Seminar groups - Eva Lukáčová

Business Letters

This semester you will delve into the secrets of business correspondence. Based on some information heard in the lessons and specifics on form from the IB Style Guide and sample letters below, you will correspond with one of your colleagues and submit your letters together. You will write:

  1. Student A - a letter of enquiry (asking for information about a product/service you are interested in either as an individual or a company representative),
  2. Student B - a reply to A's enquiry (giving info A asked for, offering to deliver, give discounts etc.),
  3. Student B - a complaint (complaining about a product/service, giving details of the problem and asking for compensation),
  4. Student A - a reply to B's complaint (agreeing/disagreeing with the complaint, offering a solution).

Each letter should be between half a page and one page (i.e. between 900 and 1800 characters) long, so try to come up with details and give background information. You are encouraged to use your imagination. Plagiarising (or being inspired to a great extent by) the sample letters will be considered unsatisfactory.

I would like to ask you to print the letters out and bring them to me by 25 or 26 November, depending on the group.

You can find information on structure and useful phrases in Style Guide, p.16 - 19. Sample letters of enquiry and complaints (and replies to them) follow: