Collins Letter Writing

MILITARY

Commissioned officers of HM Forces are addressed by rank, together with decorations, if any.

For naval officers, add ‘RN’. The main titles, in ranking order, are as follows:

Army officers may have their arm of service added, e.g. RA, RE.

When the woman is military and the man is not, her name comes before his, e.g. Lt-Col. Jane Smith and Mr John Smith.

When they are both in the military, the highest-ranking person’s name comes first.

OTHER USEFUL PHRASES

‘For the attention of’ can be placed underneath the recipient’s main address in order that the letter should go straight to a named person within a large organisation. If you then wish to clarify the subject matter, ‘Re:’ is a very useful addition between ‘Dear Mr X’ and the main text of the letter. Both of these phrases can add clarity, particularly when there is no personal connection between the writer and the recipient.

53 Downs Road

East Shilton

SH17 5PJ

Martin Joggings

Royal and United Alliance

73 Ballpark

Worcs

BR9 3HT

23 September 2003

For the Attention of Martin Joggings

Dear Mr Joggings,

Re: 43 United Front, London SW13

I am writing to you today to . . .

3 (#ulink_70891f7b-c388-5b88-8c3d-bcdaa7e40f7e)

GRAMMAR & (#ulink_70891f7b-c388-5b88-8c3d-bcdaa7e40f7e)

PUNCTUATION (#ulink_70891f7b-c388-5b88-8c3d-bcdaa7e40f7e)

• WHY STUDY GRAMMAR? (#ulink_bacf1ad9-9369-5e2d-be87-132132cec91a)

• PUNCTUATION (#ulink_6754ed5e-b4b3-5711-899d-1e067f16ea4a)

• SPELLING (#litres_trial_promo)

• ABBREVIATIONS (#litres_trial_promo)

• TIPS ON STYLE (#litres_trial_promo)

Grammar refers to the set of rules that allow us to combine words in our language into larger units. Some combinations of words are possible in English and some are not, and most native speakers of the language simply use correct grammar without having to think about what they are doing. Any native speaker would automatically say, for example, ‘I would really like a cup of tea’ and not ‘I would a cup of tea really like’.

Nobody taught you to speak this way; you simply absorb it from being exposed to your native language during childhood. The study of grammar, however, enables you to use your language so that the sentence structure may be slightly different, and more interesting, and yet still be correct, and comprehensible, to every reader.

WHY STUDY GRAMMAR? (#ulink_6e1dcf24-038d-5a44-9b2e-be00813f04bd)

Studying grammar can help you to write more effectively. It will help you to modify your language and it will help your reader to understand what you are saying. It is easy to look words up in a dictionary or, nowadays, to run your letter through a spellcheck. It is much harder to run a letter through a grammar check. No computer can manipulate the tiny differentials in language that make up correct grammar as effectively as any educated native speaker. It’s worth learning grammar because:

1 It helps you to write correctly and therefore to create a good impression.

2 It helps your reader to understand what you are saying and avoids confusion.

3 It helps you to punctuate your letter correctly, again avoiding confusion and misunderstanding.

4 A good grasp of your own grammar makes it far easier to learn a foreign language.

5 It helps you to understand what other people are trying to say in their letters.

THE SENTENCE

A sentence should express one complete thought. It should consist of a string of words beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop, although, of course, it could end with a question mark or an exclamation mark. The sentence is made up of the words which are generally referred to by a classification system called Parts of Speech. This describes their function.

NOUNS

A noun is the name of anything: man, woman, England, apple, Manchester United.

There are four kinds of noun in English:

1 Common nouns, which are names that are not specific to particular people or things. They begin with a lower-case letter: writer, newspaper, mountain.

2 Proper nouns, which are the names of specific people, places or occasions and which begin with a capital letter: Charles Dickens, The Times, Mount Everest.

3 Abstract nouns, which are the names of qualities, states or activities: laughter, beauty, love.

4 Collective nouns, which are names for a group or collection of similar things: crowd, team, army.

Most plurals of nouns end in an s. There are, however, a number of exceptions.

1 Nouns ending in o, ch, sh, ss or x form their plural by adding es: tomato, tomatoes; box, boxes.

2 Nouns ending in y following a consonant drop the y and add ies: fly, flies; baby, babies.