Business Letter

The Differences Between 

British Business Letter

with

American Business Letter

As we know that there are some differences between them, and the differences between UK and US are quite significant. Start from how to write it, until we finish it, and here, I will discuss about it below.

1. Address of sender

• in American way :  it can either go on the top left or with the signatures in the bottom of the page

• in British way : it goes on right

*but actually the recipient’s address is left-aligned in both countries ( finally they agree with something),in American way just add it after providing two line spaces between the addresses.

 2. Date

• in American way : it written  "December 25, 2012 " and always on the left

• in British way : it written "25th December 2012"  on the right or left of the page

3. If you’re addressing someone whose name you know 

• in American way : you’d add a fullstop/period after their title .i.e. : Mr., Mrs., Ms.

• in British way : where in the UK we’ve done away with the point leaving the title thus : Mr, Mrs, Ms 

*but each starts with "Dear..."

4. Subject line

• in American way : the Subject is given in between the recipient’s address and the salutation having a blank line in between.

• in British way : the subject line is placed between salutation and body of the letter.

5.  After mention a name or surname ( Salutation)

• in American way : you’d now enter a colon (:) like " Dear Mr. Raviolli :"

• in British way : in the UK used comma (,) like " Dear Mr Raviolli , "

*If you have a subject you want to add, much like the subject line in an email, add it under the salutation. To draw attention both US and UK prefer to use bold and/or upper-case letters

6. Closing

• in American way : your close should be aligned with YOUR address. i.e. : In the US, however (thank you, Karen!) the most common closings in a formal letter are ‘Sincerely,’ ‘Sincerely yours,’ and ‘Very truly yours’, (‘Cordially’ and ‘Best regards’ also make a show at times).

• in British way : in the UK it’s always left-aligned : In the UK, if you know the recipient’s name ‘Yours sincerely,’ is standard, and ‘Yours faithfully,’ when you don’t. ‘Kind regards,’ and his pleasant variants are acceptable, but they do prefer their cyber domain to paper.

7.  Post Script

• in American way : in the UK ‘p.s.’ still holds true

• in British way : in the US, ‘PS’ or ‘ps’ is the accepted norm

 

 Full and Modified Block Format

Whatever you're, whatever you do, when you Apply a job, or doing some business, sometimes you have to write a formal business letter. So, we can't avoid it. Here I'll mention about it. The main format of business letter are called full and modified block. You must know about it before, but do you know about the difference between them? lets check about it.. 

 

1. Full block format 

means that all the elements of the letter are left-justified so that the start of each line is at the left-hand margin. This is the more formal style, so use it if you’re unsure which to go for 

2. Modified Block Format

means that some elements of the letter are shifted over to the right. Nowadays, this style is appropriate in most contexts.

As a General , the body and structures of both type are not different, just about the position , so, both of them can be use in formal way.

Please give a thumbs for this article , and Thanks for reading :)

Arranged by : Akhira Kautsara Wikastri (20214702) 3EB19

References (source) :

1. http://www.lucycripps.com

2. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/british-american-business-letters-differences-types-academy-bea-

3. http://www.indiastudychannel.com/english/2694-Writing-a-Business-Letter-in-American-and-British-Style.aspx

4. https://www.reference.com/business-finance/modified-block-format-7999110902b719b6

Bahasa Inggris Bisnis

Difference Between British and American English

When I talk to British , They always say " You're not speaking English, You speak American !"

But as we know that there is no American language, it is just the same language with British right? so, why are they tell that British and American different?

I'll tell you about six significant differences between them :

1. Vocabulary : The most noticeable difference between American and British English is vocabulary. There are hundreds of everyday words that are different. For example, Brits call the front of a car the bonnet, while Americans call it the hood. Americans go on vacation, while Brits go on holidays, or hols. New Yorkers live in apartments; Londoners live in flats. There are far more examples than we can talk about here. Fortunately, most Americans and Brits can usually guess the meaning through the context of a sentence.
2. Collective Nouns :There are a few grammatical differences between the two varieties of English. Let’s start with collective nouns. We use collective nouns to refer to a group of individuals. In American English, collective nouns are singular. For example, staff refers to a group of employees; band refers to a group of musicians; team refers to a group of athletes. Americans would say, “The band is good.” But in British English, collective nouns can be singular or plural. You might hear someone from Britain say, “The team are playing tonight” or “The team is playing tonight.”
3. Auxiliary verbs : Another grammar difference between American and British English relates to auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, are verbs that help form a grammatical function. They “help” the main verb by adding information about time, modality and voice. Let’s look at the auxiliary verb shall. Brits sometimes use shall to express the future. For example, “I shall go home now.” Americans know what shall means, but rarely use it in conversation. It seems very formal. Americans would probably use “I will go home now.” In question form, a Brit might say, “Shall we go now?” while an American would probably say, “Should we go now?” . When Americans want to express a lack of obligation, they use the helping verb dowith negative not followed by need. “You do not need to come to work today.” Brits drop the helping verb and contract not. “You needn’t come to work today.”
4. Past Tense Verbs : You will also find some small differences with past forms of irregular verbs. The past tense of learn in American English is learned. British English has the option of learned or learnt. The same rule applies to dreamed and dreamt, burned andburnt, leaned and leant. Americans tend to use the –ed ending; Brits tend to use the -t ending. In the past participle form, Americans tend to use the –en ending for some irregular verbs. For example, an American might say, “I have never gotten caught” whereas a Brit would say, “I have never got caught.” Americans use both got and gotten in the past participle. Brits only use got. Don’t worry too much about these small differences in the past forms of irregular verbs. People in both countries can easily understand both ways, although Brits tend to think of the American way as incorrect.
5. Tag Questions :A tag question is a grammatical form that turns a statement into a question. For example, “The whole situation is unfortunate, isn’t it?” or, “You don’t like him, do you?” The tag includes a pronoun and its matching form of the verb be, have or do. Tag questions encourage people to respond and agree with the speaker. Americans use tag questions, too, but less often than Brits. You can learn more about tag questions on a previous episode of Everyday Grammar.
6. Spelling : There are hundreds of minor spelling differences between British and American English. You can thank American lexicographer Noah Webster for this. You might recognize Webster’s name from the dictionary that carries his name. Noah Webster, an author, politician, and teacher, started an effort to reform English spelling in the late 1700s. He was frustrated by the inconsistencies in English spelling. Webster wanted to spell words the way they sounded. Spelling reform was also a way for America to show its independence from England. You can see Webster’s legacy in the American spelling of words like color (from colour), honor (from honour), and labor (from labour). Webster dropped the letter ufrom these words to make the spelling match the pronunciation. Other Webster ideas failed, like a proposal to spell women as wimmen. Since Webster’s death in 1843, attempts to change spelling rules in American English have gone nowhere.