
February 2005. We mention that the estimated number of participants is 500
and the convention will last for five days. Estimates should be sent to our
Marketing Department within three weeks.
Our company will be involved in a long-term project in your city. Since it is
more cost-effective for us to accommodate an entire team of specialists there
instead of having them commuting, we are inviting estimates from the most

important local hotels for our team. We mention that there will be a permanent
delegation of 12 persons with an additional two-member team that will come
every two weeks to supervise the development of the project. Please send your
estimates as soon as possible.
The final paragraph of the letter of enquiry has a twofold purpose:

1. to give a polite finish to the letter (see the section on closing lines) and
2. to indicate the possibility of further business or orders.
If the receiver of the letter notices the opportunity of a possible longer
partnership, he/she might be persuaded to accept most of the terms (if not
all of them) the enquirer suggested as far as the methods of payment and
discount policy are concerned. On condition the author of the enquiry does
not plan on building a long trade relationship with the receiver, he/she
might end his/her letter by means of one of the traditional patterns
(mentioned in the first module of this book) accompanied by a formula of
politeness as in some of the following examples:
Provided the customers appreciate the product, both in terms of quality and
price, we are prepared to place significant and regular orders with your
company.
On condition you can offer the quantity discount asked for by our company, we
will order at least 600 items per month during the entire winter season.
If the selection that we are interested in is delivered in time and the sales meet
our expectations, we will instruct our branches from the rest of the country to
place similarly large orders.
We hope you will accept the monthly payments we suggested. In this case, we
will order from you exclusively and on a regular basis.
We appreciate your attention and hope to hearing from you soon.
An early delivery will be highly appreciated.
We are looking forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Whether you are suggesting discounts, methods of payment or asking

for an estimate, sample or demonstration, your letter should be clear, simple
and polite. Do not forget to use passive voice to soften your terms and
complex sentences rather than short, abrupt sentences that might be
interpreted as too direct and impolite. Look at the following sample letters of
enquiry and observe how the elements we analysed above combine to form a
coherent business letter.
Best Services Ltd.
30-32 Market Street, Galati 800008, ROMANIA
Tel.: +40 0236 477 725, e-mail: bestserv@yahoo.com
OMEGA Ltd. January 16, 2004

22 Bega Street
Timişoara 459011
Romania
Attention: General Manager
Dear Sir or Madam,
We are a consultancy firm with a network of offices
all over the eastern part of the country. We are
planning to open a modern business centre in our
city this summer.
The Chamber of Commerce in your city
recommended your company to us. We would like
you to send an estimate for the construction of the
building according to the enclosed specifications.
Taking into consideration that there is not much
time till summer, a prompt reply would be highly
appreciated. In case your estimate meets our
expectations, we are more than determined to start
the construction.
We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely yours,
WLongarm
William Longarm
Executive Manager
Enc.: List of specifications

NEXT VISION CO.
36 Square Street,
Arad 450002, Tel.: +40 0258 137 205
ROMANIA e-mail: nextvision@yahoo.com
Belleview Hotel March 15, 2004

4 Breeze Street
Mamaia 340021
Romania
For the attention of whom may be concerned
Dear Sir or Madam,
Subject: group accommodation
We are one of the twelve firms working in entertainment that will
have a national conference in your resort this October.
Your hotel, among other five, has been

recommended by the chairman of our local
association of travelling agencies. We would like
you to send an estimate regarding the
accommodation for a group of 10 persons for three
nights in your best double rooms. Provided you
offer an attractive discount, we are prepared to
persuade the other eleven participating firms to use
your services too.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
Mellanie Dutch
Mellanie Dutch (Mrs.)
General Manager
COFFEELAND Ltd.
11 Christmas Street
Tulcea 330721
Romania
Comimpex Co. May 20, 2004
120 Harbor Street

Bucharest 335004
Romania
Attention: Sales Department
Dear Sir or Madam,
We have recently opened a coffee house on the
Danube bank and are doing all our best to attract
and keep our customers satisfied. In order to
achieve this goal, we have to make the best coffee
in town and for this we need the best coffee beans
available on the market. Naturally, we have thought
of your company that has an excellent reputation.
We would like you to send us a selection of samples
of your best-selling brands of coffee and the
correspondent price-list. We would also appreciate if
you gave us details on your discount policy and
what ways of payment you prefer.
Hoping that your terms will persuade us into placing
regular orders, we look forward to hearing from you
soon.
Yours sincerely,
(Miss) Winona Black
p.p. Gregory Roberts
General Manager

ANIM AL WORLD
28 Melody Street
Galati 800331, ROMANIA
Tel.: +04 0236 224 500
e-mail: catsndogs@yahoo.com
Mrs. Michaela Turner November 5, 2004

Chief of Sales Department
Pet Foods Ltd
6 Straight Road
Brasov 505222
Romania
Dear Mrs. Michaela Turner,
Subject: Holidays sales
We are planning to set special prices to our customers during the
Christmas period and, since we have had a rather long business
relationship, we were wondering whether you might offer us a
10% quantity discount for the fish-based cat food that you already
supply us with. If so, we are prepared to double the quantity that
we regularly order.
We are looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
K. Timothy
Mrs. Kelly Timothy
Chief of Marketing Department

1. A letter of enquiry may be shorter and concise if:
a. it is the first contact between the sender and the receiver;
b. it is not the first contact between the sender and the receiver.

a. A letter of enquiry should provide information about the receiver of
the letter. [ ]
b. A letter of enquiry should provide detailed information about the

signer of the letter no matter if it is the first contact or not. [ ]
c. A letter of enquiry should provide detailed information about the

signer of the letter only if it is the first contact. [ ]

a. A letter of enquiry is basically a request for an offer or for any
information which might eventually lead to asking for an offer. [ ]
b. As far as business correspondence is concerned, the first step in a

commercial relation is represented, most often than not, by a letter of
enquiry. [ ]

acquired. [ ]

mention the availability for an interview. [ ]
4. Which of the following samples could be used in the first paragraph of a

regular letter of enquiry?
a. Our company is one of the major players on the IT national market having a
b. If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me





5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part of a regular
letter of intent?
a. We are planning to expand our transportation network and we are interested
in your minivans. Therefore, we would appreciate your sending us a catalogue
b. Feel free to contact me provided there is any further information you might


6. Which of the following samples could be used in the final paragraph of a

letter of enquiry that indicates the possibility of further business or orders?
b. If the selection that we are interested in is delivered in time and the sales
meet our expectations, we will instruct our branches from the rest of the
country to place similarly large orders.

7. The correspondence that is initiated by a letter of enquiry is generally

called:
a. post-contractual; b. pre-contractual.
8. There are 6(six) steps that need to be taken in the process of negotiating,
signing and honouring a contract. The letter of enquiry is:
a. the second step;
b. the sixth step;
c. the first step;
d. the fifth step;
e. the fourth step.
9. The description given in the regular letter of enquiry should state:

a. the target of the activity, the size of the customers and the field of the
company;
b. the target of the activity, the size of the company and the field of the
customers;
c. the size of the company, the field of activity and the target customers.
10. Most frequently, letters of enquiry ask for:

the C.V.;
b. price-lists, prospectuses, catalogues, brochures or estimates;
e. information about the receiver‟s educational history.

Chapter 4 – Letter of complaint
Objectives:
o To introduce the specifics of the letter of
complaint
o To familiarize the students with samples of
such letters.
4.1 General remarks
Any human relationship, be it professional or personal in nature, is

bound to give rise to complaints sooner or later. Business relationships are
permanently exposed to the risk of one of the partner‟s discontent regarding
a particular service or product. In spite of this risk, one should permanently
keep in mind the fact that the errors which might occur are not intentional
and that the partner is not in business to create problems for his/her
customers but to keep them satisfied. Consequently, whenever a reason for
dissatisfaction arises, one should not automatically think badly about his/her
partner. Instead, he/she should signal the problem in a polite manner and
give him/her the chance to explain the situation and/or undo the damage.
There are numerous cases of complaints and their nature is equally
various. First of all, the complaints could be classified into two categories
according to the quality of the one making the complaint:
a) complaints made by the buyer/beneficiary;

b) complaints made by the seller/supplier.
The complaints belonging to the first category are related mainly to

one of the following aspects of the product/service:
a) quality e) transportation
b) quantity f) packing
c) damage g) storing
d) time of delivery h) insurance
Here are a few samples of language used to express dissatisfaction in

connection with one aspect or another:
There seems to be some misunderstandings regarding the number of

items that we ordered. To our great surprise, the quantity did not
correspond with the invoice.
It seems that some misunderstanding occurred when delivering the
consignment: our order was for 10 chestnut-brown wooden tables and
we received 10 black wooden tables.
Apparently, some mistake has been made and the shipment arrived
without all the necessary documents. There is a discrepancy between the
packing list and the content of your invoice: 200 pairs of leather shoes
are mentioned on the invoice but the list accompanying the delivery
mentions only 150 pairs.
On unloading the consignment from the ship, we found out that a

surplus of 1500 crates has been delivered. Unless we agree on a
consistent discount, we cannot take over this supplementary quantity.
A considerable number of boxes arrived in a badly damaged condition.

As a consequence, the content of these boxes was seriously affected.
As far as the complaints belonging to the second category are

concerned, they may occur mainly due to one of the following reasons:
a) delayed payment
b) non-payment
c) wrong documents
The most frequent reason that may determine a supplier to write such a letter
is the payment. Most often than not, suppliers are complaining about
delayed payment. Here are a few examples:
It seems that your Accounting Department may have overlooked invoice no.
HJ 2056 for € 3500 (see enclosed copy) which was due three weeks ago.
May we call your attention to our invoice no. LP 14355 for £ 1320 dated 9
September 2004 which should have been settled by 28 October.
We would like to remind you that your account shows a balance of $ 600 in
our favour as you failed to open the L/C within the 30 day interval as we
have agreed.
Since the financial settlement is now three months overdue, we assume that
a misunderstanding occurred and you may have overlooked it.
Would you instruct your Accounting Department to either make the

arrangements for immediate payment or let us have an explanation
regarding the outstanding invoice no. TC 33702.
This type of letter of complaint regarding the payment is also known as

a reminder. If the payment issue is not settled as a result of the first reminder,
the general practice is to send another two reminders characterized by a
gradual change in the firmness of the tone: from a general polite in the first
reminder to the clear mentioning of legal action in the third one.

A letter of complaint (no matter what its reason might be) displays the
same general parts of any business letter and a structure common to all
business letters.
4.2 Structure
Most often than not, letters of complaint are very direct – but not rude;
thus, the first paragraph states the nature of the complaint, without any
unnecessary preamble. The general tone and vocabulary should not be
aggressive or offending keeping in mind the fact that the seller/supplier is as
interested as you are in solving any unpleasant incident. As you will see
from the samples, accusatory terms are to be avoided; the complaints should
not be made personal but, instead, passive voice and impersonal structures
are preferred as they seem to „shift‟ the responsibility from the person
reading the letter to the situation itself.
Since the purpose of the letter of complaint is to fix something that has
gone wrong, it would be a good idea to offer a helping hand to the receiver
of the letter by letting him/her know whether you suspect the cause of the
inconvenience and, if possible, it would also be useful to suggest a solution if
you think that you have identified the best suitable manner to correct the
mistake. Very frequently though, we may not know what causes the
inconveniency; in such a case the best approach is to signal the existence of a
problem and explain it to the supplier and let him/her take what course of
action would seem appropriate.
As far as the reply to a letter of complaint is concerned, this should be
done in an elegant manner after having taken a number of steps:
a) verify if the complaint is justified;

b) thank the customer for pointing the mistake out;
c) explain the occurrence of the mistake (without trying to place all the
blame on the shoulders of your employees;
d) let the customer know that you are making all the necessary
arrangements for the error to be eliminated and offer to compensate for
any of the resulting inconveniences (if necessary).
If the letter of complaint proves to be unjustified, the tone of the reply

letter should be firm and polite explaining the reason for which you deny
responsibility. Even if you deny responsibility and refuse to take the letter of
complaint into consideration, you should give an explanation of the problem
and, if possible, refer to some other possible causes of the inconvenience.
When replying to an unjustified complaint, you should permanently
keep in mind that the person signing the complaint is your customer and that
anything he/she says about you and/or your company/services/products
can and will influence your image and reputation. Special attention should
also be paid to numbers and data since they tend to be the major source of
misunderstandings.
The following pages offer some sample letters of complaint and
replies to such letters.
44Domnească Street
Galaţi, 600424
ROMANIA
Softum Ltd. 15 December, 2004
12 Blossom Street
Braşov, 500404
Romania
Attention: The Sales Department
Dear Mr. Jim Turpin,
Subject: Our Order No. 2553/28 September, 2004

I am writing to you to complain about the consignment
that you delivered to us two days ago. Instead of the
light sweaters that we were expecting, the boxes
contained running shoes. I am sure that there must have
been a misunderstanding either in the transportation or
in the packing department.
Please look into the matter and see that either of these
two solutions is implemented:
(i) replace the entire consignment with the items we
originally asked for within 4 days since receiving this
letter of complaint;
(ii) if the previous solution is not possible, we would
like a total refund plus 3% losses discount.
You will find enclosed a copy of our order and invoice
corresponding to the items in case.
Yours sincerely,
Mircea Codreanu
Mr. Mircea Codreanu
Chief of Marketing Department
Encl.: 1 copy of Order No. 2553/28 September, 2004,

1 copy of Invoice No. SV 2925530/28 September, 2004

Softum Ltd.
12 Blossom Street, Braşov, 500404
Romania
CODREX Co. 18 December 2004

44 Domnească Street
Galaţi, 600424
ROMANIA
Attention: Chief of Marketing Department
Dear Mr. Mircea Codreanu,
Thank you for pointing out the error that has occurred
regarding the 13 December consignment. We have
looked into the matter and found out that there has been
a misunderstanding as far as your order was concerned:
it was mixed up with a different one.
The consignment will be replaced as you suggested – as

a matter of fact, the shipment should arrive in the same
day with this letter – and to show you our good will, we
offer you the possibility to pay within 40 days from
delivery.
We express our sympathy for the inconvenience that we
might have caused and look forward to hearing from
you soon.
Yours faithfully,
Jim Turpin
Mr. Jim Turpin
Chief of Sales Department
F u r n i t u r e I m p e x L t d .
115 Jasmine Street, Sibiu 730221
ROMANIA
Nightfall Café 20 June, 2004

7 Main Street
Craiova, 200466
Romania
Dear Mrs. Angela Bloomfeld,
Subject: Our Invoice No. 10437/18 May, 2004

I am writing to you to complain about a delay in payment.
It seems that your Accounting Department may have
overlooked out invoice No. 10437/18 May, 2004 for € 2200
(see enclosed copy) which was due three weeks ago.
Please look into the matter and make the necessary
arrangements to fix as soon as possible what surely
must have been a misunderstanding.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Sergiu Pinoche
Mr. Sergiu Pinoche
Sales Manager
Encl.: 1 copy of Invoice No. 10437/18 May, 2004

Nightfall Café
7 Main Street
Craiova,
200466
Romania
Furniture Impex Ltd. 25 June, 2004
115 Jasmine Street,
Sibiu 730221
ROMANIA
Attention: Sales Manager

Dear Mr. Sergiu Pinoche,
Subject: Outstanding invoice
We acknowledge we received your letter dated 20 June,

2004 in which you called our attention on an
outstanding invoice. We have checked our records and
there was no misunderstanding regarding your invoice:
the payment was made on time (see enclosed copy of
money transfer order).
We have reasons to believe that the error must have
appeared in the bank‟s records. We suggest that you
should contact the bank regarding this issue since we
suspect that they have forgotten to send you an advisory
note.
We regret any inconvenience that your company might
have suffered and look forward to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Angela Bloomfeld
Mrs. Angela Bloomfeld
General Manager
Encl.: 1 copy of Transfer Order No. 4825/25 May, 2004

1. Complaints could be made by:

a. the buyer;
b. the beneficiary;
c. the seller;
d. the supplier;
e. all of the above.
2. The buyer may complain about:

a. damage, quality, transportation and non-payment;
b. damage, quality, transportation and delayed payment;
c. damage, quality, transportation and quantity.
3. The seller may complain about:

a. damage, quality, wrong documents and non-payment;
b. wrong documents, quality, and delayed payment;
c. delayed payment, non-payment and wrong documents.

regular letter of complaint?
b. Instead of the light sweaters that we were expecting, the boxes

contained running shoes.



5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part of a

reminder?
b. We would like to remind you that your account shows a balance of $ 600
in our favour as you failed to open the L/C within the 30 day interval as we
have agreed.




reply to a justified letter of complaint?
c. We express our sympathy for the inconvenience that we might have

caused and look forward to hearing from you soon.

7. The letters of complaint can be generally classified into:

a. post-contractual and pre-contractual;
b. justified and unjustified.
8. How many reminders should be sent before taking legal action against the
faulty party?
a. only one;
b. just two;
c. three;
d. no reminder.
9. Justified letter of complaints should be:

a. very direct and rude;
b. complimentary and full of respect;
c. very direct but not rude.
10. In the case of unjustified letters of complaint, the reply should be:
a. extremely short and rude;
b. polite and thankful;
c. firm and polite explaining the reason for which you deny
responsibility;
d. firm and polite without explaining the reason for which you
deny responsibility;
e. short and rude without explaining the reason for which you deny
responsibility.

Key
Chapter 1 - introduction to business communication
1. Which of the following series contains all the compulsory elements of a

basic communication act?
c. sender, message, code, medium, receiver;
a. The code used in a communication act does not have to be shared
by both participants.
c. Water is the only medium which would allow communication in the
case of Native Americans who used smoke to send their messages.
d. Communication is characteristic to humans only.
e. Communication is necessarily oral and linguistic.
f. The message can be decoded and understood even if the code is not
shared by the participants in the communication act. [ ]
3. Which of the following series contains all the main parts of a business
letter?
b. sender‟s address, receiver‟s address, date line, salutation line, the
body of the letter, closing lines, signature;
4. Match the elements on the left with their equivalents on the right.
receiver‟s address complementary close
letterhead inside address
closing lines letter-heading
5. Which of the following parts of a letter are additional and not compulsory?
a. enclosures;
c. subject line.
6. Which of the following additional parts of a letter should be underlined?
c. subject line;
d. attention line.
7. Which of the following layouts resembles the “justify” alignment of a
Word document?
b. blocked.
8. The blocked style is favoured by the American companies.
a. true;
9. The indented style is specific to the European business environment.
b. true.
10. The sender‟s address takes top right-hand position on the page.
a. true;
11. The name of the person signing the letter should be mentioned in the
address itself and not at the end of the letter.
a. false;
12. Which of the following dates are ambiguous and should be written in a
different manner?
a. 10.06.1998;
c. 05.11.2005.
13. Writing the month in its full name is advisable because:
b. it avoids ambiguity;
14. Which of the following courtesy titles is not given the right explanation?
c. Ms.– for a woman whose husband is dead;
15. The mention “Encl.” at the bottom of the last page of the letter means:
b. the letter is accompanied by one or more documents;
Chapter 2 – Letter and intent and CV
1. An unsolicited letter of intent is:

c. a letter of intent written at the initiative of the signer;
2. Which of the following statements are false?
a. A letter of intent should provide information about the receiver of
the letter.
c. An unsolicited letter of intent is totally the opposite of a regular
letter of intent.
a. The first paragraph is supposed to mention the advertisement (if it
is a regular letter of intent) or the person (in the case of an unsolicited
one) that provided the sender with the information about that
particular job, vacancy or whatever the sender is applying for. [ T ]
b. This type of business letter is usually the first contact one has with
the company in which one plans to work. [ T ]
acquired. [ T ]
mention the availability for an interview. [ T ]
e. Strategically speaking, one should offer all the information he/she
has in the letter of intent and the accompanying C.V. and leave
nothing else for the interview. [ F ]
4. Which of the following samples could be used in the first paragraph?
5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part?

a. I am enclosing a C.V. which - I hope – will recommend me as highly qualified
for this position especially due to the three-year project I supervised in the
Columbian rain forest in the spring of 2002 working for the Greenpeace
organization.
6. Which of the following samples could be used in the final paragraph?
d. If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me and
7. A curriculum vitae may also be called résumé.
a. true;
8. When a C.V. accompanies a letter of intent, the latter is called covering
letter.
a. true;
9. A curriculum vitae is a summary of a person‟s educational qualifications,
skills, publications and professional activities, prepared when applying for a
position.
b. true.
10. A curriculum vitae should contain:
the C.V.;
Chapter 3 – Letter of enquiry
1. A letter of enquiry may be shorter and concise if:

b. it is not the first contact between the sender and the receiver.

a. A letter of enquiry should provide information about the receiver of
the letter.
c. A letter of enquiry should provide detailed information about the

signer of the letter only if it is the first contact.

a. A letter of enquiry is basically a request for an offer or for any
information which might eventually lead to asking for an offer. [T]
b. As far as business correspondence is concerned, the first step in a
commercial relation is represented, most often than not, by a letter of
enquiry. [T]

acquired. [F]

mention the availability for an interview. [F]

regular letter of enquiry?
5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part of a regular
letter of enquiry?

letter of enquiry that indicates the possibility of further business or orders?
7. The correspondence that is initiated by a letter of enquiry is generally

called:
b. pre-contractual.
8. There are 6(six) steps that need to be taken in the process of negotiating,
signing and honouring a contract. The letter of enquiry is:
c. the first step;
9. The description given in the regular letter of enquiry should state:

c. the size of the company, the field of activity and the target customers.
10. Most frequently, letters of enquiry ask for:

b. price-lists, prospectuses, catalogues, brochures or estimates;
Chapter 4 – Letter of complaint
1. Complaints could be made by:

e. all of the above.
2. The buyer may complain about:
c. damage, quality, transportation and quantity.
3. The seller may complain about:

c. delayed payment, non-payment and wrong documents.

regular letter of complaint?
b. Instead of the light sweaters that we were expecting, the boxes
contained running shoes.
5. Which of the following samples could be used in the main part of a

reminder?
b. We would like to remind you that your account shows a balance of $ 600 in
our favour as you failed to open the L/C within the 30 day interval as we have
agreed.

reply to a justified letter of complaint?
c. We express our sympathy for the inconvenience that we might have
caused and look forward to hearing from you soon.
7. The letters of complaint can be generally classified into:

b. justified and unjustified.
8. How many reminders should be sent before taking legal action against the
faulty party?
c. three;
9. Justified letter of complaints should be:

c. very direct but not rude.
10. In the case of unjustified letters of complaint, the reply should be:
c. firm and polite explaining the reason for which you deny
responsibility;
Bibliography
Ashley, A., 1994. A Handbook of Commercial Correspondence, Oxford: Oxford

University Press
Bresford, C., 1990. Business Communication. Practical written English for the
Modern Business World, London: Butler & Tanner Ltd
Chiriacescu, A. et al, 1997. Corespondenţă de afaceri în limbile română şi engleză,

Bucureşti: TEORA
Littlejohn, A., 1990. Company to Company. A New Approach to Business

Correspondence in English, Cambridge: CUP
Marcheteau, M. et al, 2002. Engleza pentru economie. Business & Economics,

Bucureşti: TEORA
*** English for Secretaries, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988

Partner to Partner: Business Correspondence

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PARTNER to PARTNER

Business correspondence for Public Administration

Lector dr Marius Velică

Chapter 1. Introduction to business communication 5

Chapter 2. Letter of intent and CV 21

Chapter 3. Letter of enquiry 31

Chapter 4. Letter of complaint 44

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

1.1 General remarks

Emitter Message Receiver

1.2 Main parts of a business letter

1.2.2 The indented style

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

INTERNATIONAL TRADING GROUP

Bridge House, 22 Lake Street, Wilford MO3, UK

10.8.2004 could mean:

The European system The US system

the 10th of August, 2004 the 8th of October, 2004

1.2.5 Receiver’s address

e.g. Human Resources Manager Paula Winston

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

2. Mr. James Ratley

3. Head of Surgery Department Dr. Jennifer Drake,

4. The Chief Assistant

5. The Client Service Department

6. Messrs. Continental Distribution, Ltd.

1.2.6 Salutation line

1.2.7 The body of the letter

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

1.2.8 Closing line

Salutation line Closing line

Dear Mr. Robin, Yours sincerely,

1.3 Additional elements/parts of a business letter

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

INTERNATIONAL TRADING GROUP

SPEED & TOYS Co.

INTERNATIONAL TRADING GROUP

1.5 Self-evaluation test

2. Which of the following statements are false [F]?

6. Which of the following additional parts of a letter should be underlined?

7. Which of the following layouts resembles the “justify” alignment of a

8. The blocked style is favoured by the American companies.

9. The indented style is specific to the European business environment.

13. Writing the month in its full name is advisable because:

Partner to Partner. Business correspondence for Public administration

2.1 Letter of intent

I am writing concerning your advertisement in The Observer, issue of 21

I am replying to the advertisement you placed in last month’s issue of

I am writing to you on Mrs. Robert Krum’s suggestion about the position

Mentioning the source of information in the case of unsolicited letters

As it could be seen from my C.V., my qualifications meet all the

The level of my knowledge of foreign languages, as the C.V. clearly shows,

I am enclosing a C.V. which - I hope – will recommend me as highly

The final paragraph of the letter is usually used to express the

If there is any further information you need, do not hesitate to contact me

Feel free to contact me provided there is any further information you

2.2 Curriculum vitae

a) information about the identity and residence of the person

a) a fully fledged curriculum vitae stipulating all the steps of

Other sections that frequently appear in a curriculum vitae are

The following pages contain two examples of letters of intent and a

Eurobanks June 14, 2004