This document discusses the terms "inquire" and "enquire" and their different usages in British and American English. It also discusses letters of enquiry, which are business letters sent to request information about prices, quality, quantity, terms, etc. of goods or services from suppliers. There are two main types of enquiry letters - solicited enquiries in response to advertisements, and unsolicited enquiries without prompting. Enquiry letters should directly state the purpose, requirements, and urgency of the request for information. Various formats and contents of effective enquiry letters are also outlined.

1. ENQUIRIES
Business communication

2. “inquire” and “enquire?”

3. These are two spellings of the
same word, which means to seek
information about something or to
conduct a formal investigation
(usually when followed by “into”).

4. Either spelling can be used, but
many people prefer enquire and
enquiry for the general sense of
“ask”, and inquire and inquiry for a
formal investigation:

5. I enquired his name
The lawyers asked when the
inquiry will be completed.

6. enquire and enquiry are more
common in British English
inquire and inquiry are more
common in US English

7. Letters of Enquiry

8. The word “Enquiry” refers to
investigate or find out fact about
anything and in Business
Correspondence it means asking
for information about prices,
quality, quantity and terms for
supply of goods.

9. In hot pursuit to buy goods at
favorable businessman writes or
corresponds with manufacturers or
traders for the information about
the price, quality, quantity and
other details.

10. In other words,
“Letters of Enquiry”.
In other words, letter writing in
business asking for information
about the goods or services by the
intending buyer from the
manufacturer, seller, dealer or
supplier may be called a Letter of
Enquiry.

11. Types of Enquiry:

12. (a) Solicited Enquiry – This enquiry is
request for information by the
intending buyer after being convinced
through any advertisement or
communication from the seller or
supplier. These enquiries can be found
in newspapers and magazines and is
generally displayed as “for details
contact…” which means that the
intending buyer should write to the
advertiser to seek for information or
details. Such type of enquiries can be

13. (b) Unsolicited Enquiry – This enquiry
is the information asked by the
intending buyer about desired goods
or services without the influence of
advertisement or seller’s advice. In this
type of enquiry, the intending buyer
corresponds or communicates by
seller by his information about the
desired goods or services and so they
are called unsolicited enquiry.

14. Sources of Enquiry:

15. (1) Daily Newspapers
(2) Trade/Commercial magazines
(3) Directories
(4) Catalogues & Price List

16. The intending buyer can get the
name and address of the desired
supplier or manufacturer from
these sources of enquiry.

17. Contents of Letter:

18. (1) The intending buyer should
write the purpose of making
enquiry about the desired goods or
services to be purchased.

19. The intending buyer should specifically
write about the details of goods or
services required. If there is an enquiry
about the goods/services then the
enquiry can about quality, quantity,
size, brand etc of the product. If there
is need for another queries like sample
patterns, catalogues or price lists, then
it should be mentioned exclusively in
the letter.

20. The intending buyer should ask for
the terms and conditions for the
payment and delivery of the goods
or services.

21. The intending buyer should show
urgency of early information so
that there should be expression of
hope in the desired enquiry from
the supplier.

22. Drafting of an Enquiry Letter

23. The enquiry letter should begin
with a direct question or questions.
The information should be asked
directly without jumbling of words
or ideas.

24. The enquiry letter should be
directly properly to the
requirements of goods or services
should be stated in a
straightforward manner.

25. should be kept short as far as
possible and it should be to the
point.

26. enquiry letter there has to be
appropriate opening and closing
sentences so that it should look
relevant with the subject.

27. Kinds of Business-Enquiry Letter

28. and other information etc, i.e. asking
for price, quality, terms and
conditions.
(2) Tabulated Enquiry.
(3) Asking for catalogues and pricelists.
(4) Asking for samples, patterns etc.
(5) Asking for goods on approval on
return basis.
(6) Asking for concessions and special
terms.

29. General Enquiry
The letter about general enquiry
consists of asking information
about the prices and other terms
for any item required in day-to-day
business. This enquiry can be for
stationary products or office
equipments or any goods for sale..

30. The drafting of such enquiry letter
is easy and should start by putting
questions and giving details of the
items required. Finally there has to
be stress upon the urgency or
information so that the reply is
received by the sender at the
earliest.

31. These types of letters should be
written in direct style and it should
be abstained from writing
introduction or preface. In this
letter question is put forward to
the correspondent or reader of the
letter. The letter should be closed
after giving information in brief.

32. Tabulated Enquiry
Tabulated enquiry is those where
information is asked through several
points or questions in serial order. The
information asked can be divided into
several parts and all points are serially
numbered. This type of letter writing is
useful for both the reader and writer
as it clearly specifics the points within
the letter. The information can be

33. Download Letter Formats
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