Introduction
At present, it is impossible to imagine the activities of an organization without business correspondence – a written form of communication. It is business correspondence that contributes to the establishment of strong partnerships and allows one to resolve various issues remotely. A well-written business letter testifies to the high culture of business communication in the organization, which undoubtedly characterizes it positively. Official requirements for paperwork are subject to strict canons of standards and regulations. The absence of at least one of the structural elements can significantly complicate the fate of the prepared document. As the practice of written communication shows, in business correspondence (namely, in incoming and outgoing letters), various kinds of errors and speech defects are quite common. If it is no longer possible to change errors in incoming letters, then it is important and necessary to work on preventing errors in outgoing letters.
Errors
When composing the text of a business letter, certain requirements must be observed. First of all, the presentation must be objective; additionally, it should be neutral in style. Irony and rudeness are not allowed in official letters. One should not go to the other extreme – use pretentious words or express excessive politeness (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). The source of structural errors is the incorrect construction of a business letter and the disproportionate position of its parts. The most common structural errors occur due to the lack of developed standard letters.
The letter should not duplicate another already standardized document. There is no need to draw up a letter proving an employee’s identity on his business trip if there is a form of travel certificate when it is enough to confine oneself to a pass or passport and verbal information (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). Due to the fact that a special place is reserved on the letterhead to indicate the connection between the previous and subsequent letter, the text of the letter should not begin with a repetition of what is already reflected in the indices, date of departure, and the subject of the previous letter.
Meanwhile, most of the errors in business letters are lexical. Insufficient literacy leads to curious nonsense and absurdity (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). Certain terms and professional slang words are familiar to a narrow circle of people in a certain profession, so their decoding in the text is required. It is also necessary to decipher terms that have different meanings in different industries.
Within the lexical scope, there might also be cases of tautology. Semantic repetitions occur when cognate words coexist in a sentence; tautological repetitions make the phrase dissonant. In addition, they make it difficult to perceive it because they attract attention to themselves. Then, there can be errors in the use of synonyms. Mistakes in the use of synonymous words often come from the fact that a poly-semantic word can be synonymous with another in only one of its meanings.
Results
It is important that each aspect of the content has a specific place in the logical structure of a business letter and does not overlap with another aspect. Failure to comply with this condition leads to long introductions and complex systems of motivation. For example, if the letter is constructed inappropriately, the primary message can become blurred in the context of a great extent of unnecessary information (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). A recipient can misinterpret the idea from this letter and take wrong actions.
It should be stressed that a business letter should be impeccable in all respects. Even a minor non-compliance with the rules can make it defective from a legal point of view. This is especially important when conducting international correspondence. At this level, it is not customary to put a seal on commercial documents (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). One signature of an authorized person is enough even on orders, reports, and letters of guarantee. Hence, in cases when there are lexical errors in business correspondence in the international framework, big deals can be delayed or even canceled, given that such an approach is unacceptable at the highest level.
What is more, it is essential to treat the recipient appropriately. Generally accepted rules of politeness are applicable here, but it is important – as mentioned above – to avoid over-politeness (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). The latter may lead to a situation in which the recipient will perceive one’s correspondence not as a business tool but rather as a manipulative instrument. This will never result in productive cooperation and causes a great degree of misunderstanding.
Avoidance
Each drafted document requires certain preparation, plan development, and future document structure from its compiler. After the document is drawn up, it is necessary to read it several times, identify possible violations, and check the most complex words in a dictionary or reference book (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). It is also necessary to be able to use paper and electronic dictionaries; in case of difficulty, one can refer to Internet portals. Such approaches will be a significant foundation for dealing with lexical and structural errors. Moreover, the former can be averted by appealing to modern online tools like Grammarly.
As mentioned above, issues related to politeness can be addressed by appealing to general rules in this vein. In correspondence, one needs to use “please” and “could you” very often (Guffey & Loewy, 2017). In addition, it is necessary to formulate your requests in such a way that they sound exactly like requests. For example, instead of “I need to know,” it is better to use the softer “I would like to know.”
DOs and DON’Ts
- Do keep the recipient’s background (knowledge and experience) in mind.
- Do keep the letter simple and straightforward.
- Do concentrate on the structure and organization of correspondence.
- Do use an appropriate business tone.
- Do utilize significant templates within the scope of business correspondence.
- Don’t neglect the practice of appealing to grammar-checking tools.
- Don’t use jokes and sarcasm in business correspondence.
- Don’t be careless in terms of writing the recipient’s personal data (gender, name, title).
- Don’t forget to include a call to action in the case when a response is required.
- Don’s appeal to unprofessional practices in business correspondence, which may include blurred intentions or inappropriate tone.
Conclusion
Thus, a person’s written business speech culture is part of their common culture. Well-written business documents are real art. It is necessary to master the skills and abilities to write a business letter systematically, both in theory and in practice. It is helpful to read special literature, study someone else’s experience, analyzing your own mistakes and shortcomings. The presented list of the most common errors in document design and content will help prevent them.
Reference
Guffey, E. M., & Loewy, D. (2017). Business communication: Process & product (9th ed.). Cengage Learning.