The Letter Writer

 The Letter Writer

Overview The changing roles of letters and e-mails   Letter or e-mail - which is appropriate? What is your subject? How formal do you want to be? How urgent is your message? When is telephoning better?   Writing letters

The conventions Layout Salutations Closes Postscripts

Creating a clear and logical structure Essential principles Useful models for structuring letters

Making a strong start Writing opening sentences Discussion of various approaches

Good business style Matching your tone to the reader and the purpose Choosing and using words with care Side-stepping jargon and overworked phrases Reviewing sentence length and structure Ensuring consistency Avoiding ambiguity

Coming to a good end Techniques for strong endings How to test your endings

Guidelines for specific types of letter Promoting products and services Being persuasive Responding to complaints Providing information Asking for action

Exercises and feedback   Writing e-mails

Why e-mail is a special case How e-mail differs from other documents The potential pitfalls

Guidelines for effective e-mails Using the subject line well Thinking about structure Taking care over tone Getting your message across clearly and succinctly

Common questions answered How should I begin an e-mail - Hi, Good morning, Dear John? How much can I say? Can I use headings? When should I use an attachment? How should I end an e-mail - Cheers, Yours, Kind regards?

Technical topics Plain text or HTML format? Design and layout E-mail security

Exercises and feedback   Revising the essentials

Grammar The good grammar guide

Punctuation Punctuation - a refresher

Exercises and feedback