汇丰银行商务英语写作教程

汇丰银行商务英语写作教程一 1。简介 2.第一章 简介： 这是汇丰银行内部培训员工用的写作课程。它把写作分为五步：计划、组织、草稿、修改和编辑。分成 8 章讲解。讲解的时候举具体的例子做示范，对提高商务写作能力很有帮助。今天我们先来了解一下教程的体系和学习计划。 HSBC Writing Course-Writing for Results Chapter 1 Plan your writing Chapter 2 Organise your writing Chapter 3 Draft and revise your writing to make it complete Chapter 4 Revise your writing to make it cohesive Chapter 5 Revise your writing to make it clear and concise Chapter 6 Revise your writing to make it courteous Chapter 7 Structure difficult letters Chapter 8 Edit your writing Introduction Welcome to Writing for Results, a course that can help you enhance your English writing skills. HSBC has designed this course for its staff in the Asia Pacific region. HSBC staff study this course to improve the e-mails, memos, faxes and letters they write at work. If youve never written business documents before, youll find this course extremely useful. Even if youre familiar with business writing, this course can still help you. Writing For Results will help you write in a modern style. By the end of this course youll be able to write business documents that are: better organized, more complete, clearer and more concise, more courteous, more correct. The most important feature of the Writing Process is its five stages: plan-organize-draft-revise-edit Good writers follow the five stages of the Writing Process to -meet their readers expectations -get the results they want. 第一章： 开始写作之前要有个计划，这样在写作的时候才会知道自己要写什么、写作的目的是什么，才能更好的考虑用什么样的写作方式。 Chapter 1 Plan Objectives: By the end of this chapter, youll be able to plan your writing. Youll do this by deciding: -why you are writing -how you want your reader to respond -what you want your reader to know Why do you plan? What is the value of planning? Think about this. Have you ever sat at your desk not knowing how to begin? Very often, you may find writing difficult because you start writing right away. In other words, you overlook the importance of planning before you write. Unfortunately, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So you need to plan your writing . and then write according to your plan. If you plan well, your writing is more likely to get the results you want. How can you plan your writing? Effective writers use 3 strategies. WHY are you writing? WHAT do you want the reader to do? WHAT does the reader need to know? These 3 questions provide a good framework for planning. Lets look at them one by one. Why are you writing? The business world is full of busy people. They dont want to waste time reading meaningless letters, memos, faxes and e-mails. They dont want to guess why youre writing to them. Thats why its very important for you to state your purpose for writing very clearly at the beginning. Look at the following letter: 20 September 200X Mr Robert Roman 13/F 151 Gloucester Rd Wan Chai Hong Kong Dear Mr Roman HSBC CREDIT CARD 5411 8001 7633 8766 Thank you for your letter dated 18 September 200X. We would advise that the card fee would be automatically billed to your card account annually despite your renewed card is remained uncollected. However, annual fee can be refunded provided that the card is uncollected within a certain period and is returned to the Card Centre for cancellation. Please therefore pick up your renewed card at your earliest convenience. We are pleased to be of service. Yours sincerely S TSE Simon Tse Customer Service Officer Card Centre Simons letter is not as effective as it could be. Its actually quite difficult to identify his purpose. You may have had to guess. Simon probably wanted to do two things: -to ask Mr Roman to collect his credit card and -to explain how the annual fee for credit cards is charged. So, you need to identify your purpose for writing. Your readers need to know why you are writing to them. Therefore, you should state your purpose for writing very clearly at the beginning. You can do this by writing a sentence which begins with a set phrase followed by a verb. For example, Im writing to / I would like toexplain / request When you use this method to state your purpose, the verb you choose is very important. Why? Because it helps your reader understand why you are writing. Here are some of the verbs you can use: announce, complain, confirm, explain, inform, notify, propose, request and suggest. WHAT do you want the reader to do? After you decide why you are writing, you need to determine your readers response. Your readers need to know exactly what you want them to do. Therefore, you should be very specific when determining your readers response. Compare the following two sentences: 1. Please therefore pick up your renewed card at your earliest convenience. 2. Please pick up your new card at our Central branch by 31 May. Sentence 2 is more specific than sentence 1. Remember: when you decide what you want your reader to do, you need to be as specific as possible. WHAT does the reader need to know? So far, youve learned how to determine your purpose for writing and your readers response. But how can you determine what your reader needs to know? The answer depends on: -why you are writing and -what you want the reader to do. Look at the letter again: 20 September 200X Mr Robert Roman 13/F 151 Gloucester Rd Wan Chai Hong Kong Dear Mr Roman HSBC CREDIT CARD 5411 8001 7633 8766 Thank you for your letter dated 18 September 200X. We would advise that the card fee would be automatically billed to your card account annually despite your renewed card is remained uncollected. However, annual fee can be refunded provided that the card is uncollected within a certain period and is returned to the Card Centre for cancellation. Please therefore pick up your renewed card at your earliest convenience. We are pleased to be of service. Yours sincerely S TSE Simon Tse Customer Service Officer Card Centre IF Simon -wants to explain the charges (writers purpose) -expects Mr Roman to understand the charges (readers response) THEN Mr Roman needs to know (readers information) -WHAT the charges are -WHY the charges are applied -WHO to talk to if he has questions IF Simon -wants to ask Mr Roman to collect his credit card (writers purpose) -expects Mr Roman to collect his credit card (readers response) THEN Mr Roman needs to know (readers information) -HOW to collect his credit card -WHERE to collect his credit card -WHEN to collect his credit card He needs to know WHO? WHAT? WHY? WHERE? WHEN? and HOW? Some professional writers call these the five Ws and the one H. You can use the 5WIH questions when you plan the readers information. If you do this, you will ensure that your reader has all the necessary information. Summary In this chapter, youve learned the three strategies used in planning. Planning is a key to success in writing. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Before you start to write, you have to plan what to write. You then write according to your plan. When you plan, you need to consider the following: -the writers purpose -the readers response -the readers information. In other words, you can help your reader by stating very clearly why you are writing and how you expect your reader to respond. The 5W1H questions (who, what, why, where, when and how) help to ensure you have included all the necessary information. Then, you can provide the information your reader needs to know. 汇丰银行商务写作教程 2 Welcome to Chapter 2. In Chapter 1 you learned how to plan a business letter. In this chapter, youre going to look at the second stage of the Writing Process: Plan to Organise. Organise This course is based on the Writing Process, a step-by-step procedure for producing effective correspondence. Therefore, HSBC recommends that you study each chapter of this course in order, beginning with the introductory chapter Getting Started. Objectives By the end of this chapter youll be able to organise your writing. Youll do this by o preparing a clear outline o arranging the contents to fit the outline. Planning: A Quick Review In Chapter 1, you learned about the planning stage of the Writing Process. Before you can organise your writing, its important that you have planned. Do you remember the three things you need to plan before beginning to write? Strategies Description Writers purpose Why you are writing Readers response How you want the reader to respond Readers information What you want the reader to know Organising: Why Do It A well-organised letter, memo, fax or e-mail is easy to read and understand. If you organise the contents of your correspondence well, you are more likely to get the results you want. So, organising is just as important as planning. In fact, the second stage of the Writing Process is closely related to the first. In the organising stage, you arrange what youve planned to write. In other words, you make an outline. Organising: How To Do It How do you organise what you have planned? Do you need to use a different outline for every letter, memo, fax and e-mail that you write? Not at all! For some special situations, youll need special outlines. Youll look at those in Chapter 7. However, for most of your written correspondence, you can follow a standard outline. Youll learn that outline in this chapter. But before you learn how to organise the contents of your correspondence, you should look at the various types of correspondence you may have to write. Organising: Types of Correspondence How many types of correspondence do you need to write? Basically, two: internal correspondence (the messages you write to colleagues) external correspondence (the messages you write to customers). However, when you write to colleagues or customers, you can use a variety of documents. Do you know which types of documents you can use when you write to colleagues? And which types you can send to customers? For internal correspondence, you can use e-mail, fax and memo. For external correspondence, you can use e-mail, fax and letter. The way you organise the content of most e-mails, faxes, letters and memos is similar. However, the format - or layout - of these documents is different. Can you recognise the formats of the documents you write? Below, you will see samples of four documents. Memo Fax Letter E-mail The way you organise the contents of most documents is similar. Try to discover the basic outline you can use in most of your correspondence. Read through the memo below and try to identify what type of content each of the four paragraphs contains. The HSBC Group MEMO To: All Staff Date: 20 July 200X From: General Manager Reference Subject: Dress Code As you know, we have always enforced a strict dress code. We have now revised this code. I would like to inform you of the changes. The code for branch staff and office staff is different. As Im sure you will appreciate, there are no changes for branch staff. All branch staff must wear the correct uniform at all times. On the other hand, if you work in the office, you may wear smart-casual wear. However, on any day that you do meet people from outside the company, please ensure you are dressed in a business-like manner. Please adopt the new dress code from 1 September. If you have any questions, please call Annie Wong on 2344 7765. Answers: Paragraph1: background Paragraph2: writers purpose Paragraph3: readers information Paragraph4: readers response Now read through the letter below. Identify the type of content in each of the five paragraphs in the spaces provided. 29 May 200X 34D Scenic Lane Discovery Bay Lantau Island Dear Ms Hui Classic Visa Card: Annual Fee Thank you for your letter of 5 November. In the letter, you mentioned that you had sent a cheque to settle your Visa Card Annual Fee. I would like to explain the situation. We have checked our records carefully. Unfortunately, we have not yet received the cheque, although we are normally very efficient when dealing with incoming remittances. Therefore, to help us prepare your new Visa Card, we would be grateful if you could settle the payment immediately. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours sincerely Lily Tam Customer Service Manager. Answers: Paragraph1: background Paragraph2: writers purpose Paragraph3: readers information Paragraph4: readers response Paragraph5: closing marks As you can see, there is only a small difference in the outlines you use when writing to colleagues and customers. When you write to customers, you include a salutation (Dear.) and a complimentary close (Yours sincerely / faithfully). When writing to customers, you always add a polite closing remark. You can also add this remark when writing to colleagues. By now, you should be familiar with the types of correspondence you write the types of documents you can use the basic outline you can usually follow. To learn how to organise a letter to a customer, go to the next screen. 对商务写作中的 organising 感到头痛吗？下面就教你 organising 的 SOFAR 五步法。 Organising: SOFAR Strategy So far, so good? Actually, if you remember that expression - SOFAR - itll help you remember how to organise external correspondence. Salutation Dear Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss. Opening Background + Purpose Facts Readers Information Action Readers Response Remarks Polite Closing You can also use this outline for memos and internal e-mails. Just leave out the salutation. SALUTATION The Salutation begins with Dear. The Salutation should include the readers name (eg, Dear Mr Chan, Dear Ms Lewis). You can use the readers first name (eg, Dear John) if you know them well. If you do not know the readers name, use Dear Sir or Dear Madam. If you do not know if the reader is a man or a woman, use Dear Sir or Madam. OPENING (BACKGROUND) The Opening includes two parts (and usually two paragraphs): the background (referring to previous contact with the reader or introducing a situation) the writers purpose These provide a logical introduction to your correspondence and help the reader focus on the subject. The background sets the scene by referring to a previous contact (memo, letter, phone call etc). If youve had no previous contact with the reader, you should briefly describe the situation that you are writing about. EXAMPLES: Previous contact: Thank you for your call this morning. A situation: Our annual staff party is coming soon! An attention-grabbing statement or question: Have you heard about.? Our Department Open Day is coming soon! Some opening sentences are better than others. Read through the sentences in the table below. Decide which sentence of each pair (in Column A and Column B) is better. Column A Column B With reference to your correspondence of 21 August. Thank you for your letter of 21 August. Further to our conversation earlier today. Thank you for your call today about. Regarding your request for credit approval. I have just received your request for credit approval. If you chose the sentences in Column B, youve chosen the better ones. Why? Sentences that begin with prepositions (eg, with, in, further, for, following, regarding) are difficult to write correctly. They are also quite long and therefore more difficult for your reader to understand. So, keep your writing simple by writing shorter, more direct sentences. OPENING (WRITERS PURPOSE) In the second part of the opening you state the writers purpose. Youve already learned (in Chapter 1) that there can be many purposes for writing. Two of the most common reasons are: to inform someone about something to request someone to do something. Look at the memo from the General Manager again. Which sentence states the managers purpose for writing? The HSBC Group MEMO To: All Staff Date: 20 July 200X From: General Manager Reference Subject: Dress Code As you know, we have always enforced a strict dress code. We have now revised this code. I would like to inform you of the changes. The code for branch staff and office staff is different. As Im sure you will appreciate, there are no changes for branch staff. All branch staff must wear the correct uniform at all times. On the other hand, if you work in the office, you may wear smart-casual wear. However, on any day that you do meet people from outside the company, please ensure you are dressed in a business-like manner. Please adopt the new dress code from 1 September. If you have any questions, please call Annie Wong on 2344 7765. Answer: I would like to inform you of the changes. To practise writing openings, do the exercise below. Read the two situations below and write an appropriate opening for each of them. Situation 1: You are replying to a customer who called this morning asking for details about opening a new account. Situation 2: You are replying to a customers letter that you received yesterday. He would like to know why delivery of his order is late. Suggested answers: Situation 1: Thank you for calling this morning asking about how to open a new account. I am delighted to give you the details about opening a Premier account. Situation 2: Thank you for your letter of 28 April about the delivery of your order. I apologise for the delay and would like to explain what has happened. FACTS In the Opening, you provide your reader with background information and state your purpose. In the next part of the letter - Facts - you provide all the information your reader needs so that they can understand your purpose completely respond appropriately. Remember, though - only one main idea per paragraph! If you have a lot of information for the reader, write several paragraphs in this section. ACTION After reading the information you have provided in the Facts section, your reader should be able to respond. In the next section - Action - you should tell your reader how to respond (what they need to do) when to respond (by what date/time). For example, if you are writing to invite someone to lunch, what do