Writing Routine and Non-Routine Requests in Business
By Assoc. Prof. Sripathum Noom-ura
Language Institute, Thammasat University
Aim: To train students to write a formal business letter
Level: Intermediate/advanced
The teaching procedure is adapted from many websites such as
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/print/627 and
http://www.ehow.com/how_8314036_write-routine-business-letter.html.
Procedure:
1. Give out a sample letter to show the block left or modified block left format which
includes:
letter head/address (but not name of the writer)
name and address of recipient
references
date
opening
subject heading
body of the letter
closing
signature
name and job title
enclosures
A good example of the letter formats can be found from
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/02/
2. Discuss how to skip a line between each part and skip four lines after the closing in
order to leave space for signature, etc.
Here is a good set of instructions on how to type a letter:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8314036_write-routine-business-letter.html
1. Open your writing on a computer. Routine business letters must be typed,
not hand-written. Create a blank document and save it to your computer files.
2. Space down approximately six spaces from the top of the page. You want to
leave room at the top of your letter for your company's letterhead, which will be
what the letter is printed on. Type the date on the far left of the page. Write the
date out, such as "September 16th, 2011," rather than "9/16/11."
3. Move down two spaces from the date. Type the addressee's name, followed
by his professional title. For instance, if you are addressing the letter to the CEO
of a company, you would write "John Smith, CEO." Skip a line and write the
name of the recipient's organization. Skip another line and include the complete
address where the letter is being mailed to.
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4. Type your salutation two spaces down from the inside address. For a routine
business letter, an appropriate salutation is "Dear Mr. Smith" followed by a
colon. You must always include a personal title, such as "Dr.," "Ms." and "Mr.,"
unless you do not know the gender of the recipient. If you are unsure of the
recipient's gender, keep it neutral by eliminating the personal title and using the
full name in the salutation, so it goes "Dear Chris Smith."
5. Skip one line and begin the body of your letter. Format the body with a left
justify, block setting so that your paragraphs look neat. Type the body of your
letter in a concise and professional manner. Your main point should be stated
at the very beginning. You might write, "This letter is in response to the merger
between..." Avoid adding fluff and fillers to the body of your letter. Recipients
want to read only what they need to know.
6. Leave a single blank line between paragraphs if the body of your letter is
longer than one paragraph.
7. Close the business letter by saying "Thank you," "Cordially" or "Sincerely."
The closure should go one space after the last line in your body paragraph.
Skip four lines and type your name. The blank space will be used for your wet
signature once the letter is printed.
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8. List any enclosures that you are attaching. Skip a line after your typed name
and write Enclosures, followed by a colon and then the name of the
document(s) you are sending along with the letter.
3. Discuss the differences between the routine and non-routine requests.
A common routine request is usually a request for information. It is routine
when the writer 1) is not asking a special favour and 2) is expecting the request to be
accepted. A typical routine letter asks for more information, catalogues, and price
quotation. The reader usually accepts the request because what is requested is usually
available at hand.
A non-routine requires individualized acknowledgement. The reader may or
may not be able to settle the request. For example, a Thai student requests a transfer
from the Heathrow Airport to a university in London. There may not be any service
to the university. The receiver may have to suggest a company which provides their
service.
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4. Show another example of a letter that gives students rough idea what each paragraph
should discuss.
Here is an example taken from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/653/02/
Block Format
123 Winner's Road
New Employee Town, PA 12345
March 16, 2001
Ernie English
1234 Writing Lab Lane
Write City, IN 12345
Dear Mr. English:
The first paragraph of a typical business letter is used to state the main point of the letter.
Begin with a friendly opening; then quickly transition into the purpose of your letter. Use
a couple of sentences to explain the purpose, but do not go into detail until the next
paragraph.
Beginning with the second paragraph, state the supporting details to justify your purpose.
These may take the form of background information, statistics or first-hand accounts. A
few short paragraphs within the body of the letter should be enough to support your
reasoning.
Finally, in the closing paragraph, briefly restate your purpose and why it is important. If
the purpose of your letter is employment related, consider ending your letter with your
contact information. However, if the purpose is informational, think about closing with
gratitude for the reader's time.
Sincerely,
Lucy Letter
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5. Discuss the language style by drawing students’ attention to sample language from three
extracts below. Discuss the formality of each letter.
6. Ask students to rewrite this letter in a formal way.
Fine Foods Ltd.
10 Bridge Street
London
SW10 5TG
Hello Mr. Roger Jones:
I got the letter you sent on 1 st September, and the stuff about the stock control
system you make. It sounds great for us, but I want to check some things
before we buy it. You said the system is bang up-to-date, but what happens if
you update it again soon? Do we get money off the new one? You said it
takes 3 weeks to install the system – that’s too long! Can’t you do it any
quicker? Hope you can reply soon, we’re in a bit of a hurry.
Thanks,
Janet Brown
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7. Ask students to work in pairs. Swap their letters and the teacher gives out the peer
evaluation check sheet so that the reader has guidelines of what to look for.
Here is the example of the check sheet.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/business_ws4.pd
PEER EVALUATION FORM
1. How clear is it? Is there anything you found unclear or unnecessary?
2. Appropriacy of language: Is the language appropriate to this kind of
formal letter? Does it make good use of phrases from Worksheet 2? Is there
any vocabulary that you particularly liked?
3. Layout / organisation: Is the layout appropriate to this kind of letter?
Comment on anything that could be improved.
4. Language accuracy: Is there language you think is not correct
(grammatical errors, incorrect collocations etc.)?
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8. Give students 5 minutes to discuss their feedback with their partners.
9. Give out another sample letter at the feedback stage. Students compare their work
with the sample letter. The teacher may ask what they learn from their own work and
the sample letter.
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/sites/teacheng/files/business_ws2.pdf
Fine Foods Ltd.
10 Bridge Street
London
SW10 5TG
Mr. R. Jones
Sales Manager
Thames Software Systems
River Buildings
Stockwell Walk
London
SW17 5HG
12th September 2006
Dear Mr. Jones,
Stock Control Software System
Thank you for your letter of 1st September and the information you sent
regarding the stock control system offered by your company. I certainly feel
the system will meet our requirements. However, there are some points which
I would like clarified before we go ahead and order the system.
Firstly, although you mentioned that the system has recently been updated, I
wondered whether we might be eligible for a discount on any future upgrades.
Secondly, the installation and implementation period of three weeks, to which
you refer in your letter, seems rather long. Is there any possibility of getting
the system up and running on a shorter timescale?
I would be very grateful for a swift response to these queries, in order that we
can begin the process as soon as possible.
Thank you in advance for your assistance. I look forward to your reply.
Yours sincerely,
J. Brown
Ms J. Brown
Purchasing Manager
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10. As homework, students are required to write and type two letters: a routine request
and a non-routine request.
Task 1 Write a routine request (an inquiry) for the following situation.
Land’s End, Inc. sells casual clothing by mail. You want to be on their
mailing list so that you receive all their catalogues.
Task 2 Write a letter for the following request.
You’re going on a business trip. Write to Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver,
British Columbia. Request a single room for two nights (give specific dates) and ask
for information regarding the cost.
Variations:
The procedure mentioned above is for a 3 hour-class. Teachers can eliminate
parts if their teaching period is shortened to one or one and a half hour.