Writing in English - How to Start Any Letter

Hi, my name is Rebecca, and in this lesson, I'm going to show you how to start a letter

easily and quickly in English. Having taught English for many years in many parts of the

world, I know that people at all levels have a lot of difficulty writing, and writing a

letter as well as a business letter, especially. And the expressions that I have on the board

will help you to get started, because sometimes the most difficult part is getting started.

So these expressions you could use in almost any situation to begin your letter and go

much faster. The whole process will go much faster after that. Okay? Let's have a look.

So one of the expressions which I think is the most common, and which I myself use most

commonly in business English, is "I am writing in connection with." Okay? Now, we're going

to give you some full examples, but first let me give you the expressions. Okay? "I

am writing in connection with something." Or, "I am writing to inquire about something."

Now, you might notice that "inquire" is spelled I-N-Q-U-I-R-E. This is most often used in

North America, and also in various parts of the world. Sometimes in England, in British

English, they also write "inquire" with an E. So E-N-Q-U-I-R-E. You may also see that

version. "I'm writing to inquire about" or "I am writing to inquire about" basically

means I'm writing to ask about. It's just a more formal word, or a more business-like

word for "ask". Another expression you could use to start a letter is "I am interested

in something and would like to know something." All right? I'm going to show you exactly how

to use these now with some examples, and then we'll come back to this part.

So these three, any of these, you could use when you are initiating or starting the correspondence.

All right? This one, which I'm going to explain in a few minutes, you can use if you are replying

to someone for the first time. So let's start with these up here. So, for example, "I'm

writing in connection with the prices of your cell phones." Okay? Let's say you want some

information. Or, "I am writing in connection with your advertisement for a hotel manager."

Okay? For a hotel manager. All right? You could use either of these. With this one,

"I'm writing to inquire about immigration to Australia," for example. Or, "I'm writing

to inquire about the upcoming TOEFL examination dates." Okay? Upcoming means those that are

coming up soon, that are going to take place soon. So, "I'm writing to inquire about the

upcoming TOEFL exam dates." All right?

Another one, this one, "Now, I am interested in enrolling in your MBA program and would

like to know the deadline for application." All right? So this is a two-part sentence,

and you need to put some information in here as well as here. Like that, "I'm interested

in enrolling." So what's important here is if you use a verb here, you must use the gerund

form. Use the -ing form. Okay? "I'm interested in learning about." "I'm interested in enrolling

in." Like that. Okay? So that's how you can start a letter if you are initiating the correspondence

or starting the correspondence.

If you are answering a letter, all right? Let's say you work in an office and somebody

sent you one of these inquiries or one of these questions. How could you reply? Well,

a very easy way to start your reply is to simply say, "Thank you for your letter," or

"Thank you for your email of this date." Asking if... Okay? So you should have a comma here.

So for example, "Thank you for your email of January 2nd asking if we offer immigration

services to Australia." Or, "Thank you for your email of June 7th asking about or inquiring

about the prices of our cell phones." Right? You could also say, "Thank you for your email

of this date concerning immigration to Australia, concerning our MBA program, concerning the

upcoming TOEFL exam dates." Right? So you see that you can combine to really answer

any kind of question that you are asked. And the reason that we do this, instead of just

saying, "Thanks for your email," that's fine, but perhaps the person has sent out a number

of letters or a number of emails to different places. So by including the second part of

this information, you're also reminding the person what they wrote to you about, and that's

very helpful. Okay? Especially in this day and age when we open our email and we see

hundreds of emails sometimes. Okay? Especially in business situations.

So I hope I've made it a little bit easier for you to learn how to start a letter in

English, and hopefully from there, you'll go on to write a beautiful letter. So if you'd

like a little more practice in doing this, please visit our website, www.engvid.com.

There you'll find a quiz on this, and also lessons and quizzes on many other aspects

of English. Thanks very much. All the best with your letter writing.