Tips to writing business English letters -

Useful phrases

Salutation

• Dear Mr Brown


• Dear Ms White


• Dear Sir


• Dear Sirs


• Dear Madam


• Dear Sir or Madam

Starting

• We are writing to inform you that ...

to confirm ...

to request ...

to enquire about ...

• I am contacting you for the following reason.


• I recently read/heard about . . . and would like to know . . .


• Having seen your advertisement in ... , I would like to ...


• I would be interested in (obtaining/receiving) ...


• I received your address from ... and would like to ...


• I am writing to tell you about ...

Referring to previous contact

• Thank you for your letter of March 15 ...


• Thank you for contacting us.


• In reply to your request ...


• Thank you for your letter regarding ...


• With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday ...


• Further to our meeting last week ...


• It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month.


• I enjoyed having lunch with you last week in Tokyo.


• I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed on Tuesday . . .