Today is our topic of discussion Writing memorandums

Writing memorandums

 

 

A memorandum or memo (pl memorandums or memos) is a letter written inside an organisation. Memorandums usually carry messages which the employees of an organisation exchange at their work. Here is a model memo. Read it carefully.

German-Bangla Association

Date : 12 March 1999
To : Nazrul Islam
From: Rudia Sheffer

Subject:

Cost information for a 3-day training workshop at NAPE

The last Board meeting decided to hold this workshop at NAPE on 15-17 May with 20 participants from different places in greater Mymensingh district. Invitation letters have already been sent to the participants. Could you please find out how much the cost for the following would be ?

1. TA for 20 participants (list with their home addresses attached)

2. Costs for hostel rooms

3. Costs for food and refreshments

4. Costs for workshop hall/room equipped with OHP, whiteboard, etc.

Please call me if you need to know anything more. I’d be glad if you could give me the information by March 25.

Note the following aspects of the memo

1. Usually large organisations have printed memo stationery with headings such as name of organisation, Date, To, etc. However, handwritten memos are also used. In that case the name of the organisation does not have to be written.

2. A memo does not use any salutation (i.e. Dear Sir, etc.). It also does not have any complimentary ending (i.e. Yours sincerely, etc.).

3. A mema does not have to be signed. The writer just initials after his/her typed name.

However, in the case of a handwritten memo the writer usually initials it after the whole message.

 

 

Memorandums can also be written for circulating a policy/directive of an organisation. Here is a model memo written by the Executive Director of an NGO to all the employees. Read it carefully.

Project for Underprivileged People (PUP)

Date: October 14, 1998
Το : All employees
From: Hasanul Kabir Chowdhury

Subject:

Lunch at PUP Cofeteria

PUP is going to have its own cafeteria on the ground floor of Building 11 from November 1. You can have lunch there at subsidised rates. You can entertain one guest but for that you need to buy a guest coupon from the cafeteria counter.

You don’t have to pay cash for your meals. The cafeteria will maintain a register for the employees. Please make sure that they have rightly marked you present or absent for a meal. The lunch bills will be deducted from your monthly pay. If you don’t eat the cafeteria meal, you can still go there and eat your packet lunch/snacks you have brought with you.
All possible care is being taken to serve hygienic food and safe drinking water.

Write the following two memos.

(a) In A above Rudia Sheffer wrote a memo to Nazrul Islam requesting information about the costs of a 3-day workshop. Now Nazrul Islam replies also in a memo. Write the memo for Nazrul Islam. (The costs of different items don’t have to be exact. Approximate charges will do).

(b) The ABC Company paid huge telephone bills for the last 2 months. In a Board meeting some measures are suggested to check this excessive use of the company phones from the next month. Some of the measures are:

–  All officers below directors will lock their phones during their absence.

– All NWD calls will be given through reception. The Receptionist will record the phone number and the purpose of an outgoing NWD call.

 

 

– One phone at the reception will be available 24 hours for emergencies.

Now write a memo on these directives asking all the employees to follow. The writer is the Managing Director of the ABC company.

 

Today is our topic of discussion Writing a letter to the newspaper

Writing a letter to the newspaper

 

 

If you want to write to a newspaper, the topic/issue you want to write about must be of public interest. The language of the letter must be simple and clear so that it is easily understood by the general or at least by the majority of the readers. Send your letter or take it personally to the letter-to-the-editor section with a covering letter. Here is a model covering letter.

The Editor The Daily Star
House 11, Road 3
Dhanmondi R/A
Dhaka 1205

Dear Sir,
I would request you to publish the following letter in your widely- circulated daily. The letter tries to ventilate public demand for rebuilding a bridge on the only road connecting the northern unions of Sribordi thana to the district headquarters, Sherpur.

Yours faithfully
Rafiquddin Sarker
Village: Sujanpur

Thana: Sribordi
District: Sherpur

Rebuild the Sujanpur bridge

Sir,

The Sujanpur bridge has been badly damaged by the recent floods. The bridge is on the river Tenachira. It is on the district board road at Bashkanda, not very far from the thana headquarters. It was a wooden bridge which was used by all types of vehicles-trucks, buses, jeeps, cars, rickshaw-vans, rickshaws, etc and the pedestrians as well.

The transport of all sorts of agricultural and farm products from the rural areas to the district town takes place through this road. Also finished goods from towns and cities come to the local trading centres through this road. But with the flood washing away more than half of the bridge, the lifeline for many of the rural people seems to be cut off.

Though the bridge has been temporarily repaired, trucks and buses are still off the road. Light vehicles use it very cautiously. The transport of some essential goods is carried out by boat. However, this cannot go on for long. The bridge must be rebuilt.

The local people think that the bridge should be rebuilt with concrete not just repaired with wood for its sustainability and long-term benefits for the people of this area. They appeal to the concerned authority for immediate action.

Yours truly
Rafiquddin Sarker
Sujanpur

 

 

Note these words and phrases.

covering letter – a letter sent with a document, account or with goods briefly explaining the contents

ventilate (v) – make an issue or a grievance widely known

headquarters (n) – The word always ends with an ‘s’, but it can be either singular or plural. Abbreviation is HQ. e.g. The Bangladesh Biman’s headquarters is/are in Dhaka. It means a place from which an organisation is controlled.

lifeline (n) – anything on which somebody or something depends for existence

sustainability (n) – If anything lasts long it is sustainable. The quality or state of being sustainable or being alive is sustainability.

appeal (v) – make an earnert request

Write answers to these questions.

1. What does a covering letter that goes with a letter to the editor of a newspaper say?
(Cluse: identity of the writer- importance of the subject/issue- purpose)

 

 

2. Write two paragraphs- one on agricultural products and the other on a poultry- farm products which are likely to be transported from the rural areas through the Sujanpur bridge to the district headquarters and to the capital city. Mention what transport (i.e. vehicles) is used for carrying these products.

 

Today is our topic of discussion Writing a letter of request

Writing a letter of request

 

 

Read this letter carefully.

October 1998

The Project Director

DAE-DANIDA Strengthening Plant Protection Services (SPPS) Project

Plant Protection wing

Department of Agricultural Extension Khamarbari, Dhaka 1215

Dear Sir,

Supply of 4 copies of “Illustrated Guide to IPM in Rice in Tropical Asia”, published from IRRI, Philippines

VFAP is an NGO. It gives necessary training to farmers, agricultural workers coming from all over the district. Side by side with conducting training programmes, we develop extension resources and training materials. To facilitate these activities VFAP has a library which is user- friendly and has a good collection of books and journal on agriculture, especially Bangladesh agricultural extension activities.

We should be grateful if you would send us 4 copies of the above- mentioned guide for our library use. I am sure, the book will help our trainers, researchers and farmers to be acquainted with the latest IPM technology required for our agricultural development, especially in rice IPM.

May we look forward to receiving the book?

Yours sincerely

Kazi Salam Sikdar Executive Director

 

 

Note these words/expressions

DAE

Department of Agricultural Extension. This department is under the Ministry of Agriculture and is headed by a Director General.

DANIDA

Danish International Development Agencies

IPM

Integrated Pest Management. The integrated way of using insecticides (e.g. DDT) and biological control (e.g. birds used to consume locusts) is the basis of pest management.

IRRI

International Rice Research Institute in Philippines. We have BRRI (Bangladesh Rice Research Institute) at Joydebpur.

User-friendly

If anything is user-friendly, the users can easily and comfortably use it. The library is user- friendly, which means there are facilities and arrangements in the library (i.e. adequate desks, chairs, easy-to-find books and journals, proper lighting, ventilation, etc.) which help and attract people to come and work there.

We should be grateful if you would

This is a formal expression used to request services, things or information. You can also use: I would be grateful if you could… etc.

to be acquainted with

If you are acquainted with something, you know about it because you have learned it or you have experienced it.
Also you may be acquainted with a person. In that case it means you have met him or her and you know him or her.

May we look forward to receiving

The body of a request letter usually ends with this kind of expression. You may also use: I look forward to receiving……..

 

 

We look forward to your help and cooperation.
I look forward to seeing/meeting you Monday, 12 May.
We look forward to continuing our long association. (etc.).

 

Today is our topic of discussion Writing an information letter

Writing an information letter

 

 

Read this letter carefully.

Dear Penny,

It seems a long time since you left Dhaka. You might have seen on TV how Bangladesh is now in the grip of a devastating flood. Or, you must have heard or read about it in the newspapers. This flood that started in July has taken a serious turn. All the major rivers in the country are now flowing much above the danger level. Two-thirds of the country are now under water.

We cannot take our car out. The road in front of our house is under 2 to 3 feet water. Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and the eastern part of the city are the worst affected areas. We can get out of the house either by rickshaw or boat. Imagine a boat plying on a road in Gulshan or Baridhara!

The people, especially the slum dwellers and the poor, have been living in untold sufferings. However, they are getting flood relief, though I don’t know whether the relief they are getting is enough. The weather forecasts are saying that the flood waters would start receding from the 15th September. We are eagerly waiting to see that.

All for now, Penny. I hope this finds you, Peter and Laura keeping well and happy in London.
With very best wishes to you all.
Yours ever

Salma Afrin Chowdhury

 

 

Note these points

Inside address

This letter does not have an inside address, as it is not necessary in this type of informal letters. But, it may have its inside address like an official letter. However, the address of the reader comes on the envelope.

Salutation

The usual forms of salutation used in informal

Dear Kamal

letters are:

Dear Jane (Kamal, Jane, etc. are first names)

Dear Father

Dear Uncle Zahid (Father, Uncle, Aunt, etc., when used in salutation are written with the capital beginning.

Subject

You don’t have to mention the subject of an informal letter.

Body

The body of an informal letter could be of any length and on any topic of personal interest. It usually begins with telling that the writer has or has not been in touch with the reader for some time. And the writer has something to tell the reader or wants to know something from the reader.

However, the message, ideas or feelings of the writer should be expressed in simple, clear language as far as possible.
The body of the informal letter always ends with best wishes, regards, love and the like to the reader.

 

 

Ending

The following endings are used corresponding with the salutations.

 

Today is our topic of discussion Writing an official letter

Writing an official letter

 

Here is an application for a job. Read it carefully.

1. Letterhead/writer’s address – 3 Teen Aani Bazar Sherpur Town Sherpur 2100

2. Date – 20 September 1998

3. Inside address – The Director Department of Agricultural Extension Khamar Bari Farmgate, Dhaka 1215

4. Salutation – Dear Sir,

5. Subject – Field Officer

6. Body of letter – I saw your advertisement in The Daily Star yesterday for some Field Officers and would like to apply for a position.

I enclose my CV and the names and addresses of two referees.

I could come for an interview any day after 11.00am.

7. Ending – Yours faithfully

8. Signature with name – Kazi Md. Giasuddin

9. Left address on envelope – Supervisor Supervisor Non-Formal Education Programme Gonoshahajja Shangstha (GSS) Mymensingh

10. Right address on envelope – Same as the inside address

Read these notes carefully on different parts of a letter

Letterhead

If the letter-writer has a job he/she may use (for official letters) writing paper with his/her name and address printed on it. Or it could be just the writer’s address. In both the cases either just the top of the sheet or the top-right corner of the sheet could be used for this purpose.

Notice that no punctuation mark has been used in writing the address. However, a comma would be necessary to separate two names (e.g. those of a road and a town/city) if they are written on the same line. e.g. 3 Teen Aani Bazar, Sherpur Town

 

 

Date

The date could be written in different ways such as: 20th September 1998 September 20, 1998 20/9/1998
9/20/1998 (This form is usually written by the Americans or those who follow the American style).

Inside Address

In ‘Inside address’ the receiver’s name or just his/her designation with address appears. Notice the use of punctuation mark. (See 1 Letterhead under B above).

Salutation

If in ‘Inside address’ only the designation of the receiver is mention (e.g. The Director, The General Manager, The Chairman, The Principal, etc.), the salutation ‘Dear Sir/Madam’ is OK. If, on the other hand, the name of the receiver is mentioned (e.g. Mr. Abu Sadiq Khan, Professor Rokeya Khanam, Dr. Kamal Hamid Chowdhury, etc.), the salutation should be:

Dear Mr. Khan

Dear Professor Khanam

Dear Dr. Chowdhury Sometimes the form Dear Mr./Ms. Secretary or Chairperson (etc.) is used. You can put a comma (,) or a colon (:) after a salutation, e.g.

Dear Sir,/Dear Sir:

Dear Mr. Khan,/Dear Mr. Khan: Dear Ms./Mr. Coordinator: Or you can just use a salutation without any punctuation mark as shown in the model letter.

Subject

You can just write the name of the post (e.g. Field Officer, Assistant Manager, etc.), Or you can add some words to make the subject more specific (e.g. Field officer- Pirganj thana or Assistant Manager for the Marketing Division).

Body

The body of a job application should be short and precise, telling mainly about how you the applicant came to know about the post you are applying for, what papers/documents you are enclosing with the application, who will become your referee/referees and whether you are willing to come for an interview.

CV (= Curriculum Vitae) is a written account of the applicant’s education, experience and past employment. It is also called resume (rezum) in American English.

 

 

Referee: When you apply for a job your would-be employer might ask for a letter from your referee in which he/she describes your character and abilities.

Ending

The ending of a letter is related to its salutation.