Business and private letters 1.

Business and private letters

Letter writing has lost some of its importance due to other more modern and faster forms of communication, say the telephone, telefax, picture phones. Nevertheless it is widely used in business life.
Private letters and business letters are different in their form, language, general tone.
In personal /private/ letters you can be conversational, you can use conversational abbreviations such as don´t, can´t, it´s etc. The tone of private letters is informal, personal and friendly.

Business letters must be written in special business English – in a simple direct style. They are usually sent to unknown persons and are therefore more formal. Nothing in a business letter should sound too personal. A good business letter must be accurate. The facts, figures and dates must be correct. Most business letters are written in block-forms, because this is the most time-saving method. Block-style - it means that everything is written on the left. Each paragraph is intended. / There are spaces between paragraphs. /