An example of a business style text from literature. A short text of a business style of speech: examples

Writing business style texts in the correct format is not for everyone. The main trap that thousands of authors fall into every day is a completely incorrect interpretation of business texts and a misunderstanding of the principles of their work.

According to official sources:

Official business style text is the main means of communication in business, legal and other environments that involve the exchange of impersonal official information.

Pretty simple definition, right?! And yet, for some unknown reason, thousands of lawyers, economists, managers and even diplomats try every day to add the same erroneous feature to such texts. Do you know which one?

The Fallacy of Modern Business Correspondence is that people deliberately complicate it. For some reason, it is generally accepted that the more complex the message, the more cunning the terminology and the longer the sentences, the more vigorous the material will be. They say you can’t spoil porridge with butter.

In this material we will try to talk about what a truly good business style text should be, what its structure should be, what you should pay attention to and what mistakes you should not make. We promise that after this note you will be able to look at the rules of writing business texts a little differently.

Requirements for business text and its structure

In general, many documents are written in an official business style, from the constitution and state acts to explanatory and dismissal documents. We are primarily interested in texts for business and therefore the main emphasis will be placed on it.

Business text has its own distinctive features that other styles do not have. Here are the main signs:

Conciseness. Creating business text requires pity for the reader. If bureaucrats can afford to create “masterpieces” on many sheets, then this is not welcome in the business environment. Since businessmen are busy people, the texts should be made in such a way that a person can read them without Corvalol. Only facts, only numbers, only important details.

Please understand: brevity does not mean leaving out some important details. All explanations must be given and important points mentioned. Laconism in this case is the rejection of verbiage for the sake of verbiage.

Clear structure. You need to think about the structure of your business letter in advance. There is nothing worse than text in which the meaning constantly jumps from place to place. We recommend choosing a starting point from which to develop your narrative.

If you mention a fact, try to immediately write down everything you want to report about this fact. : There is nothing worse than reading an unstructured “sheet” of text. It is ideal if there is one complete thought in each paragraph. This will make reading much easier.

Lack of emotions. When writing a text in a business style, we recommend remembering the English lords, who cannot be embarrassed even by a bomb explosion. No emotions, just facts with an impartial face. However, there are exceptions here too: if you are corresponding with a person you like, but the format of business communication does not allow special liberties, you can only hint at obvious sympathy.

For example, put exclamation marks in two sentences in a row or introduce some word from the literary style. It seems like a small thing, but a person experienced in business correspondence will understand everything perfectly.

Simplicity of presentation. If you respect the person who will be reading your text, keep the material simple. Not simplified, but simple. Despite the fact that the rules for writing business-style texts allow the use of bureaucratic language and special terms, you should not complicate the material with complex structures. Alas, sentences are often so confusing and long that at the end you forget the beginning.

Do you see that the proposal is too complicated? Break it down into two or three smaller sentences. It won’t cost you anything, but it will be convenient for the person.

Using prepositions and complex conjunctions. Perhaps business texts are the only format where the massive use of prepositions (based on, in accordance with, etc.) and conjunctions (due to the fact that, due to the fact that, etc.) is allowed. Of course, you don’t need to put them every other word, but to give the text the appearance of a business message, it’s a very, very good technique.

So, let's once again repeat the basic rules for creating business text:

It should be a clearly structured material of small size.

In such a text there is no place for emotions and loss of logical threads.

You should strive for simplicity of presentation, avoiding complex sentences.

Your goal is to convey business information to people, but make it as simple as possible.

Signs of business text

Three examples of mini-texts in business style

Example one. Business letter to client:

Dear Sergey Sergeevich! In response to your request to install a new door, we inform you that a representative of our company will visit you on December 25th. Typically, door installation time is no more than one hour. We hope that you will be satisfied with the quality of our work.

Example two. A short business text for company employees:

On December 5, 2015, Company N begins participating in the annual social marathon “Feed the Cat.” In this regard, the company management recommends that all employees bring 2 liters of milk with a fat content of at least 2.5% to the workplace every day.

If you find a cat of any age, you should immediately give the animal milk. Employees who water the maximum number of animals will receive bonuses at the end of the current quarter.

Third example. Letter to the manager:

I, Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov, from December 5 to February 12 this year, as part of the social marathon “Feed the Cat,” I gave milk to 12 cats and 10 cats. I spent the bonuses I received for winning a corporate competition for personal purposes.

Since the animals are accustomed to receiving milk from me, and I do not have money for their subsequent feeding, I ask you to allocate the amount of 100,000 rubles to purchase milk at the expense of the company.

Rules for writing business letters

If you didn't already know, business style is divided into two different types:

Official business style.

Casual business style.

The first is zero emotions, a jacket with all buttons and the facelessness of the author. The second is more democratic and emotional (if that can be said about business texts). By the way, most business letters are written in everyday style. Moreover, interestingly, business correspondence often develops as follows:

Stage one. Official business style;

Stage two. Casual business style;

Stage three. Interspersed with elements of informal communication;

Stage four. Informal communication “without ties”.

It is clear that if in your first letter you write something like “Hello, Kolya! What prices do you have for combine harvesters?”, then it will not be properly appreciated. If you go through all stages of business correspondence “by the rules,” then over time the format of communication can change significantly. This is a common trend.

We have already discussed the rules for writing business texts, and therefore we will not repeat ourselves: letters are written in the same way as texts. However, there are also some unspoken rules of correspondence that we have not yet talked about. Since not everyone knows them, it’s worth talking about them separately:

A business letter must contain a subject. It is bad form to leave the Subject field blank.

You should not change the subject of a business letter or delete your correspondence history without a serious reason. Yes, you may remember all the details of the communication, but the person on the other side of the mailbox may not remember them.

Neutral emotionality. Even if you are actually ready to take a sledgehammer to the recipient, this should not be tracked in any way in a business letter. Corporate culture teaches you to “put your interlocutor in his place” using more cunning techniques: “forgetting” to mention a name, avoiding exclamation marks at the beginning of a letter, ignoring some questions, and so on.

Lack of emoticons. No emoticons until the communication format has reached at least the third stage (elements of informal communication).

Sending a letter with errors is the height of ignorance.

Explanation of refusal. It is enough that banks do not explain the reason for refusal when issuing loans. Be more friendly: even if you are forced to refuse, be sure to soften the tone of the letter and explain the reason.

See for yourself:

First example of a business letter

Hello! We are not planning to buy crushed stone this year. All the best.

Second example of a business letter

Hello, Ivan! Unfortunately, our company does not plan to purchase additional quantities of crushed stone this year. This is due to the fact that we have already fully agreed on the entire list of future expenses, and the company has no funds left for the purchase of crushed stone. We sincerely hope that next year we will agree with you in advance on the purchase of crushed stone in order to budget the necessary funds in advance.

I think you can see for yourself that the first version was written by a soulless robot, and the second by a person who sincerely regrets. Two business style letters on the same topic, but they are so different!

There is no need to start from afar. If you have something to say, say it right away. When a person starts coming from afar, it becomes more unnerving.

These are the most important rules for writing letters in business style that you will definitely need. The main thing is to remember that some kind of obvious officialdom is not always expected from you. If you see that a person is not averse to moving to a more informal level of communication, feel free to move on. There's nothing wrong with that.

That's all friends. We told you everything we wanted to tell you about creating texts in a business style. If you have questions, comments or additions, do not be lazy to write a comment. We are sure this will only benefit the material.

Business style- this is an arsenal of lexical - verbal and grammatical means that help the speaker and writer emphasize the official nature of communication.

The choice of a word and its form, the construction of a sentence - all these are techniques with the help of which the author of the text not only conveys information, but also signals to the addressee about its importance, about how to react to the message received.

When drawing up official [[documents, the correct choice of words that accurately convey the meaning of the information plays an important role. You need to remember a few basic rules of vocabulary.

It is very important to use it correctly terms(from the Latin terminus - border, limit) - words or phrases naming a special concept from any area of human activity.

If you doubt that the meanings of the terms you use are clear to the addressee, their decoding should be given in the text. When decoding, use a dictionary (explanatory, terminological, foreign words, or others). Otherwise, your interpretation may be inaccurate. For example, “The contract provides for force majeure circumstances (namely cases of natural disasters).”

The definition of the term must be accurate, clear and complete.

One of the most common diseases of official style is pleonasm(Greek pieonasmos - excess). It lies in the fact that the phrase contains redundant, unnecessary words from the point of view of meaning. For example:

thin nuance (the noun “nuance” is derived from the French nuance - shade, subtle difference);
force at an accelerated pace(the verb “to force” is derived from the French forcer - to accelerate the pace of activity);
December month(December cannot be anything but a month);
375 thousand rubles money(only money is calculated in rubles);
price-list prices(the word “price list” has the French root prix - price). But the expression “retail price list” is acceptable;
home essence (“essence” is the main thing), etc.

However, some pleonastic phrases have come into use and acquired shades of meaning that justify their existence. For example, “real reality”, “practical experience”, “information message”. They are not entirely identical in meaning to the words “reality”, “message”, “experience”; they clarify their meaning.

Often found in function words tautology(Greek tau-to - the same, logos - word) - repetition of cognate words within one phrase. This stylistic error makes the text dissonant and makes it difficult to understand. For example: benefit from use anything; should consider following factors, to address V address. Such phrases must be replaced by others without loss of meaning: “benefit from using something”, “the following factors must be taken into account”, “directed to the address”.

When preparing a document, you must remember that not all words They fit together the way it suits us. There are rules of compatibility in language. You can clarify them using the “Dictionary of Compatibility of Words in the Russian Language”. Here are some typical combinations of words for business speech:

order - issued
official salary - set
reprimand - announced
censure - issued, etc.

Particular attention should be paid to the combinations “to matter” and “to play a role” and never interchange their components.

When working with document text, you should distinguish paronyms(Greek para - near, with; onyma - name) - related words, similar in sound, but different in meaning and compatibility. Sometimes replacing a word with a paronym entails significant distortions of meaning. Errors with paronyms are especially common:

pay - pay(the difference lies in the grammatical compatibility of these verbs: the word “pay” requires a direct object: “pay for something”; “pay” requires an indirect object: “pay for something”;
businessman - business traveler(the participle “business trip” is derived from the verb “to send”; “seconded” is “the one who was sent,” for example, a seconded employee; the adjective “business trip” is derived from the noun “business trip” and has the meaning “relating to a business trip”: “travel certificate” ).

Spelling is no less important when preparing official documents.

Most often, the person composing the document has difficulty writing names of institutions, organizations, enterprises. Remember that in the names of the highest government and most important international organizations, all words are written with a capital letter. For example:

United Nations; Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

In most names, the first word is capitalized: Federal Archival Service of Russia.

In addition to the first word, the first word of that part of the phrase that itself is used as a name can be capitalized:

State Tretyakov Gallery (Tretyakov Gallery);

Central House of Actor (House of Actor).

IN names of positions and titles with The names of the highest positions and highest honorary titles are written in capital letters: President of Russian Federation. Other positions and titles are written with lowercase letters: Head of the Personnel Department.

In composite names of documents and cultural monuments The first word (if it does not denote a generic concept) and all proper names are written with a capital letter:

Constitution of the Russian Federation, St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Vitus Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Tchaikovsky's First Symphony.

Spelling difficulties are caused by the spelling of names associated with proper names, which is completely natural, since in this section of Russian spelling there is no complete uniformity and changes are constantly taking place. New institutions, organizations, enterprises, positions receive new names. Therefore, no spell-checking computer program covers all proper names. To avoid making mistakes in spelling names and titles, you must follow several general rules.

Adjectives formed from surnames are written with a lowercase letter (Nekrasov’s poem, Tretyakov’s legacy) - except for adjectives in -Sky, meaning “in the name of someone”, “in memory of someone”: Bulgakov readings.

IN geographical names all words are written with a capital letter, except for the function words and generic names included in them: North Africa, Arctic Ocean.

Common nouns in names are written with a capital letter if they are not used in their literal meaning: the city of Nizhny Tagil.

But in street names: Patriarch's Ponds, Carriage Row, Kuznetsky Bridge, Pokrovsky Gate, Cow Val,- they are written with a lowercase letter, since historically they had a direct meaning.

In the names of states, all words are usually written with a capital letter. Less often - in unofficial versions of names - individual words - with lowercase: Kingdom of the Netherlands, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, United Kingdom.

In the names of Russian territorial-administrative entities, the words edge, region, national district, district are written with a lowercase letter.

The use of abbreviated words and phrases (abbreviations - from the Italian abbreviature) has become widespread in official documents, which reduces the volume of documents and speeds up the perception of information.

Abbreviations can consist of syllables (zavkhoz), the initial sounds of words included in the phrase or their initial letters (GPU, PVO). The most important reasons for using abbreviations are not only that they save space and avoid cumbersome phrases, but also that they avoid verbal repetition. To ensure that the addressee of the document does not have difficulty deciphering them, the writer must strictly ensure that only generally understandable abbreviations or those that are commonly used in this field are included in official papers.

It is necessary to distinguish graphic abbreviations from actual abbreviations - conventional written symbols that are not pronounced. These include graphic abbreviations:

postal abbreviations of words denoting settlements (region, district, city, village (village - with the name), village, village);
names of months (Jan);
telegraphic abbreviations (tchk);
symbols of quantities and units of measurement (m, mm, kg, g, c, t, ha, atm, A (ampere), s); million, billion, thousand, rub. (rub.);
abbreviations adopted in accounting and reporting documentation (receipt No., invoice No.; settlement account No.);
text abbreviations (etc.; t.p.; s.g.; see; e.g.; ex.; other; p. (point);
names of positions, titles, degrees (prof.; corresponding member; Ph.D.; senior researcher; head; deputy; acting; assistant). Some of them tend to become acronyms;
address Mr.

The spelling of generally accepted abbreviations is clarified using the Russian abbreviations dictionary.

Equally important for a manager is knowledge of the basic rules of grammar.

When drafting documents, it is often difficult to use causal prepositions: due to, as a result of, due to, in connection with, because of, due to, thanks to. A hint for their choice should be the shades of meaning that these prepositions have:

in view - more often about a reason expected in the future: in view of the upcoming session;
as a result - more often about a fait accompli: I ask you to make changes to the plan due to changes in Central Bank interest rates;
thanks - more often about the reasons that caused the desired result: thanks to the timely delivery of goods, the supply problem was solved.

Prepositions usually govern a noun in one specific case.

You cannot say: according to instructions, according to your proposal. It is necessary: according to the instructions, according to your sentence (noun in the dative case).

When drawing up official documents containing numerals, It should be taken into account that in most cases the cardinal number agrees with the noun in the case (except for the nominative and accusative):

Five chairs are missing, set out on four sheets;

The word "thousand" most often controls a noun: income, estimated at three hundred thousand rubles.

In compound numerals all parts are declined:

Gifts worth one thousand five hundred rubles.

When preparing speeches intended to be delivered in an official setting, a verbal decoding of the digital designations is given:

1150 (one thousand one hundred and fifty) students were admitted to the university.

The most important features of the official business style include clarity and consistency in the presentation of the material. It is necessary to strive for conciseness, but not at the expense of clarity of content. Knowledge of a number of language rules helps to cope with this difficult task.

When working on a text, it is extremely important to find the desired form of the predicate. You have to choose between an active construction: “We have considered your proposals,” and a passive one: “We have considered your proposals.” The difference is that

in the first case, the subject names the producer of the action (he acts as an active person), in the second case, the object of the action.

The choice of passive construction makes the text more formal. The very fact of carrying out the action is emphasized, regardless of who performed it. This attitude of the writer is realized even more consistently when using an impersonal construction: "Proposals are being considered."

Passive and impersonal phrases have long become one of the most characteristic signs of official style. However, you should not abuse the passive. Firstly, the fewer verbs in the text, the heavier it is, the more difficult it is to understand. Secondly, passive and impersonal constructions seem to remove responsibility from the one who signs the document.

Today's business letter does not exclude the use of the passive and impersonal sentences, but I would like them to occupy their rightful modest place in the text.

The Russian language is one of the languages with free, unfixed word order. The speaker and writer are free to rearrange words in a sentence, and the general meaning is not violated:

The report was prepared yesterday.
The report was prepared yesterday.
The report was prepared yesterday.
The report was prepared yesterday.
The report was prepared yesterday.
The report was prepared yesterday.

Although all sentences contain the same words, it cannot be said that all options are equivalent. Obviously, depending on the order of words, we emphasize, accentuate this or that part of the message. In this case, the stress position is at the end of the sentence. Thus, in the 1st and 6th versions the emphasis is on the report itself, in the 2nd and 3rd - on the fact of its preparation, in the 4th and 5th - on the preparation time.

As you can see, word order gives us certain stylistic possibilities.

These properties of Russian syntax undoubtedly require the person composing the document to have a linguistic sense and special attention to the construction of the phrase. Since written speech lacks such an important linguistic device as intonation, you can only draw the addressee’s attention to this or that part of the message by placing it at the end of the sentence - in an updated position.

To the question: “Will the manuscript be completed by the appointed deadline?” - the most correct answer is:

By December 15, the article will be submitted to the publishing house.

If the question is asked differently: “When will the manuscript be finished?”- a different word order should be preferred:

The manuscript will be submitted by December 15th.

Drafters of official documents often get carried away participial phrases. On the one hand, using the participial phrase is very convenient, since it allows you to say several actions in one sentence and thus contributes to the brevity of the presentation. For example: Studying additional documents sent to the ministry, the board came to the conclusion that the previously made decisions were illegal. On the other hand, certain difficulties are associated with the participial phrase. The participial phrase can be used only when the actions denoted by it and the predicate are carried out by one person. If the situation is different, instead of an adverbial phrase, a subordinate clause must be used.

There is one more rule that must be observed: the participial phrase can only be used in a sentence where there is a subject (i.e. the character is named). For example:

While preparing the text of the resolution, members of the board familiarized themselves with the various proposed options.

The official style is characterized by the use of a large number complex sentences(sentences consisting of two or more parts, each of which has its own grammatical basis (subject and predicate or one of the main members)), especially complex ones, i.e. those in which one of the parts is the main one, the other is the subordinate one (dependent). In documentation it is impossible to do without subordinating constructions with subordinate clauses (“Once the funds are allocated, we will begin construction...” etc.), conditions (“If the money is transferred, we will immediately conclude a contract...” etc.), goals (“It is planned to purchase seedlings in order to plant trees around the school...” etc.) and others.

In many cases, it is preferable to use complex sentences rather than constructions with participial and participial phrases. This helps to avoid such a serious illness of clerical style as “lack of verbs”. It is the lack of verbs that leads to the “stringing” of oblique cases (“discussion on improving the conduct of events”), makes speech ponderous” and complicates understanding. Often, replacing a participial or adverbial phrase with a subordinate clause allows you to give the message clarity and dynamics.

Along with lexical, grammatical, and stylistic literacy, a person working with words is required to have the ability to arrange and present material in such a way as to make it as accessible as possible to the addressee. Composition(from Latin compositio) is the construction, organization of the text. There are situations when a document that is absolutely correct from the point of view of language and style is difficult to perceive only because chaos reigns in it, there is no logic in the combination of parts, and poor composition.

The text must contain appropriate amount of information. You should not repeat what is well known or clutter the document with details.

It is especially important to highlight and emphasize the main thing. This purpose can be served by subheadings, paragraph indents, increased spaces between lines, underlining, and changing the font. Modern computer editing programs provide great scope for expressive text design.

The text should be structured in accordance with the content.

If numbering is used, it must be remembered that paragraph 1 presupposes the presence of paragraph 2.

In today's office work, a certain order of numbering of document parts has been adopted: the number of each part includes the numbers of the corresponding components of higher levels of division: 1.2.1,2.9.1.

Compliance with the above-mentioned lexical, grammatical, and compositional rules requires a high level of philological culture and great composure from a management employee.

Diverse. In every life situation there are certain norms of communication. In the official sphere, there are also specific norms that sometimes run counter to the general linguistic norms. This is a feature of the official business style. It is dry and insipid, all the turns in it are unambiguous and constant.

Formal business style: definition

Official business style is a style of business management and legislative acts that has been formed over many years. Its characteristic feature is considered to be the consistency in the use of the same words and lexical phrases.

Which every person periodically encounters in his life should be understandable and unambiguous. In addition, all its genres are written according to the same templates. Sometimes, to get a new document, it is enough to simply rewrite 2-3 words.

Stylistic features

Like any other, it has its own characteristic features. The official business style in business texts is characterized by accuracy and unambiguity of presentation, an obligatory-prescriptive character, complete impersonality, the absence of any emotional manifestations, standardization and stereotyping.

Any document should be interpreted in only one way. Therefore, all the data presented in it is unambiguous, because otherwise means confusion and lawlessness in any matter.

Since it is a business style, it is used to regulate the official sphere of human life and society. Everything that is stated in it must be fulfilled unquestioningly.

There cannot be any personal characteristics or subjective interpretations in the documents. Therefore, the official business style of the Russian literary language allows the presentation of personal information only in minor documents such as a statement or an explanatory statement to argue the need for a particular action.

The unambiguity of the presentation also translates into a high degree of stereotyping. It is present at all levels of style: from a set of tokens to the general structure of the entire document.

Vocabulary of style

Like any other, the official business style in business texts uses a standard set of lexemes and phrases. First of all, these are words from the industry of official communication: prescribe, authorize, notify, plaintiff, head, law and the like. In other styles they are used much less frequently.

The second characteristic feature is the use of constant expressions and cliches of speech. This makes any text predictable, but at the same time completely unambiguous: based on, taking into account, in accordance with.

It is noteworthy that, despite the high level of impersonality, the use of first-person pronouns and verbs is allowed in an official business style. In comparison, in a scientific style this is completely unacceptable.

And the last feature is the presence of dry, slightly outdated clerical vocabulary, which in other styles sounds inappropriate and somewhat comical: takes place, is in a state of alcoholic intoxication, a liquid that looks like cognac.

Syntactic constructions

Based on the consistency of syntactic structures, each person can easily determine the official business style. Examples of it are well known to everyone from the school. And probably more than once in my life I had to write a statement or protocol.

At the syntactic level, first of all, the presence of small constructions, simple sentences, and a minimal number of complications, such as homogeneous sentence parts or inserted constructions, are noted. This is dictated by the need for simplicity and unambiguity in understanding the information presented in the document.

At the text level, there is a high level of standardization of its structure. For example, each statement begins with a header in the upper right corner, which indicates who is addressing whom. Next comes the text of the application itself, which ends with the date and signature of the applicant. The upper left corner of the document is left to overlay the resolution on this application. The same standardization is typical for all other genres.

Applications

It is quite widespread and can be encountered by any person all the time. Therefore, this style is divided into several substyles, depending on the industry of application.

Legislative documents are used to form the legal framework of society. It prescribes the rules by which every person subject to the influence of this particular document must live. Legislative acts also establish penalties for failure to comply with regulations.

The jurisdictional branch detects a violation and imposes punishment for it. This is also where cases are reviewed in connection with certain evidence or circumstances.

The administrative official business style is very common. Examples of such documents are even studied in the school curriculum. This includes documents regulating the activities of individual organizations and their interaction with individual individuals.

And the last branch is diplomatic. Relations between states depend on the correctness of documentation in this area. One wrong comma or word can cause a global conflict.

Genres

In practice, the official business style of speech has a wide variety of examples of texts. It would be quite problematic to name absolutely all genres in one article. Therefore, we will focus on the most popular of them, dividing them into groups depending on the industry of use.

Legislative documents include a law, act, decision, decree. They are compiled at the highest levels of government by specially trained people.

In the field of jurisprudence, the genres of official business style in the Russian language are represented by verdicts, court decisions, cassation appeals, search or detention warrants.

Administrative documents are among the most common. This includes a statement, autobiography, order, recommendation, fax, telephone message, receipt and many others.

In diplomacy, treaties, pacts, agreements, and conventions are most often used.

Business management

Much has already been said about how rich the official business style is in genres. Examples of their use are found all the time. This is an active style used everywhere in everyday life. Most often, an ordinary person encounters it in the business sector. When applying for a job, we write a resume, autobiography and application, and submit certificates from the previous place of work.

Basically, all these documents have approximately the same structure. They begin with an indication of the author who compiled this text, followed by a presentation of the material, which is certified by a signature and seal, if any.

Generalization

In Russian philology, the official business style of a document, language, speech has an active nature of use. It is highly standardized and has a certain set of words and expressions that are used contrary to some laws of the language.

For example, tautologies are not a stylistic error, since they contribute to an unambiguous understanding, which cannot be achieved by using pronouns for a more beautiful literary sound.

Every person in his life must be able to use this style, since it regulates the interaction of the individual with the organization, the state and the entire legal world as a whole.

Probably everyone has at least once had to deal with the need to write a business letter. When compiling it, you involuntarily come to the conclusion that it is not at all easy. There are many business letter writing rules and regulations that you need to know. The article describes in detail the process of drawing up a document, provides samples of business letters, and discusses their types and design.

Form

Ready-made forms will add solidity and indicate the reliability of the company. They contain the necessary information about the organization, such as:

Name.
Address.
Contact phone numbers.
Website.
Email.
Logo.
Other contact details.

There are no strict rules regarding forms. Therefore, each organization independently decides what information to include in them.

How to write business letters correctly? Preparation

Business letters are written and formatted in a certain way, subject to their inherent rules and requirements. Depending on the goal, the author thinks through the content in detail in order to obtain the result he is calculating. He must clearly understand what information the addressee already knows about the subject of the letter, what to base it on and what will be new in it. The arguments depend on what goal the author is pursuing. The process of preparing a business letter can be divided into the following stages:

Studying the issue.
Writing a draft letter.
Its approval.
Signing.
Registration.
Sending to the recipient.

Structure of business letters

When composing a letter, it is necessary to saturate it with information, that is, put all the necessary information there. It can be simple or complex. In a simple letter, the content clearly and concisely conveys information that generally does not require a response from the recipient. A complex one may consist of several sections, points and paragraphs. Each paragraph presents one aspect of information. These types of business letter samples typically consist of an introductory, body, and closing section.

Below is an example of writing a business letter - its introductory part.

The main part describes situations and events, provides their analysis and evidence. It is in this part that they convince that they need to act in one way or another, prove how things were and inform about the need to participate in any event, giving various arguments.

The conclusion contains conclusions that are made in the form of suggestions, requests, reminders, refusals, and so on.

An example of writing a business letter - its final part - is presented below. This summarizes the requirement stated in the main one.

All information provided should be optimally consistent and understandable.

Each letter begins with a centered address. This small part is extremely important. When choosing it, the author must consider:

Addressee's position.
The nature of the relationship.
Formality.
Etiquette.

There should be a polite form at the end of the letter. For example: “...I express hope for further cooperation (gratitude for the invitation)...” These phrases are followed by the author's signature.

Style

All letters must be written in an official business style, which means the use of language for official business relations. The features of such a language are formed under the following circumstances:

The main participants in business relations are legal entities, on behalf of whose managers and officials letters are written.
Relations in organizations are strictly regulated.
The subject of communication is the activities of the company.
Management documents generally have a specific addressee.
Often in the course of an organization's activities, identical situations occur.

In this regard, the information contained in a business letter should be:

Official, impersonal, emphasizing the distance between participants in communication.
Addressed, intended for a specific addressee.
Current at the time of writing.
Reliable and impartial.
Reasoned to induce the recipient to perform any action.
Complete for decision making.

Requirements

A business letter must meet the following requirements:

Speech is standardized at all levels - lexical, morphological and syntactic. It contains many expressions, terms and formulas.
The tone of writing is neutral, restrained and strict, without the use of emotional and expressive language.
Accuracy and clarity of the text, without logical errors, clarity and thoughtfulness of wording.
Conciseness and brevity - without using expressions that carry additional meaning.
The use of language formulas formed as a result of repeated situations.
The use of terms, that is, words or phrases that have special concepts.
The use of abbreviations, which can be lexical (that is, compound words formed by removing letters from parts of words: LLC, GOST, and so on) and graphic (that is, word designations in abbreviated form: grn, zh-d, etc.).
The use of constructions in the genitive and instrumental cases.
Phrases with verbal nouns (“provide support” instead of “support”).
Using simple common sentences.

The above business letter samples are shown below in full version (with body). The information meets all the requirements of an official business style.

Types of business letters

It is best to write a business letter on one specific issue. If it is necessary to solve several issues at once, it is recommended to draw up several different options.

Business letters can have the following content:

Accompanying. Such letters are usually needed to inform you where to send documents.
(How to write a business letter? A sample cover letter will help those who need to write this type of document.)

Guaranteed. They are written to confirm any promises or conditions. For example, payment for work, rent, delivery times, etc. can be guaranteed.
Thanks. They have begun to be used especially often recently. Such letters demonstrate good partnership tone. They can be issued on regular letterhead or on colored paper with a beautiful print.
(How to write a business letter? A sample of the thank-you variety is drawn up in free form, depending on the tasks that it solves. In this case, the letter expresses its essence in the shortest form. Such a sample, made on colored paper with an ornament, can hang on the wall in the room company in a place of honor.)

Informational.
Instructive.
Congratulations.
Advertising.

There are also letters:

Proposals for cooperation. Quite common in recent times, sent to organizations, are often of an advertising nature, for example, like this sample. It is quite difficult to write commercial letters; you need to take into account many nuances in order to get attention, and even more so, to become interested. But if you compose it according to the sample below, it has every chance of success.

Invitations. They are sent, inviting them to participate in various events. They are usually addressed to a manager or official, but can also be addressed to an entire team.
Requests.
Notices.
Requests and many others.

How to write a response to a letter. Example

The answer must begin by repeating the request stated in the first letter. Then the results of its consideration are given and approval or a reason for refusal is expressed. A business response letter may contain an alternative solution to the expected information. Typically it meets the following principles:

Availability of a link to the first letter and its contents.
Identical language means.
Comparable scope and content aspects.
Compliance with a certain sequence.

Decor

In addition to using corporate letterheads for business letters, it is necessary to take into account other subtleties when designing them. These are details, rules for abbreviations, writing addresses, headings, text length, field widths, and more.

Samples of a business letter help you compose it, taking into account all the subtleties and nuances. They are used by both beginning office workers and experienced workers. Thanks to the samples, they learn how to write letters correctly and save a lot of time.

14-13 OFFICIAL BUSINESS STYLE

Official business style is a type of literary language that serves the sphere of official business relations: the relationship between government authorities and the population, between countries, between enterprises, organizations, institutions, between individuals and society.

The function of a business style is that it outlines the nature of the document and thereby transfers the various aspects of human relations reflected in this document into the category of official business.

Official business style is divided into two types:

Official documentary

Everyday businesslike.

Officially documentary the substyle includes the language of diplomacy and the language of laws. Its main genres are speeches at receptions, reports, laws, international treaties, and official communications.

Everyday business sub-style includes official correspondence and business papers (application, certificate, order, act, etc.)

The most common distinguishing feature of the official business style is a deliberately restrained, strict, impersonal and objective tone (official coloring), which serves to express the stating and prescriptive nature of documents. In the official business style, the level of generalization and at the same time specification is high, since the texts reflect specific situations and indicate specific persons, objects, and dates. A distinctive feature of the style is also the widespread use of standard linguistic means of expression. In addition, standardization in the official business style affects not only language means, form elements, but the entire document or letter as a whole.

The main features of the language of official documents are the following:

The use of office stamps - reproducible lexical

phraseological units that correspond to frequently repeated situations, common concepts (for the reporting period, taking into account, issued for presentation, listening and discussing...).

The use of words-names of persons by action, state (investor,

tenant); collective nouns (elections, children, parents); the name of persons by profession and social status; the meaning of the population (citizens, employees).

Introduction of special terminology that does not have synonyms in

common vocabulary (order, protocol, agreed, in order, party, implementation...).

Limitation of the possibility of lexical compatibility of words. For example, a service letter is compiled (not written, not forwarded, not sent).

Predominance of nouns.

Use of verbal nouns (travel, execution).

Most forms of the infinitive act in the sense of obligation (to consider, accept, must, must).

Almost complete absence of personal pronouns of the 1st and 2nd persons and the corresponding personal forms of the verb.

The use of predominantly present tense forms of the verb in the meaning of prescription or obligation, as well as forms of the verb with the meaning of statement (the commission examined).

Widespread use of complex denominative prepositions (for the purpose of, by virtue of, along the line, in part).

The use of predominantly the following syntactic structures: simple sentences (as a rule, narrative, personal, common, complete), with homogeneous members, isolated phrases, with introductory and inserted constructions, the predominance of conjunctions over non-conjunctions in sentences; impersonal offers.

Using direct word order in sentences.

Let's take a closer look at the genres in which everyday business is realized.

substyle (official documents).

Documentation- These are written texts that have legal (legal) significance. Official documents have the following mandatory qualities:

reliability and objectivity

accuracy, eliminating double understanding of the text

maximum brevity, laconism of formulations

legal integrity

standardization of language when presenting typical situations of business communication

neutral tone of presentation

compliance with the norms of official etiquette, which is manifested in the choice

stable forms of address and genre-appropriate words and phrases in the construction of phrases and the entire text.

Documents must be drawn up and executed on the basis of the rules set out in the Unified State Records Management System (USSD).

The type of document must correspond to the given situation and the competence of the institution. The form of documents of different types is unified. Many documents consist of individual elements - details, the set of which is determined by the type and purpose of the document (for example, addressee, addressee, date, name of the document, signature). The text of a document usually contains two semantic parts: one sets out the reasons, grounds and goals for drawing up the document, the other contains conclusions, proposals, requests, recommendations, orders. Some documents may consist of one part: an application, an order, a letter.

Documents are not uniform in the degree of unification and standardization. One group consists of documents in which not only the form is uniform, but also the standard content, for example, a passport, diplomas, accounting accounts, etc. The other group includes documents that have a unified form, but variable content, i.e., they differ significantly in the information available in them (autobiography, act, report, statement, order, etc.)

The following types of documents are distinguished according to their functional meaning:

Organizational and administrative

Information and reference

Instructional and methodological

Business letters

Organizational and administrative documents- this is a resolution

order, order, etc.

An order is the most common genre of administrative documents. It is published on basic issues, namely on issues of the internal life of an institution, organization, enterprise, on issues of creation, liquidation, reorganization of institutions, etc.

The text of the administrative document must have a title. The title begins with the preposition o (about) and is formulated using nouns that name the main topic of the document. (On purpose..., On measures...).

The text consists of two interdependent parts – ascertaining and administrative.

The stating part is an introduction to the essence of the issue under consideration. It may list facts, events, give an assessment, or retell the act of a higher authority, in pursuance of which this administrative document is issued.

The administrative part is presented in imperative form. Depending on the type of document, it begins with the words: decree, decide, propose, order, which are printed in capital letters, i.e. they stand out visually.

The prescribed actions are expressed by verbs in an indefinite form (prepare, enroll, provide, organize).