Business Letters How to Write Them

d us. Weak: Trusting that we may have your order, we beg to remain, etc. Improved: We shall appreciate your order. Original: Thanking you in advance for a reply and hoping to be favored with an order from you in the near future, we are, etc. Improved: We shall appreciate the kindness of a reply, and the pleasure of being of service to you. Compound Words As a rule, words used in their regular grammatical relation and construction should be written separately, but when they are used together to express a specific meaning, they should be joined with a hyphen or written solid. Take, for example, iron fence, iron-saw, and ironwood. An iron fence is a fence made of iron, which is clearly expressed when written as two words. Iron-saw, a saw made to cut iron, if not connected with the hyphen, would convey the wrong idea?that it is a saw made of iron. Ironwood, a kind of hard wood, clearly conveys the meaning when written solid. In general, it may be said that no expression in the language should ever be changed from two or more words into one?either hyphenated or solid?without a change of sense. Many compound words, once written with the hyphen, through long usage, have come to be written as one word. While there is a lack of uniformity in the manner of writing compound words, the following rules reflect the general usage: 1. Vice and ex used as parts of titles are connected with the other part of the title by a hyphen. ex-President Roosevel... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.