Modern business letters must be simple, easy to understand,friendly and courteous. They should convey messages in a way that it builds goodwill with the reader alongwith creating a positive and pleasant feeling. Avoid jargons while writing a letter. However, if the jargon is unavoidable then explain them in clear terms. While insisting actions, refusing requests or calling attention to mistakes the messages need to be tactful and subtle. For more such innovative content on management studies, join WeSchool PGDM-DLP Program: http://bit.ly/ZEcPAc

1. Style of Business
Letters
Chapter 14

2. Modern business language
is simple, easy to
understand, friendly and
courteous. Letters convey
messages; letters must also
build goodwill and create
positive and pleasant
feelings in the reader. The
brief contact with the reader
that a letter makes must be
pleasant and memorable.
Chapter 15

3. Jargon means the vocabulary and
phrases peculiar to a particular trade
or profession. The term “business
jargon” refers to the words and
phrases which businessmen used in
the old days for writing letters; it is
also called commercialese, a word
which shows contempt for the style.
Ugly, out dated words and phrases
in letters fail to make personal
contact with the customer/reader.
Chapter 15

4. When writing to persons who do
not know the technical terms, they
must be avoided. If the technical
terms are absolutely unavoidable in
describing a product, the meaning
should be given in plain terms. The
language should be adapted to lay
persons; technical words should
not be used just because they
sound impressive
Chapter 15

5. Some words get additional
meaning or power of
suggestion because of being
associated with certain ideas
or activities. Languages must
be used skillfully so that the
letter would never be
offensive to the reader
Chapter 15

6. There are several
occasions when the
content of the message
needs tact in conveying,
like insisting on action,
refusing requests, or
calling attention to
mistakes
Chapter 15

7. Choose a suitable style
according to the need of
each occasion for asking
action. The asking may
be routine, polite
requests for actions,
direct commands, formal
or informal polite
request, request for
permission
Chapter 15

8. Accentuate the positive. Your letters will be more
successful if you focus on positive wording even
when you have to convey a negative reply. A positive
approach is more tactful and more effective in
drawing a favorable response. Be careful to avoid
words with a negative connotation. Try to express a
negative idea in positive terms
Chapter 15

9. When you need to present negative
information, emphasize what something IS
rather than what it IS NOT, stress what you
CAN do rather than what you CANNOT, start
with positive ACTION rather than
EXPLANATION or APOLOGY, avoid words
that convey unpleasant ideas.
Chapter 15

10. A negative reply should never appear willful or
arbitrary; genuine inability to agree or to grant a
request is more acceptable to the reader and
easier for you to communicate. Support a refusal
with: i) an acceptable and well-explained reason,
ii) an apology, iii) an alternate e offer or a
suggestion.
Your skill in the art of saying “no” without
giving offence depends on your ability to use
words well
Chapter 15

11. Place positive and welcome ideas in positions
of high emphasis: at the beginning and
ending of a sentence, a paragraph a whole
letter. Give more space to positive ideas and
less space to negative ones. Saying “no” and
yet winning the reader’s goodwill is one of the
challenges of skillful letter writing
Chapter 15

12. A sensible attitude towards human error
improves communication and interpersonal
behavior. The person who made the mistake
must be told, corrected and, if necessary,
warned not to repeat it. It is important, while
talking of mistakes, not to sound accusing,
fault finding superior, victorious, or
contemptuous.
Chapter 15

13. It is more useful to sound cooperative,
courteous, patient, clear, and friendly. An active
voice emphasizes and draws attention to the
doer of the action whereas a passive voice
draws attention to the action, and usually
leaves out the doer. It is better not to mention
the doer every time the error is mentioned The
passive voice is therefore polite and
unaccusing in talking of errors
Chapter 15

14. Active voice is more direct and vigorous, lively, emphasizes
the doer of the action, draws attention to the doer of the action,
is used for talking about pleasant actions and talk about
pleasant actions and used to show that you will take
responsibility for something. Whereas passive voice is indirect
and tame, it emphasizes action; when talking of unpopular
decisions and policies like not giving credit terms or not
revealing certain information, or not giving discounts on certain
items, you can use passive voice; it is used to protect the
source of information; scientific experiments and processes
are usually reported in passive voice.
Chapter 15

15. You can emphasize an idea or a point by
employing the four methods like: Placing:
An idea placed at the beginning of a
composition or a paragraph, or a
sentence, gets more attention than one
which is placed later.
Chapter 15

16. If you spend 3 or 4 sentences on the idea, the
reader dwells on it longer; if you give it only
one sentence, it gets less attention. If an idea
or a point is to be de-emphasized or reduced
in importance, you can give it in a subordinate
clause or just a phrase
Chapter 15

17. Skill in transformation of
sentences lends power to
your writing
Chapter 15

18. An important idea may be underlined or
typed in capitals or italicized for
emphasis. Varieties of ways such as
color, different font type etc are useful
for sales letters
Chapter 15