Useful phrases for writing 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 ... • 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.