English Commercial Practice and Correspondence [antikvár]

PrefaceThere is, we believe, a real need for a book to give the foreign student, simply and clearly, the outlines of English commercial practice and guidance on the writing of business letters. There are numerous admirable books for this purpose for the English student, but his problems and difficulties are not generally those of the foreign student. It is to meet the particular needs of the non-English student that the present book has been written.A glance at the Contents list will show that the main branches of English commercial practice are dealt with, and, after an account of the work of each department, specimens of correspondence relevant to its activities are given. In this connection readers should note a special feature (not, so far as we know, to be found in any other book of this kind), the Appendix of Standard Phrases for Correspondence (pages 232-46). So often the student, confronted with the problem of writing business letters, is at a loss to know what is the appropriate expression for his particular type of letter. He will, it is true, have met all these expressions as he has worked through the book, but until he has had considerable experience in the writing of letters, the right phrase may not necessarily rise to his call when he wants it. In the Appendix he will find the various alternatives all ready classified to help him out of this difficulty.Our aim, however, has been not only to teach him English commercial practice, but also to teach him English, to enlarge his general vocabulary, to exercise him in grammatical construction and to increase his powers of expressing himself in English with ease and clearness. So, each chapter is followed by two types of exercises, the first to develop his command of the language, the second to consolidate the technical material he has just studied and to drill him in the practical matters of business life. In these exercises the phonetic transcription is given of certain words whose pronunciation might cause the student