Business letters useful phrases and vocabulary, page 1|Learn English Today

Please note that British English spelling is used on this website.

Phrases and vocabulary to help write business letters

Salutation
• Dear Mr. Brown
• Dear Ms. White
• Dear Sir
• Dear Madam
• Dear Sir or Madam
• Gentlemen
Starting
•  We are writing

– to inform you that …

– to confirm …

– to request …

– to enquire about …

– to provide the information you requested.

• I am contacting you for the following reason…
• I recently read/heard about ….. and would like to know ….
• Having seen your advertisement in …, I would like to …
• I would be interested in (obtaining / receiving) …
• I received your address from —– and would like to …

Referring to
previous contact
• Thank you for your letter of March 15.
• Thank you for contacting us.
• In reply to your request, …
• Thank you for your letter regarding …
• With reference to our telephone conversation yesterday…
• Further to our meeting last week …
• It was a pleasure meeting you in London last month.

• I enjoyed having lunch with you last week in Tokyo.
• I would just like to confirm the main points we discussed
 on Tuesday. 

Making a request
• We would appreciate it if you would …
• I would be grateful if you could …
• Could you please send me …
• Could you possibly tell us / let us have …
• In addition, I would like to receive …
• It would be helpful if you could send us …
• I am interested in (obtaining / receiving) …
• I would appreciate your immediate attention to this matter.
• Please let me know what action you propose to take.

Offering help
• Would you like us to …?
• We would be happy to …
• We are quite willing to …
• Our company would be pleased to …

Giving good news
• We are pleased to announce that …
• I am delighted to inform you that ..
• You will be pleased to learn that …

Giving bad news
• We regret to inform you that …
• I’m afraid it would not be possible to …
• Unfortunately we cannot / we are unable to …
• After careful consideration we have decided (not) to …

Complaining
• I am writing to express my dissatisfaction with …
• I am writing to complain about …
• Please note that the goods we ordered on ( date )
 have not yet arrived.
• We regret to inform you that our order n° —– is now
 considerably overdue.
• I would like to query the transport charges which seem

 unusually high.