CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATIONS AT SEA
“even carrots can talk-but to survive,we need to communicate”
We live in a world in
which communication is paramount. That is why we should be able to get our
messages across properly. The right message at the right time can lead to sweet
success.
I.Business letters
Letter writing is an essential part of business. In spite of
telephone, fax and e-mail communications the writing of the letters continues,
in fact, most telephoned and e-mail messages have to be confirmed in writing.
The letter
is often evidence of an agreement or a contract and must, therefore, be written
with care.
A question
frequently asked is “ how long should a good letter be?”-The answer is :” As
long as it is necessary to say what has to be said.”
Letter writing
is something which can be learnt-here is a set of simple tools and guidelines which
help get your message to the people who matter:
To begin with:
- Start from the end.Decide what you’d like to happen as
a result of your letter. Remember, the best letters have a strong sense of
purpose.
- Get to the point early.If your reader wanted a mystery, he’d
be reading Raymond Chandler.
- Put yourself in your reader’s place. Thereforr, be
friendly.Be nice.And find ways to turn negative statements into positive ones.
- Say it plainly.Write the way you talk, naturally. Keep you
sentences short –one idea in each.
- Clear the deadwood.Chop out words,sentences, and even whole
paragraphs, it they don’t contribute. In particular ,cast a questioning eye on
adjectives.They can sap the strength from our words, or stretch your
credibility. As Voltaire put it,” the adjective is the enemy of the noun”
- Use active verbs. Face it, the passive voice is wimpy
- Be human. Device a way to handle the problems in an upbeat
manner.Your chances of success will
multi tenfold.
- End it with an action step. The last sentence of your letter
should suggest the reader’s next move.Or your own next move. Never write:” if
you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to call”
- Be professional .Set up a clean, logical format for your
letter!
LAYOUT OF LETTERS
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Note:
- Use the block arrangement of the letter, a neater and
quicker form or writing
- The letter-head or heading of a letter normally inclues:
-The company’s name and address
-telephone numbers and e-mail address
-The type of business it it engaged in
- There are several ways of writing data, eg :
-30.06.2014
-June 30th,2014
- Usually Messrs( an abbreviated form of Messieur) procedes
the name of a firm or partnership.
- If you begin the letter with a person’s name, end with “
Yours sincerely”, “yours truly”
The Americans prefer: Truly yours” ( Sincerely yours). In front of the titles or rank “ Mr” in omitted ,e.g :Dear Professor Brown,/Dear Captain Weeks
- If there is any particular subject-matter of the letter it
is indicated after the salutation:Re: Damage to acetic cargo by fire, or Your order No …15 March 2010
- If the letter is to
be delivered to another person/firm too, use the abbreviation:c/o(care of)
- If another person signs the letter, put “for” or “p.p” in
front of the name/
- If you are enclosing any documents, write
Enclosure/Enc/Encl. after the signature in an e-mail: Attach/attachment.
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Continuing
