《Explore Business English》Explore Business English

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吳幸玲

美國北亞利桑那大學英語教學碩士，La Sierra 大學教育博士，現任僑光科技大學應用英語系副教授。

Hsing-Ling Carol Wu received her MA in TESOL from Northern Arizona University and her Ed.D. from La Sierra University. She is currently associate professor at the Applied English Department, Overseas Chinese University.

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Explore Business English－目錄導覽說明

序/導讀 《Explore Business English》top

Introduction

If your business letter is to be well organized, you must do some thinking and planning before you begin to write it. It is recommend that you take the following three steps before you begin actually to write:

a.If you are replying to a letter, read it carefully and circle the important points you will cover in your own letter.

b.Take some time to familiarize yourself with the circumstances surrounding your letter. In other words, obtain as much background material as necessary. Get the file of the person to whom you are writing and read any past correspondence that bears on the present situation. It may help to discuss the case with others in your office who are more familiar with it.

c.Jot down in a short list the ideas you plan to include in your letter. Then go over your list and make sure you have included everything you want to say and exclude those ideas that are irrelevant.

Once you have taken these three preparatory steps, you are ready to actually write the letter. At this point, the main object is to get it down. Let the ideas flow freely and don’t worry about your sentence structure or about whether you are being wordy.

After you have got it all out, let it sit for a while and cool off. If you are dictating the letter, have a draft copy made up. So once you have let some time go by, sit down and revise the letter so that it becomes clear, concise, natural, courteous, and personal.

In addition to the planning and preparation of writing, you are advised to pay attention to your writing skills. First, you have to write concise sentences. A concise sentence says what has to be said in the fewest number of words—without losing effectiveness, clarity, or courtesy. Some words and phrases that often crop up in business letters do nothing to carry the meaning of a sentence to the reader. Such unnecessary verbiage should be ruthlessly cut out with the stroke of a pen.

And clarity is always a prerequisite for the business letter that best does the job. Thus, it is extremely important that you choose words that exactly express your meaning. You may have a very clear and precise thought that you wish the reader to understand, but if you do not choose the right words to express it, the reader may misunderstand—with unpleasant consequences for yourself and your organization. Sometimes, business writers have a tendency to use general words when specific words are needed. These general words are often clichs and are usually plugged in without much thought.

Furthermore, your writing should be as easy to read as you can make it. You are advised to use the devices called links and parallelism. Links are words that serve readers in much the same way as road signs serve the drivers of cars. They tell them what to expect and thus make their trips safer and smoother. And parallelism is one of the most useful writing devices available to the writer of better business letters. When used correctly and appropriately, it can bring order and clarity to much of your writing.

And concerning your writing style, you have to achieve a natural, courteous, and personal style in your business letters. For it is just as important that your letters have these qualities as it is that they be clear and concise. Think for a moment about the way people speak to and interact with each other in business. Have you noticed that the ones who are most successful and effective usually are able to express themselves in a simple, unaffected manner? They are able, somehow, to give the impression that they are courteous and considerate—that they care about the people around them—while at the same time they concentrate on the business at hand.