Read the text and answer the following questions. A business letter is often the first contact that a customer has with an organization. It must therefore be well written and perfectly produced so it gives a good impression of the organization. There should be no spelling or punctuation errors. The layout or overall appearance of the letter is just as important as the message. The careful use of the space available and the correct positioning of the various parts of the letter will create a balanced appearance.

The typewriter is still the most frequently ved business machine for preparing letters. However more and more companies are using microcomputers and word-processing systems to produce their business correspondence. Both typewriters and computers use the traditional ‘QWERTY keyboard (the name coming from the first six letters on the second row). Hence, the same keyboarding skills are required. A wide range of equipment is now available. The equipment consists of a keyboard, a visual display unit (VDU), a processing unit, a disk drive and a printer. Text is not typed directly on to paper, as with a conventional typewriter, but appears on a VDU. There are two types of word processor: a dedicated system, which means that it is used only for word processing; and a microcomputer, which can be used with word- processing programs. In some offices the word processor is used simply as a glorified typewriter. Its potential and capabilities are never exploredor discovered.

1. Why should a business letter be well written and perfectly produced?
2. What impression should a business letter produce?
3. Should there be any mistakes in a business letter?
4. What should create a balanced appearance?
5. What equipment should be used to type a business letter?
6. What skills should be used to type a letter?
7. What program should a microcomputer be used with?