Practical Business English

General principles:

Respect the reader. Be clear. Be direct. Be brief. Extra words and unclear words waste time.

Put the reader first. Consider what the reader needs and wants. Write to meet those needs and wants. Then stop. Remember you do not charge by the word.

Think about why you are writing. If writing to inform, inform. If writing to ask, ask. If writing to persuade, persuade. If writing to thank, thank. The best way to express thanks in English is to write, “Thank you.” Do not waste time writing about what a pleasure it has been or how grateful you are. Get to the point and write, “Thank you.” If you want to add something, write, “Thank you for the opportunity.” Or “Thank you for your kindness.” Or “Thank you for your assistance.” But do not add extra words. Sorry for the extra ones in this paragraph.

Write with purpose. Be serious. What and how you write affects your reputation. Remember this especially when you write e-mails from a business account. E-mail is often informal. However, even with informal communication, strive to be professional. Many companies have policies regarding e-mail. Learn those policies and follow them.

Seek and encourage criticism. Ideas improve with criticism. Writing improves with criticism as well. Consider every critic of your writing an extra pair of eyes. Those eyes may see something your eyes do not see. Be grateful for assistance and teamwork.

Review and revise everything you write. This will help you be clear, direct and brief. Write short paragraphs and focus on main ideas. Rewrite 20-word sentences into 15-word sentences, 15-word sentences into 12-word sentences and 12-word sentences into 10-word sentences. Choose the right words. Precision in language leads to precision in thought. Write well and you will think well.

Follow these principles and you will write good e-mails, letters, reports, memos, power point presentations, analyses, etc. in English. There are exceptions to most rules and principles. Nevertheless, when you want to break a rule, think carefully about the reason. Unless the reason is compelling, do not break the rule.

Thank you for reading this.

Following are some useful words and phrases.

Connecting words:

Conjunctions are: and, but, or, nor, for, yet, so

Conjunctions can join two sentences. Use a comma between the end of the first sentence and the conjunction.

Examples:

The season presents opportunity, and we have prepared to act.

We have prepared to act, but we must wait for the right time.

This is a difficult time, so we must work harder.

Some conjunctive adverbs are: however, therefore, nevertheless, consequently, furthermore, additionally

Conjunctive adverbs can join two sentences. The traditional structure requires a semicolon (;), but you will be understood if you use a period after the first sentence and begin the next sentence with the conjunctive adverb followed by a comma (,).

Examples:

The season presents opportunity. Furthermore, we have prepared to act.

We have prepared to act. However, we must wait for the right time.

This is a difficult time. Therefore, we must work harder.

As you may see from the examples, “and” is similar to “furthermore”; “but” is similar to “however”; and “so” is similar to “therefore.” Remember that all of these words are used to connect ideas. Some other connecting words are: additionally, besides, similarly and while

Other:

Making goals in writing and business will help your performance. Begin with basic structures. As you advance in English, you may not learn many more ideas, but you will learn many more ways to express ideas. Furthermore, you will become more precise with language.

Reading will improve your writing. Through reading, you will become more familiar with the structure of English. In addition, you will increase your vocabulary.

Please ask me any questions you have about this.

Thank you again for reading this.

And the final rule is: be nice.

Hope all goes well for you.

Mark