VIII. Compare the structure of business and personal letters.

	Business Letters		Personal Letters
1.	Style: formal -	1.	Style: informal -
	Dear Sir, / Mr. X /		Dear Allan, / Hallo Allan /
			Hi Allan, /My dear Paula, etc
2.	typed	2.	handwritten usually
3.	reader's / receiver's name	3.	—
	and address
4.	the exact date: January 2,	4.	you don't always write the
	200x		year in the date.
5.	references	5.	—
6.	no contractions	6.	you use contractions: I'm,
			it's, we've, you'd, etc.
7.	a formal ending:	7.	informal ending:
	Yours faithfully,		Love, As always, Best Wishes,
	Yours sincerely		Keep in touch, Yours as ever.
8.	signature	8.	only your first name
9.	your name and job under	9.	—
	your signature
	your address (more usually	10.	not necessary if you write to
	it is now written in the		your friend.
	upper left or right corner
	of the letter)

IX. Do you know that:

 

Some business firm use Esq., after the name instead of Mr. before. E.g.: Mr. John Scarce, Melvin K. Roberts, Esq. But never use both (Mr. and Esq.) together. Neither of these forms is used when a title is put before a name, e.g.: Mr. G.V. Carvey, but: Dr H.S. Menwell.

Short forms of University Degrees are written after the name, e.g.: M. A. (Master of Arts), M. D. (Doctor of Medicine), B. Com. (Bachelor of Commerce), e.g.: Henry A. Stewart, Ph. D.

Messrs. stands for Messieurs. This form is never written in full in English and is widely used for partnerships and limited companies.

You never use 'Dear' with 'Gentlemen'. The form 'Gentlemen' is accepted when the letter is addressed, to a Committee, a Board of Directors or other public body, and preferred by Americans.

Letters and numbers after the names of towns refer to postal areas, e.g. : E. C. - East Central, N. W. - North West. In London districts are usually indicated by letters and numbers. Some smaller towns may have numbers only.

Keep in mind the following abbreviations used in business letter

Ltd. - limited liability -company - общество с ограниченной ответственностью

PLC (pic) - public limited liability company – общество с ограниченной ответственностью Открытого типа

ISO - International Standard Organization - международная организация по стандартам

p.t.o. - please turn over - окончание на обороте

cont. - continued - продолжение следует

P.P. - per pro (lat) - по доверенности

Re(lat. in re) - concerning – касательно

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