‘Intelligent Business Style guide Upper Intermediate Business EnglishSS Introduction 2 General rules 3 Organising your writing 4 Punctuation 6 Numbers 8 Spelling 9 British / US English 10 Abbreviations 2 Text messages B Job titles 4 Avoiding errors 5 Letters 16 Emails 20 Faxes 22, Memos 24 | Minutes 26 Short reports 28 Press releases 30Eee Learning to write well in a foreign language is one of the most difficult challenges facing the language learner. Finding the right words, using an appropriate style, respecting conventional formats, and correct spelling are just a few of the areas to consider. Effective writing plays an increasingly important role in today’s business world. A clear and concise style ensures that essential information is both understood and acted upon. The Intelligent Business Style Guide is designed to help business students and practising professionals to become more familiar with the styles and techniques of business writing. It contains samples of the most common types of business document, such as letters, emails, memos, faxes, minutes and reports, all with full explanations of usage, language style and layout. There is also advice on other areas, including abbreviations and text messages, punctuation and how to avoid common mistakes. We hope that you find the Style Guide useful and that it helps you to become more proficient in your business writing. 20eee rules Before you write Ask yourself the following questions: + Who am I writing to? This will help you to determine the tone and degree of formality. When writing to superiors or customers, the tone is more formal than with colleagues. However, business communication should never be too informal and should always be polite and courteous. - * Why am I writing? It is a good idea to note down your main message / messages before starting. This will help you to stay focused and also to determine which means of communication is most suitable for your purpose, e¢. fax, letter, email. © What does my correspondent know? Never assume the other person has all the background information necessary to understand your message. Think about what details you need to put into your communication to help them understand and act upon it. When you write Whether you are writing a full, formal report or a memo to your colleagues, it is generally agreed that the following Points should be respected: 7 «Be brief, clear and concise. Use simple words and phrases and keep sentences short. In other words, use ‘plain English’. Don't write: If there are any points on which you require explanation or further particulars, we shall be glad to furnish such additional details as may be required by telephone. Write: Hf you have any questions, please ring. * Don't be over-technical or use slang or jargon. Your reader may not understand. Don't write: Tm on a roll here. Write: The trip has heen successful so far. © Don't overuse people’s first names. It is better to use them only in the opening. Don’t write: Dear John, ... so you see, John, ... you understand, John, ... et I'm sure Before you send * Always read your business communication before you send it. It is a good idea to read it aloud to see if it is communicative and easy to read. * Ask yourself: Could the person reading this understand and act upon it from a single reading? © Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. Do not rely on spellcheck software, as it will not correct mistakes like s in advise or practise when used as nouns ~ which use ¢ m3From plan to paragraph You should start by thinking about the message that you want to communicate. If you have a clear idea of this, it will help to make your writing coherent, Make notes of all of your ideas and then organise these into topic areas. Each topic area should consist of one of your main ideas and may also include a number of secondary points that you can develop. Draw up a plan for each topic area and start to think of the order in which you want to present them. The order will depend on how the topic areas relate to each other and on how you wish to develop your message. Each topic area and any related secondary points will usually form a paragraph. Moving on to a new paragraph shows your readers that you are focusing on a new topic area. The paragraphs themselves can be organised in different ways: you may want to present the information chronologically or you may prefer to present points in order of importance. Alternatively, you may wish to balance negative and positive points or compare and contrast different ideas. First draft If you have prepared your plans well, the writing process should be relatively Z/ straightforward. You can now give your full attention to the language that you are going to use. Prepare a first draft of the complete document and then read through it to see which sections need to be improved or rewritten. Final draft Before you present the final draft of your text, you should read it through several times, eliminating repetitions and changing ambiguous phrasing. You can also make long sentences shorter or connect short sentences together. When you are happy with the wording of your final document, you should do a final check for any spelling and punctuation mistakes that you may have overlooked. - Compare the first and final drafts opposite. Notice how in the final draft, sentences and wordings have been changed and linking expressions and paragraphs have been tsed. Useful phrases and notations J expressions Using the right linking expressions will allow you to connect your sentences and your paragraphs together smoothly and will show your reader how your message fits together. Use linking expressions to show contrast: However ... On the other hand ... a. While... give additional information: Moreover ... In addition ... Furthermore .. summarise: In conclusion ... To sum up . To conclude ... sequence: First ... Next ... Lastly ... / Finally ... show cause and effect: Consequently... As a result ... Therefore ... = thls. «+. because of... ... due to ... * give examples: «for example :..... for instance ... © make references: the former... the latter .. «+ the one / the ones ... |Performance: Products complete, processes incomplete First draft Our Environmental Action Plan was launched two years ago to respond to changes in our industry. More and more customers wanted information about our products’ environmental impact. The investment community needed more information and tighter regulation and controls (eco labels) were being introduced in markets. The plan was in three phases: the evaluation of our products, and processes, recommendations for changes and implementation. These are now complete for products, where we have improved sustainability by eliminating some production materials. For processes, our goal to introduce guidelines and procedures for the group's activities worldwide has not yet been achieved. But we have introduced standard supplier and logistics management processes and made substantial savings. We are proud of what we have achieved and hope to complete the plan next year. This wil enhance our reputation as a business which can meet environmental challenges. o - Final draft ‘Only two years ago we took the important decision to launch our Environmental Action Plan in order to respond to important changes within our industry. Both our customers and the investment community were requesting more information about the environmental impact of our products. Furthermore, governments and regulators in our different markets were imposing ‘eco labels’ - new Standards of environmental cpnformity. oy The plan was in three distinct phases: frst, an audit of our products and processes, then recommendations for change and finally implementation in our business operations. On the product side, this is now complete and we have reduced the number of production materials, thus making our products more sustainable. However, for business processes, we have not yet completed the introduction of group-wide policies athough we have successfully implemented standard supplier and logistics management processes and made substantial savings. We are extremely proud of what we have achieved in such a short time and we pian to continue implementation of our Environmental Action Plan, thereby enhancing our reputation as a business that is prepared to meet the environmental challenges of the future AR m5Using the correct punctuation is an essential part of making your writing clear to your readers. Very often when sentences or texts are difficult to read or do not seem to make sense, it is because they contain errors in punctuation. The following punctuation marks are used in English: * full stop. The full stop, or period (US Eng), marks the end of a sentence: The firms expect Brussels to approve the deal within three weeks. Fall stops are also used after some abbreviations and can be used after numbers which appear in lists: ie 2 *comma , ‘Commas help the reader to pause at the right point in a sentence and to avoid confusing the meaning within a sentence: After two months of discussions, the fate of the company has been decided. Commas are also used when a clause is inserted in the middle of a sentence: Lagardere, the media-to-missiles group, will not become the biggest publisher. Commas are particularly important when. part of a sentence or word group could be interpreted in different ways: aA Most important aid should be lavished on the countries that can use it. Most important, aid should be lavished on the countries that can use it. The investors said the fund managers were fools. ‘The investors, said the fund managers, were fools. 6m © question mark =? Question marks are only used at the end of direct questions. They are not used in indirect questions: How long will Mr Marchionne be able to survive in his present position? Many analysts are wondering how the new strategy will work. exclamation mark ! Exclamation marks give extra impact to a sentence and show surprise or shock: Take it or leave it! No one was expecting that! *colon : Colons indicate that what follows is an illustration or example of what has been referred to before: The company is in a strong position financially; its shares are now trading at 45 times their original price. Colons can also be used to introduce lists: The issues that will be discussed are the following: * Education * Trade * Governance * semi-colon 5 Semi-colons mark a pause that is longer than a comma and shorter than a full stop: Getting accurate results with this method is tricky; two different samples will not produce the same result.© apostrophe An apostrophe shows that something either belongs to a’particular person or is closely associated with either a person, group of people or with another thing or things: Messier’s biggest mistake was to have underestimated shareholder discontent. The apostrophe comes before the possessive s with a singular noun, even. when the noun itself ends with an s: London's traffic problems my boss's office The apostrophe comes after the final letter of a plural noun ending with an s: the employees’ complaints But with irregular plural nouns it is followed by the s: women’s preferences An apostrophe is also used to show that a letter (or letters) is missing: Welll agree to your offer if you don’t make any further demands. : oo ee * inverted commas OR Inverted commas, or quotation marks, are used when citing the exact words that somebody used: Just 50m out of 750m Africans have a ‘mobile phone. There is much more room for growth,’ says Marten Pieters of Celtel. * brackets ( ) ox [ ] Brackets, or parentheses (US Eng), are used to present additional information: Lagardére wants to stop making missiles (his firm owns 15% of the European Aerospace Defence and Space group) and ‘instead concentrate on the company’s media interests. edash — Dashes introduce explanations and comments that are connected to what precedes and can, like brackets, show interruptions to the flow of a sentence: The company shouldn't have agreed to the ‘merger — it wasn't in its best interests. Last weekend in Sydney only half of the properties for auction - the most common. ‘method of sale in Australia - were actually sold. hyphen - Hyphens connect two words when they are used as compounds: state-owned Asia-Pacific region debt-equity ratio a7——————— Numbers, figures and quantities are at the heart of all business operations, and much of the work and time of managers is devoted to calculating, measuring, analysing and presenting numerical data. Profit and performance may be the key indicators of how a business is performing but in the day-to-day running of a business figures have to be entered, references established and records and statistics kept. This continuous flow of numerical information is the lifeblood of the organisation. Knowing how to refer to numbers is therefore an essential skill for the manager. The principal ways of doing this are listed below. General Figures are usually written as words when they refer to small quantities. However, for larger amounts they are presented in number form: Fiat has had five chief executives in two years. ‘Summer Redstone is the 81-year-old who controls the firm with 71% of its voting stock. 0 is written as nought or zero (mathematics / temperatures) or as nil (scores). Numbers are not generally used in the plural form except to mean a lot of and they are then followed by off Product development cost four thousand euros. Product development cost thousands of euros. When using expressions of quantity as adjectives, use hyphens and use the singular form: a three-million-dollar contract (a contract worth three million dollars) 8H Dealing with large numbers Large numbers are generally presented in numerical form and not as words, unless the number is a ‘round’ one: 5361 five thousand If an exact figure is not required, a number is often rounded up or down, and a word like roughly, approximately, almost, nearly, about, around may be used with it: 2,464,981 = (around) two and a half million Abbreviated forms are often used for millions but not generally for billions (except in charts, where the abbreviations mand bn are systematically used): The group lost €1.9 billion last year and around €400m the year before. Fractions and percentages These can be written in numerical form or as complete words. Fractions Percentages 2, (a)half, one half 50% fifty per cent *%, a third, one third 33% thirty-three per cent Decimals Decimal points and denominators can vary depending on the country. In some countries, the decimal point is represented by a comma and in others by a point. 19.312 would be interpreted as ‘nineteen point three one two’ in some countries (eg. the UK, the USA) but in others (eg. France, Germany) as ‘nineteen thousand three hundred and twelve’. Ratios —/ These are usually written out in full: The proposal was adopted by nine votes to two.k= Using correct spelling is a key consideration in all writing, and misspelling words reflects badly on the author of a document, especially if it is for formal business purposes. Although word processors have built-in spellcheckers which will help you to avoid most basic mistakes, there are also many mistakes that spellcheck software will not identify. Some of the principal difficulties of English spelling are outlined below. Double consonants The final consonants of some verbs are doubled when -ing or -ed is added, but only if the verb has a single short vowel preceding the final consonant and, if it is more than one syllable, the stress is on the final syllable: stop stopped begin beginning but: develop developing Not doubling a consonant when necessary is confusing when two different words have similar spellings. Sitting is the correct -ing form of sit but siting is the correct form of site. (If the consonant is not the last letter of the verb, it is not doubled. But notice that the final ‘e’ is dropped.) Double vowels Some words have two different vowels one after the other. The most common examples are i/e and e/i. The rule is that i comes before e when the sound of the word is ‘ee’, but not when the two vowels come after the consonant c: believe receive As is often the case with English spelling, there are exceptions to the rule: seize Similar sounding words Some words that have the same pronunciation have quite different spellings and meanings. If you include the wrong word, even if it sounds right, you may in fact be using the wrong spelling: air heir allowed aloud ate eight board bored cent sent fare fair feat feet genes jeans mail male one won pair pear there their they're wait weight Commonly confused words It is also easy to confuse words that have only minor differences in spelling. Some of the most common are: advice advise ensure ~ insure envelop envelope formally formerly later latter passed past perspective prospective precedence precedents prescribe proscribe principal principle stationary stationery practice practiseBritish / US Engli Although English is the national language of | both the United Kingdom and the United States, there are significant differences in the way that the language is used in both countries, The differences concern not only pronunciation but also grammar, vocabulary and spelling. When writing, it is therefore important to know whether you are addressing an international audience or writing specifically for British or US readers. The sections below provide examples of the main differences between British and US English. Grammar The main differences concern spoken rather than written English. In US English, it is more common to use the past simple form of a verb where the present perfect form would be used in British English. This is especially true with the adverbs just, yet and already: Ms Dewer has just informed me that ... (British) Ms Dewer just informed me that ... (US) Prepositions In British English, prepositions are normally included in situations where in US English they are often dropped: Judith is returning on Wednesday. (British) Judith is returning Wednesday. (US) A different preposition is used in some situations: The head office is in Wall Street. (British) The head office is on Wall Street. (US) I often play golf at the weekend. (British) often play golf on the weekend. (US) Jody is at school today. (British) Jody is in school today. (US) 10m Letters The format for letters is generally the same for both the UK and US. However, there ari some differences concerning the opening, where a comma or no punctuation is used in British English (Dear Mr Harding.) but a colon is used in US English (Dear Mr Harding). US closings include Sincerely (yours), Respectfully, Cordially, Yours truly, Very truly yours, which are not common in British letters (see Letters, page 16). Dates Dates can be written with the number before or after the month; before (14 May) is more common in British English and after (May 14) is more common in the US. When dates are written using only figures, the order is always day/month/year in British English, but month/day/year in the US: 10/06/06 _10 June 2006 (British) 6 October 2006 (US) Numbers In British English, and is used for numbers in the hundreds, but and is not usually included in US English: 669 six hundred and sixty-nine (British) six hundred sixty-nine (US) Quantities British English tends to use metric units (eg. ‘metres) instead of or as well as imperial units (e.g. yards), but in the US it is more common to use imperial units only.| Spelling ‘The major differences in spelling concen double consonants (less frequent in US English) and word endings. Verbs that end in -ise in British English are usually spelt with -ize in US English. Some nouns that end in -re in British English end in -er in US English. In US English, words often finish in -or whereas in British English they take -our. British us. catalogue catalog cheque check colour color dialled dialed labelled labeled manoeuvre maneuver metre meter programme program sizeable > sizable Vocabulary The following list shows where British and US English have a different word for the same thing. General words British Us bill check car park parking lot clever smart diary (appointments) calendar flat apartment from .. to. through full stop period ground floor first floor lawyer attorney lend loan lift elevator motorway highway neighbourhood district ordinary regular British us pavement sidewalk petrol gas / gasoline post mail queue line underground subway upmarket upscale —*> work out figure out Business terms British us balance sheet statement of financial position banknote bill current account checking account creditors payables debtors receivables depreciation amortization estate agent realtor land and buildings real estate common stock income statement ordinary shares profit and loss account profit net income provisions allowances savings and building society loan association” - shareholder stockholder shares stocks stocks inventories turnover revenue unit trust mutual fund The past forms of some verbs are also different. British US fitted fit got gotten gl| Abbreviations viations Abbreviations are often used to refer to names and titles when their full forms are long or complicated. They are also used for technical terms that are often referred to in a particular profession or industry. They are pronounced giving the individual letters that make up the | abbreviation and are sometimes preceded by an article: The BBC The EU In formal written texts abbreviations are often printed out in full, but in informal Job titles CEO Chief Executive Officer CFO Chief Financial Officer clo Chief Information Officer [ee.e) Chief Operating Officer MP Member of Parliament Organisations EMU European Monetary Union EU European Union IMF International Monetary Fund IRS _|/ ~~ Inland Revenue Service TUC Trades Union Congress UN United Nations WTO World Trade Organisation Countries UAE United Arab Emirates UK United Kingdom USA United States of America Companies BA British Airways BMW _ Bayerische Motoren Werke IBM. International Business Machines Business terms AGM Annual General Meeting B2B Business to Business B2C Business to Consumer CIF Cost, Insurance, Freight FOB. ~ Freight on Board FY Fiscal Year GDP Gross Domestic Product HR Human Resources IPO Initial Public Offering M&A Mergers and Acquisitions MBA Master of Business Administration MBO Management Buy Out P&L Profit and Loss Qe communication by email and over the phone they are normally left in their short forms. | Comnron abbreviations used in business PLC Public Limited Company R&D Research and Development ROI Return on Investment SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats TOM Total Quality Management USP Unique Selling Proposition VAT Value Added Tax Measurements ETA Estimated Time of Arrival GMT Greenwich Mean Time kg kilogram kph kilometres per hour lb pound (weight) Technology CAD Computer Assisted Design CAM Computer Assisted Manufacturing FAQ __ Frequently Asked Question HyperText Markup Language PDF Portable Document Format RAM _ Random Access Memory ROM Read Only Memory World Wide Web AOB Any Other Business ASAP As Soon As Possible ID Identity ie. id est ( that is) PIN Personal Identification Number Another term for abbreviation is acronym, generally used when the abbreviation forms a word: Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) or can be spoken, e.g. SWOT, FAQ, ROM and PIN from above.LR messages The popularity of mobile phones and instant messaging via phone and computer has led to a new form of abbreviated writing, where words are shortened or even sometimes replaced by individual letters, symbols or numbers. This means that fewer keystrokes are required when composing the message, and it also makes it easier for a condensed message to fit on the limited screen space of a mobile phone. Telephone text messages are usually limited in length to 160 characters, but on computer messages they can be of unlimited length. Text messaging is a very informal way of communicating and is never used for official communication. Here are some simple guidelines for writing text messages in English. There are also several websites where you can write a message that will be automatically transformed into a text message, eg. www.lingo2word.com. The most important rules to remember when abbreviating for a text message are the following: Words that have the same sound as a letter of the alphabet or a number are represented by that letter or number: U you R are 2 too/to 4 for 8 ate Y why Words that correspond to a graphic symbol on a keyboard are represented by that symbol: & and @ at # number + plus - minus The percent symbol (%) represents a double ‘0’ I%k look Vowels that normally appear in the middle or at the end of words and syllables are removed: KNO know = CHK check Upper case letters can represent both vowels and word endings: LYK like sndN sending Standardised abbreviations are used for some words and phrases: BCZ because LOL Laugh out loud By using the colon and bracket keys, graphic representations or ‘smileys’ can be produced to show the emotions of the »®@ «®@ Sample text message Are you coming to Pat's presentation at 3 o'clock? Hope to see you there!