ENGLISH BUSINESS VOCABULARY
BUSINESS LETTERS
Phrases for contact, requests, complaints...
Please note that British English spelling is used on this website.
Phrases and vocabulary to help write business letters:
| Salutation | • Dear Mr. Brown • Dear Ms. White • Dear Sir • Dear Madam • Dear Sir or Madam • Gentlemen |
| Starting | • We are writing - to inform you that ... - to confirm ... - to request ... - to enquire about ... - to provide the information you requested. • 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 ... |
| 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. |
| Making a request | • We would appreciate it if you would ... • I would be grateful if you could ... • Could you please send me ... • Could you possibly tell us / let us have ... • In addition, I would like to receive ... • It would be helpful if you could send us ... • I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) ... • I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. • Please let me know what action you propose to take. |
| Offering help | • Would you like us to ...? • We would be happy to ... • We are quite willing to ... • Our company would be pleased to ... |
| Giving good news | • We are pleased to announce that ... • I am delighted to inform you that .. • You will be pleased to learn that ... |
| Giving bad news | • We regret to inform you that ... • I'm afraid it would not be possible to ... • Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to ... • After careful consideration we have decided (not) to ... |
| Complaining | • I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with ... • I am writing to complain about ... • Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date ) have not yet arrived. • We regret to inform you that our order n° ----- is now considerably overdue. • I would like to query the transport charges which seem unusually high. |
next page: business letters page 2
See also:
formal vs informal letter writing
business letter guidelines