Business writing

Business Writing

Functions of Business Writin

g
To inform
To persuade

Six CsCriteria & Technique

s

Courtesy
Correctness
Conciseness
Clarity
Concretness
Completeness

Courtesy--Using you-viewpoi
nt
We-viewpoint

You-viewpoint

We are happy to have Your

your order for Kopper

products, which we a
re sending today by Me
rcury Freight.

We have shipped the

three dozen desk sets y

ou ordered.

selection of Kop
per products should rea
ch you by Saturday, a
s they were shipped by
Mercury Freight today.

Your

three dozen des

k sets should reach

with this letter.

yo

Courtesy-- Taking a positive t

one
Negative

positive

I cant accept the re

commendation of t
he site-selection co
mmittee.
We regret to inform
you that we must d
eny your request fo
r credit

I wish I could accep

t the recommendati
on of the site-select
ion committee.
For the time being,
we can serve you o
nly on a cash basis .

CourtesyBeing conversatio
nal
Stiff and dull
style t
Reference
is made
o your May 3 letter,
in which you descri
be the approved pr
ocedure for initiatin
g a claim.
I shall be most plea
sed to avail myself
of your kind sugges
tion when and if the
price declines.

Conversational style
Please refer to your
May 3 letter, in whi
ch you tell how to f
ile a claim.
I shall gladly follow
your suggestion if a
nd when the price f
alls.

Correctness
Correct grammar, punctuation and spelli
ng
Negative impact on the reputation of the
company and writer
Distracting the reader from the message
itself.

Conciseness
Cluttering words
At the present time
For the purpose of
For the reason that
In the near future
In view of the fact t
hat
With regard to

Concise substitutions

Now
For
Since, because
Soon
Since, because
about

With surplus words

Without surplus words

There are five rules

that should be obse
rved.
In the period betwe
en June and August
they found the erro
r.

Five rules should be

observed.
Between June and A
ugust they found th
e error.

Clarity
Long and unfamiliar wor
ds
Company operations f
or the preceding acco
unting period termina
ted with a substantial
deficit.
This machine has a te
ndency to develop exc
essive and unpleasant
audible symptoms wh
en operating at elevat
ed temperature.

Short and familiar words

The company lost

much money last ye
ar.
This machine tends
to get noisy when it
runs hot.

Concretness
abstract

A significant loss
In the near future
The majority
An excellent studen
t

concrete

A 53% loss
By Thursday noon
70%
Among the top five
in a class of 40.

Completeness
All the necessary information and dat
a should be included in the message.