Business English Expressions

Business English Expressions

by ESL on September 6, 2011

The following discourse markers are common in a formal style. Note that a discourse marker usually comes at the beginning of a clause.

With reference to
Talking of / speaking of
Talking about / speaking about
Regarding
As regards
As far as … is concerned
As for

With reference to is a very formal expression. It is mainly used at the beginning of business letters.

With reference to your letter of 19 August, we are pleased to inform you that…

Regarding can come at the beginning of a piece of discourse.

Regarding these sales figures, I don’t think they are worth bragging about.

As regards and as far as…is concerned is used to announce a change of subject by the speaker or writer.

There are no problems about production. Now as regards marketing, I think we need to be more aggressive.
As far as marketing is concerned, I think the best approach is …

People sometimes leave out is concerned after as far as… This is usually considered incorrect.

As far as the implementation of this plan is considered, I think we ought to be more careful. (NOT As far as the implementation of this plan, I think we ought to be more careful.)

As for can often suggest a lack of interest.