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Show EXCURSIONS IN CORRESPONDENCE By THOMAS ARKLE CLARK Dean of Men, University of Illinois. fr::::::-::::::: I The Business Letter THE business letter is different from other letters only in that It is not to please, or to amuse, or to appeal to the imagination, unless, perhaps, one is trying to sell oil stock or blue sky. Its object Is to give Information, to present facts, or to ask for them. Its appeal Is to the understanding, or the judgment of those to whom It Is written. In writing a business letter, there is no reason for using different language, or different sentence structure than we use in friendly letters, or In letters of courtesy. We should use complete sentences, and correct spelling, and put the letter Into as good form as If we were writing a note of thanks, or an Invitation to a dinner party. It Is true, we should be clear, direct, and to the point, but that does not mean that we are to leave out subjects of sentences, and articles, and principal words, and write as if we were composing com-posing a telegram, and were trying to save money on words. It simply means that whatever is unnecessary, or extraneous ex-traneous to the subject In hand, should be omitted. We are writing mainly to be understood, and clearness and directness di-rectness are, therefore, the points to be emphasized. Terseness does not necessitate the omission of the main parts of a sentence. Certain business firms who do large- I ly a mail order business with illiterate and badly trained people, hold to the opinion, or once did at least, thnt accuracy ac-curacy of form in a business letter is not necessary; that what the average person wants In such a letter is a clear statement of fact, and that It makes little difference if the spelling Is incorrect, the arrangement of the matter on the page careless, and the punctuation erratic. If the reader understands, un-derstands, that is sufficient. There came into my hands not long ngo, a letter of such a sort which I reproduce here without change excepting ex-cepting as to names and location. The typing was evidently done by one who was learning, the spelling has the merit of originality, the punctuation, by the omission of a single period makes the weekly rate seem a little high, but that Is a mere detail which perhaps did not convey a wrong impression, im-pression, and may very well be overlooked, over-looked, since the writer was apparently attempting to follow the prevailing custom cus-tom of cutting the punctuation down to a minimum. Bentonvilie, Va. Jiarch 20, 1924 Yor of March The 18th receved Yor in quarey for rates & rout to bentonvilie ben-tonvilie receved & 1 will give yo the roome with 2 beds & make every than as nice for you & yor wif as psible our rate Is $1250 pr weak & the best way out of casey Is to take a motor car at the k&A depo for jonesville Ya & we will meet you thare with a car for bentonvilie, 28 Miles rail & 14 otomobiel If Mr. Shean is coming you will have some one that will take you out to see the Mountains, hope this will bee satsfacter & you will come for ' a month are too we have some find cenury & good Mountni wat-ter wat-ter fine fishing, yers Truly The letter indisputably has originality, original-ity, but one must feel that if the writer's hotel is conducted like Ills correspondence, cor-respondence, it will be a place full of surprises. Many people feel that abbreviations, figures Instead of words, and contractions contrac-tions and elisions of every sort are signs of efficient business methods In writing. These things, more often than otherwise, are an Indication of haste, of carelessness, and of a lack of training. train-ing. They suggest shirt sleeves at a party. The only excuse for using figures fig-ures in a business letter is that figures economize space, and appeal more directly di-rectly to the eye than do written words. The most careful writers now use them sparingly. Letters written by business men who pay any attention to form are not now marred by sentences without subjects, or clipped off at one point or another, to suggest conciseness, such as "Yours ree'd ; glad to have order and will see that it is shipped at once." Such a sentence Is more like a telegram tele-gram than a real letter, and pleases very few people. Brevity Is a very desirable de-sirable quality, and one which should be generally sought in business letters, but it is not dependent upon bad grammar, gram-mar, or the omission of necessary parts of a sentence, nor upon abbreviations. It is best attained by directness, and the omission of all unnecessary details ( 1125, by Western Newspaper Union) |