“简洁”是有客观标准的。虽然西方国家的作者之间在怎样用词才算“简洁”方面还是有争论的，不过他们的一些看法还是有一定参考价值的。
现在把他们所做的某些词句的“不简洁”的比较列在下面做参考：
下面是某些作者认为“应该用”和“不应该用”的：
不应该用 应该用
Averting to your favor Referring to your letter
Re (your letter) or
The writer wishes to acknowledge Thank you for your letter
We are in receipt of We have received
We beg to acknowledge We are writing to inform you
We have to acknowledge
We beg to inform you
We beg to thank you We thank you
Your letter to hand We have received your letter
Yours to hand
怎样才能使商业书信“简洁”？ 西方国家作者有很多建议，先介绍如下：
（一） 避免使用陈旧的商业术语
陈旧的与传统的商业术语（Commercial jargon）对信的内容没有什么作用，应该避免使用。
例一：
Wordy: We wish to acknowledge receipt of your letter of November 14 with the check for Stg.10 enclosed and wish to thank you for same.
Concise: We appreciate your letter of November 14 and the check for Stg. 10 you sent with it.
例二：
Wordy: We take liberty to approach you with the request that you would be kind enough to introduce to us some exporters of cotton textiles in your cities.
