English Business Letters [antikvár]

Introduction The English language has often been described as a 'living' language. This means that it grows and renews itself by a never-ending process of taking up new words and expressions and pushing worn-out ones into the background to languish or die. The process is slow: each age adds something to the national heritage, something that is typical of the spirit of that age. The result is clearly seen in the writing and speech of that age. In compiling this work on Business English we had in mind chiefly the need of the foreign student of English who has mastered basic grammar and acquired a fair vocabulary and some idiom, and who now wishes to apply his knowledge to the study of business letter writing. We have therefore given examples of letters written in a clear, direct, friendly and positive style. (We have also kept in mind the need of the student who requires English for correspondence with English-speaking countries, and whose interest therefore lies mainly in import-export matters.) In this new edition we have given 150 specimen letters as well as some 740 phrases and extracts from letters. No book of commercial correspondence could reproduce specimen letters in every style of expression used in commercial writing, but the carefully classified groups of phrases given will enable the student to build his own letters on the pattern of the specimens. In this edition many of the letters are presented in a more attractive and realistic style and the revisions have also taken into account decimalisation and metrication. We think these revisions will make our book even more useful as a guide to business letter writing. F. W. KING D. ANN CREE