Letter 1

Dear Dr....,

In reply to your letter of May 15 I am very sorry to inform you that I can be of little help to you as there are no samples available in our laboratory at present.

Again, I wish to express my regret.

Yours sincerely,

Name

Letter 2

Dear Professor...,

I have just received your letter of May 12 requesting a contribution to Archeological Review. I am extremely grateful for your kind invitation. How­ever, I am afraid I shall have to decline it, as only a small part of my work covers the subjects your journal deals with.

I express my regret once again.

\burs sincerely,

Name

Letter 3

Dear Sirs,

We are very grateful to you for sending us your catalogue and price list for laboratory equipment.

However, we are very sorry to inform you that we have to decline your offer as we are purchasing other laboratory equipment and devices at the present time.

Yours faithfully,

Name

Chief Engineer

Here are some more samples of unfavourable responses to requests:

I very much regret/I am sorry that I am unable to help you in any way. I regret very much that I am not in a position to.... I regret that it has not been possible for me to help you. Unfortunately I am unable to ....

I very much regret that I have to decline your request to contribute to.... I am very sorry that I cannot.... I am very sorry to be unable to .... I regret to inform you that I am not able to .... I must apologize to you for....

TASKS

Write a letter in which you:

1. acknowledge the receipt of a letter;

2. express regret at bang unable to amply with a request regarding the reprint of the paper...;

3. state the reason why you cannot comply with the request.

Write a letter in which you:

1. apologize for taking a long time to answer;

2. express regret that you are not in a position to deliver a series of lectures on... as circumstances confine you to your work in your laboratory;

3. ask to convey your apologies to Dr. Jones for....

4. Letters of Inquiry

A letter of inquiry asks a person to supply certain information or knowledge.

TASKS

Read the samples and note how to express inquiry.

Letter 1

Dear Colleague,

Our Institute is running a series of experiments on... According to our preliminary data we have come to the conclusion that....

Professor... of the Institute of... was kind enough to inform me of the results obtained in his laboratory. He also mentioned that you were experimenting on....

I would like very much to compare our data with those obtained by you. Would you be willing to inform me how satisfactory they have proved to be.

I am especially interested in the following questions: ………………..

I shall appreciate any information you can possibly provide and look forward to the opportunity to return the favour.

Thank you in advance for a favourable reply to my inquiry.

Yours sincerely,

Name

Letter 2

Dear Professor...,

Our laboratory intends to start a research centred on X-ray analysis of various rock structures. We are planning to investig­ate …. Meanwhile, we have started collecting literature on this subject.

With this purpose in mind we are writing to inquire whether you would be able to provide us with a list of references or with any information available.

Perhaps you can also mention some other prominent researchers en­gaged in a similar experiment to whom I may turn to with this request.

We would also like to maintain scientific collaboration with your labo­ratory and exchange data and information on research results.

We hope you will be interested in such contacts. Please accept my apo­logies for any inconvenience I have caused.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

Name

Chief of the Sander's Laboratories