Written Business Communication

商务英语书面沟通技巧

Section One

版块一 Fundamentals: six parts in first-class business correspondence 电子商务邮件的“六大部分”，您真的知道每个部分标准而高效的写法吗？

Subject: brief + informative

标题：精+确

Greeting: your relationship + the nature of the matter

称呼：你们的关系+事件的性质

Opening: put your purpose in the first sentence

开头：一语中的

Details: provide “ALL the NEEDED” information

细节：提供“所有的必需的”信息

Future action: make a clear request

请求：清晰醒目

Ending: friendly and open

结尾：友好而开放

Something you never do with emails

电子邮件中的禁区

When NOT to send emails?

按send键之前，您确定要发这封电子邮件吗？

Case study I: Skillfully push the colleague to send the report on time

案例讨论一：有技巧地催促同事按时交报告

Section Two

版块二

Section Three

版块三

Pyramid structure designed by Barbara Minto Barbara Minto女士创建的金字塔结构 Why do we need to use pyramid structure in work? —— Start the article with conclusion to catch attention and avoid misunderstanding 为什么在职场中需要使用金字塔结构？ —— 结论先行，可以抓住注意力，并避免误解 What is pyramid structure? —— Top down; Vertical: question-answer; Horizontal: induction (MECE) or deduction 什么是金字塔结构？ —— 自上而下；垂直方向用问题-回答展开；水平方向用归纳(遵循MECE原则)或演绎展开 How do we use pyramid structure? —— Put out all the bubbles, govern the bubbles by logic, make the conclusion and put it to the top 怎样使用金字塔结构？ —— 发散思维，画出所有内容气泡，找出气泡间的逻辑，得出结论，将结论放在金字塔塔尖 Case study II: Draw the pyramid structures for progress report / business proposal / work plan / promotion application 案例讨论二：为进度报告、商业提案、工作计划、竞聘竞升做金字塔结构 “Five Musts” for business English writing —— Specific, clear, positive, personal, persuasive 写电子商务邮件时，您要遵循的语言特色上的“五个必须”

—— 明确、清晰、积极、有人情味、有说服力

Persuasion skills: eight-step motivated sequence

Section Four 版块四 让你的语言有说服力的魔力：说服八步骤 Get rid of Chinglish —— Use right-branching logic, use transition words, KISS 秒杀中国式英语 —— 使用向右延伸的逻辑、使用连接词秀出逻辑、遵循KISS原则 Case study III: Request a senior manager for approval 案例讨论三：向上级要批准 Case study IV: Request to pay a visit to a client 案例讨论四：向客户请求前去拜访 Deal with negative issues 如何沟通负面、敏感事件 Use the correct tone: know your own identity and four types of business readers 使用正确的语气：左手拿镜子，照自己的身份；右手拿放大镜，剖析读者 Use sandwich structure to make the bad news more acceptable “三明治结构”帮您消除传达坏消息时的尴尬 Show sympathy when responding to angry message and unreasonable request 将您的“共情能力”表达在笔端，巧妙回应愤怒与不合理 Case study V: Discuss a sensitive topic: office relocation/work relocation 案例讨论五：讨论一个敏感话题：办公地点搬迁/派往异地担任新的工作任务 Case study VI: Respond to a colleague’s complaint 案例讨论六：回应同事的抱怨

第二篇：英文写作特征(英文)

The

characteristics

of

English Writing

Abstract:Developing a strong abitity of English writing is essential and will benefit English learners for their future career both as an aspiring English scholor and as an active , cometent member of the global society .This paper mainly discusses the basic concept and the characteristics of English writing.

Key words:characteristics;English writing;critical reading and thingking;thoughtful revision;creatity

What would be considered good English writing,then?Some educators in English-speaking countries promoted a set of basic characteristics of English writing,for example:unity;coherence;emphasis;development and clarity.While these good values are still relevant ,our discussion of English writing,focuses on a different set of concepts.

1. English writing calls of critical reading and critical thinking

Good writing,especially good,effective English writing,calls for critical reading and critical thinking.LiMing ,a college student, has to read some things about John Kennedy in order to write an effective term paper on her chosen topic.Michelle Williams needs more than her first-hand experiences and direct observations in Beijing to write an effective booklet on China.Even though Julong Wang’s essay on his hometown is more “personal”,he needs to get more informed on the arguments that have been made concerning how to help less developed regions to moderize and catch up with the coastal provinces.

1.1What’s the critical reading and critical thinking

What is critical reading（or reading with a critical eye）?It is reading not only for comprehension,but also to analyze the values and assumptions embodied in the texts and examine their historical,cultural as well as literary contexts.

What is critical thinking ?In thinking critically about any essue of certain complexity ,you need to be willing to see it from different perspectives,to face objections to your own beliefs, and to adopt a skeptical attitude toward authority and toward views that seem obviously right to you. To thinking critically is to willingly give up your monopoly an truth and respect your opponents by analyzing their views carefully.If you engage in multi-perspective,analytic,and evaluative thinking,you will ofter have second and third thoughts concerning the subject.You may find yourself,to your own surprise,adopting a position that you initially couldn’t imagine you would hold.Good writing is characterized by insight gained through an intellectually rigorous and open-minded inquiry .

1.2The importance of critical reading and critical thinking

Good English writing calls for critical reading and critical thinking.This concept is particularly important for you became many non-native speakers of English tend to be overly concerned with being correct in grammar and speaking.While good English writing is expected to be free from grammatical and other error,it is worth repeating here that

good writing is not good grammar.

Actually ,excessive anxiety over grammar can only hinder you from expressing yourself effectively in English writing or speaking.At this advanced level,you should be much more concerned with higher-level ,more important issues of English writing.

2. English writing involves thoughtful revision

The necessity of thoughtful revision

This is true even with the most experienced writers.You will be convinced of this fact if you go and study the manuscrips have evolved. Many great writers subject their writings to numerous revision before feeling satisfied.LuXun,the great modern Chinese writer,for example,talks about pacing pensively in the study for days searching for the right word.Even if you have developed the finest plan and your drafting has gone rather smoothly,you will need to revise what you have written.

2.2The function of thoughtful revision

By revision,of course, we do not mean simply editing and proof-reading to clean up grammatical and spelling errors.Effective revision involves making changes as both the macro and micro levels.During macro（meaning“large”in Greek origin）revision, you look at the whole essay in terms of such determining factors as your subject,audience,and purpose,and try to identify major

problems and fix them so as to bring about better unity and development.During micro （meaning“small”in its Greek origin）revision,you work at the paragraph and sentence levels to bring clarity and coherence to your writing.

3. English writing is dircted toward an audience

3.1The importance of it

The term audience usually refers to viewers of movies and TV shows and listeners of radio programs .It is now expanded to include readers of written materials in discussions of writing activities.This concept is so improtant because different audiences can have significant impact on the content,structure,and style of your writing even if you are writing about exactly the same topic.

Let’say you want to write a paper analyzing why terrorists chose to hijack passenger planes to hit the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington,D.C.on September 11,2001.You’d most likely approach the subject differently if you are writing for readers in the U.S.than for readers in Afghanistan,Iraq,and other Islamic coutries.

Let’s take SARS（Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome）as another example.You can write about its symptoms,causes ,and prevention measures to 1）foreign tourists;2）elementary school

students;3）average city residents;4）medical personnel involved in SARS-related research.The topic is more or less the same,but would you write exactly the same way to the four different groups of audience?

3.2 Awareness of your audience

A keen awareness of your audience throughout the writing process is esstential to effective English writing.Oftentimes,it is necessary to sit down and analyze your audience in terms of their knowledge,values,assumptions,etc.Good English writing will show a keen awareness of the intended readers and use the most effective strategies to achieve the purpose of writing.

This is a very important concept because different audiences can impact and shape your writing significantly in terms of content,structure,and style,even when you are writing about the same topic or subject .For example,explaining the character of Lu Xun’s Ah Q to college-educated Chinese readers would be quite different from presenting the same topic to college students in the U.S.In the latter case,much more background information about Lu Xun and the social and historical environment in which he created the character would need to be provided before you could proceed to any meaningful

discussion.For an academic paper—or any writing for that matter—to be effective,it is often necessary to sit down and analyze your audience before actually starting to write your paper.Audiences can be examined from several different persectives:

1）Audience and Author social relations

2）Audience’s knowledge about your subject

3）Audience’s attitudes to or viewpoints on the subject and your position in the writing

4.English writing achieves a clear purpose

4.1 The purpose of English writing

Whenever you write,you write for a purpose,regardless you are aware of it or not.If you want to write an essay about financial aid for college students under the current system.what purpose would you like to achieve?It could be:

1） To inform readers of the merits and problems of this new system

2） To make people aware of the financial difficulties of students from low-income families and rural and less develped areas

3） To suggest certain changes to fine-tune the system so that these students will not be priced out of higher

education

A different purpose will difinitely have a different impact on your writing .

The concept of role refers to the type of person you want your audience to think you are. Generally speaking,you would want your audience to think that you are knowledgeable,intelligent,and well-informed .Why would they bother to read what you are writing if they think you are ignorant,stupid and not knowing what you are talking about? But you may assume different roles for different pieces of writing depending on such determining factors as the subject,audience,and purpose.You assume certain persona proper for a particular writing event,much as if you were an actor being assigned a role in a play.About tuition of higher education,for example,you can write as a college student who has first-hand experience（an insider’s view）;as a parent with a low or average income who sees a much larger picture and makes some relevant policy recommendations.

The role or persona you have adopted for the piece of writingmay have a direct effect on the tone of your writing.How do you want it to sound?Serious,scholarly,and trustworthy?Practical?Philosophical?humours?You choose the

one that best fits your subject,audience,and purpose and that you feel most comfortable with.

In a word, What is the purpose in writing?It could be 1）

2）

3）

4） To inform To explain To impact the reader’s behavior To change their mind about something controversial

4.2 A clear purpose is necessary and important

If you want to propose that China adopt a legal drinking age ,you should make it clear to the People’s Congress why such a law is necessary ,what it should be,how to implement such a law ,and so on.

If you want to convince reader’s in America and European countries that China needs to find a form of democracy which would fit China’s history,culture,and the needs of its people the most ,that sentence of purpose will shape the content,the structure,and the style of your writing and influence your choice of the strategies to be used.

Writing without a clear sense of purpose would be like jumping into the car and driving off at full speed without knowing first where you were are going.Chances are that the faster you drive,the further away you are from the right

destination.

5.English writing needs creatings

As is said earlier,good effective English writing doesn’t have to be flat,dry and dull.In fact ,it can be dynamic,vibrant,and delightful to read, pulsing with a distinctive voice ,a quick wit ,and a good , healthy sense of humor.

5.1How to use creativity in English writing

Creativity in English writing can be in its original use of material:making significant connections between ideas and phenomena that are not so apparent;giving new ,insightful interpretation of existing information;and challenging popular myths,and conventional wisdoms in delightfulway . English writing can be organized creatively.It doesn’t always have to begin with a formal statement of thesis and end with a formal summary of the main points .In fact ,it can always use a variety of descriptive

example and narrative techniques,dialogues .for ,dialogues,scene

description,to engage the readers in the full emotional and intellectual experience of your writing.

Finally,the amazing development of computer technology makes it possible for you to enliven your writing with use of

colorful charts,graphs,tables,and other appropriate illustrations.

5.2Creativity benefits your writing

It’s well known to us that the good English writing needs creativity,the creativity is not only useful but also important and necessary .Only by this way ,our writing will attract more people’s attention,at the same time,we will learn some basical skills to enlarge or writing scope.And the most important is that the creativity would teach us how to express our own ideas with a different way .More over, it is necessary in any field which we will research,it is also the requirement of the information era.

6.English writing should express ideas clearly

6.1It is important to express ideas clearly

An important task at the revision stage of the writing process is to trim all the deadwood,pruning all the redundancies（unnecessary repetitions）,wordiness （using more words than necessary ）,and confusing and misleading ambiguities.An additional task for non-native speakers of English is to make your writing more idiomatic.By reducing the level of negative interference of your native language,you can bring your writing closer to native-speaker flunency.So it is

important to express ideas clearly.

6.2How to express ideas clearly?

The rhetorical context of English writing determines that its diction should be both precise and appropriate,in order to express ideas clearly.To the complex English writing,it’s true that sentence structures for it tend to be complex because complex ideas demand complex sentences to express them clearly and accurately.It often takes longer and more complex sentences to show relationshios between ideas.However ,there is always the danger of overdoing it ,creating unnecessarily complex verbal entanglements for the readers.The key word for the complexity of sentences structures is moderate.Strings of short and simple sentences will give readers an umfavorable impressionof lack of intellectual maturity.On the other hand ,wordy ,tangled and excessively leaden sentences are also unwelcome because they hinder understanding and obscure meaning.

Conclusion:From what has been mentioned above, we can come to the conclusion that remembering these characteristics of English writing is important,but use them appropriately and accurately is more important .Therefore,we must try our best to learn them by heart .Only do in this way,we will be good writers.Furthermore,it’s benefitial to us for our future career.

Bibliography

1. Effective Academic Writing in English:An Essential Guide 上海外语教育出版社 2005

2．谭卫国 《英语背诵范文精华》 华东理工大学出版社2004

3．陆国强 《现代英语词汇学》 上海外语教育出版社1983

4．王蔷

5．萧朝良

1987

6．杨阳

《英语阅读技巧》 《英语教学法》 高等教育出版社 2000 中国科学技术大学出版社北京高等教育出版社 2005 《英语教学法教程》