Letter 2

Dear...,

I wish to express my deep gratitude to you for your invitation to parti­cipate in the XIX International Symposium on ... to be held in … in early June 2005.

I very much regret to inform you, though, that I have to decline your invitation because our experiment is in full swing and cannot be de­layed. I am sure you can understand it.

With kind regards,

Sincerely,

Name

Letter 3

Dear Prof....,

I very much appreciate your kind invitation to participate in the VII Conference on... to be held in Oxford Unfortunately, I will be unable to attend.

Had your invitation reached me a little earlier, I would have been able to attend the Conference and meet my colleagues. But I am now com­mitted to giving a series of lectures to graduate students and cannot change the schedule.

All best wishes for a successful Conference.

Sincerely yours,

Name

Letter 4

Dear Dr....,

I was very glad to receive your letter of March 17, 2005 and to know about your intention to establish a new journal. May I wish you good luck and great success with your journal. I am grateful to you for your kind suggestion to collaborate with your journal but I am afraid I will not be able to submit articles as my field of activity has nothing in com­mon with the issues being raised in it.

However, as you requested, I have contacted some researchers who deal with these problems. They informed me of their willingness to publish their papers in your journal. Attached you will find a list of their names and addresses.

If I can be of any further help to you, please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Name

Enclosure: list of names and addresses

Here are some more samples how to decline an invitation:

Thank you for your invitation to... but I regret that I am unable to accept it as....

I am sorry to decline your kind invitation ....

It is with great regret that I have to decline your invitation to ...

I regret to inform you that I am not in a position to accept your invitation to....

I regret that I will be unable to attend the conference because of my illness.

I regret to inform you that I will be unable to attend the conference due to personal circumstances.

I regret that I cannot....

I regret I must... .

I am sorry to inform you that....

TASKS

Write a letter in which you:

1. express gratitude for the invitation to...;

2. express your regret for declining the invitation because of some circumstances.

Write a letter in which you:

1. inform the sender that you have received the letter of (the date)

2. express gratitude for the invitation to...;

3. express regret as you have to decline the 'invitation because

3. Letters of Request

A request usually consists of a request phrase, a reason for the re­quest and an expression of gratitude.

TASKS

Read the samples and notice phrases and sentences that express a request.

Letter 1

Dear Professor...,

I would be pleased to accept a 200-word abstract of your article "West Siberian Bronze Age Rock Art" for publishing in "Archeological Abstracts."

We look forward to receiving this abstract as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely, Name

Editor-in-Chief

Letter 2

Dear Professor,

Dr.... has shown me your letter requesting reprints of papers on Pro-European Policy of the UK. This is within my area of active research, and I am keenly interested in the developments of British-German relations. I am eager to know what research has been done in your country in recent years.

It would be a great honour for me to correspond with you and other researchers in your country and to exchange reprints.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Name

Laboratory of European Studies, Chief