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Файл:Основы письменной речи английского языка. Учебно-методическое пособие
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with a profoundly dissatisfied expression on his face. Suddenly he uttered an excited yelp,
reminiscent of a Pomeranian dog. I rushed to join him. He was standing in the larder in a
dramatic attitude. In his hand he was brandishing a leg of mutton!
"My dear Poirot!" I cried. "What is the matter? Have you suddenly gone mad?"
"Regard, I pray you, this mutton. But regard it closely!"
I regarded it as closely as I could, but could see nothing unusual about it. It seemed to me a
very ordinary leg of mutton. I said as much. Poirot threw me a withering glance.
"But do you not see this—and this—and this—"
He illustrated each "this" with a jab at the unoffending joint, dislodging small icicles as he
did so.
Poirot had just accused me of being imaginative, but I now felt that he was far more wildly
so than I had ever been. Did he seriously think these slivers of ice were crystals of a deadly
poison? That was the only construction I could put upon his extraordinary agitation.
"It's frozen meat," I explained gently. "Imported, you know. New Zealand."
He stared at me for a moment or two and then broke into a strange laugh.
"How marvellous is my friend Hastings! He knows everything—but everything! How do
they say—Inquire Within Upon Everything. That is my friend Hastings."…
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Lesson III. Writing an email and a letter
For most of us, email is the most common form of business communication so it‘s
important to get it right. Although emails usually aren‘t as formal as letters, they still need to be
professional to present a good image of you and your company.
1) Writing an email
Follow these five simple steps to make sure your English emails are perfectly professional.
1. Begin with a greeting
2. Thank the recipient
3. State your purpose
4. Add your closing remarks
5. End with a closing
1. Always open your email with a greeting, such as “Dear Lillian”. If your relationship
with the reader is formal, use their family name (eg. “Dear Mrs. Price”). If the relationship is
more casual, you can simply say, “Hi Kelly”. If you don‘t know the name of the person you are
writing to, use: “To whom it may concern”or “Dear Sir/Madam”.
2. Thank the recipient
If you are replying to a client‘s inquiry, you should begin with a line of thanks. For
example, if someone has a question about your company, you can say, “Thank you for
contacting ABC Company”. If someone has replied to one of your emails, be sure to
say, “Thank you for your prompt reply” or “Thanks for getting back to me”. Thanking the
reader puts him or her at ease, and it will make you appear more polite.
3. State your purpose
If you are starting the email communication, it may be impossible to include a line of
thanks. Instead, begin by stating your purpose. For example, “I am writing to enquire about
…” or “I am writing in reference to …”.
Make your purpose clear early on in the email, and then move into the main text of your
email. Remember, people want to read emails quickly, so keep your sentences short and clear.
You‘ll also need to pay careful attention to grammar, spelling and punctuation so that you
present a professional image of yourself and your company.
4. Add your closing remarks
Before you end your email, it‘s polite to thank your reader one more time and add some
polite closing remarks. You might start with “Thank you for your patience and
cooperation” or“Thank you for your consideration” and then follow up with,“If you have
any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to let me know” and “I look forward to hearing
from you”.
5. End with a closing
The last step is to include an appropriate closing with your name. “Best
regards”, “Sincerely”, and “Thank you” are all professional. Avoid closings such as “Best
wishes” or “Cheers”, “Lots of love”, “All the best” unless you are good friends with the
reader. Finally, before you hit the send button, review and spell check your email one more time
to make sure it‘s truly perfect!
2) An informal email
- When you are writing to a friend or a close colleague, it is OK to use ―smilies‖ :-) ,
abbreviations (IIRC for ―if I recall correctly‖, LOL for ―laughing out loud,‖ etc.) and
nonstandard punctuation and spelling (like that found in instant messaging or chat rooms).
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- These linguistic shortcuts are generally signs of friendly intimacy, like sharing cold
pizza with a family friend. If you tried to share that same cold pizza with a first date, or a visiting
dignitary, you would give off the impression that you did not really care about the meeting. By
the same token, don‘t use informal language when your reader expects a more formal approach.
- Always know the situation, and write accordingly.
Here is the example of a good informal email.
To:BessieProfessional
From:MorrisPonsybil
Subject: Email tips — a subject for an office workshop?
Bessie, I came across some tips on streamlining professional communications. Has anyone
volunteered to present at the office workshop next month? Let me know if you‘d like me to run a
little seminar (2o minutes?) on using email effectively. Below, I‘ll paste the table of contents. I‘ll
send you the whole thing as a PDF if you want it.
Table of Contents
1. Write a meaningful subject line.
2. Keep the message focused and readable.
3. Avoid attachments.
4. […]
a. Here the example of a more formal email
To:ProfessorBlinderson
From:m.ponsybil@gmail.com
Subject: EL227 Absence, Oct 10
Hello, Prof. Blinderson. This is Morris Ponsybil, from EL227 section 2.This morning, I just
found out that the curling team has advanced to the playoffs, so I‘m going to be out of town on
the 10th.According to the syllabus, it looks like I will miss a paper workshop and the discussion
of Chapter 10. May I email you my Chapter 10 discussion questions before I leave town? And
could I come to your office hour at 2pm on the 12th, in order to discuss the paper? I‘ve asked
Cheryl Jones to take notes for me. Thank you very much. I‘ll see you in class tomorrow.
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Exercise 1 Read the below formal business email of request about a project in an
airport from a client to an external project manager.
You will be tested in the quiz that follows on the words/phrases that
are in bold. So, from the context try to guess what both the meaning and
the purpose/use of these words/phrases are.
Dear Mr Mitchell,
I am writing in reference to the current situation with the Skipton Airport Project. We have
a number of questions which we hope you could answer.
First of all, could you please provide us with an update on where you are on the Skipton
Airport Project. We would also appreciate it if you could clarify what the current issues with the
delivery system are, and confirm when you expect them to be resolved.
In addition, at the end of our last meeting we requested a copy of the latest project update
report. Unfortunately, we have still not received it. We would appreciate it if you could forward
this to us.
Could you also please confirm whether the post-installation support covers the equipment
24 hours a day? And what is actually included in the support? In particular, we would like to
have confirmation if the cost of parts and labour are included in the package? We require this
information as soon as possible.
And lastly, we are considering extending the period of the post-installation support from
your company from 6 months to 12 months. We would be very grateful if you could provide us
with a quote for this extension.
I would really appreciate it if you could deal with these matters urgently.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Ian McAdam
Development Manager
Below is a definition/description of each of the words/phrases in bold from the
above text. Now choose the word/phrase from the question's selection box which
you believe answers each question. Only use one word/phrase once.
1. A formal way to say that before you ‗asked the person for‘ something, is…
2. A formal way to say that in an email ‗we are thinking about‘ doing something, is…
3. When you have several questions to ask, you use this to begin the first question.
4. The word used instead of ‗also‘ in formal emails.
5. A way to say ‗we want‘ politely.
6. If you ask the person to send you something by email you use…
7. A synonymic way to say ‗specifically‘ if you want some special information.
8. If you want an explanation of some word you use the verb …
9. A formal way to say that you would be pleased if they do something.
10. A type of question where you want confirmation if something will happen (or is
included) or not, is …
11. A polite phrase introducing the part of the email where you ask the person your
questions, is…
Now that you understand the vocabulary of writing a formal business email or letter of
request, practice them by writing your own business email of request with the new
words/phrases.
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3) Writing a formal letter
In the advent of email, it is becoming less and less common to write letters, but the few
letters that you will write will probably be very important ones, such as
letters for job applications (CV),
letters for questionnaires or surveys which are part of your research,
letters of complaint (to your bank manager).
It is very important, therefore, that your letters have the desired effect on the reader. In
order to achieve this, they should be:
in the correct format
short and to the point
relevant
free of any grammatical or spelling mistakes
polite, even if you‘re complaining
well presented
This guide will give some general advice on letter writing and includes some sample
letters.
If you are replying to a letter it can be a good idea to note how that letter has been
formatted and expressed.
Format
There are certain conventions that your reader will expect you to follow; if you don‘t, you
will create a bad impression.
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Here is a letter in standard format.
(Refer to the notes afterwards for explanation).
42, Greyhound Road
Perry Barr
Birmingham
B42 6HJ
Mr. E. Scrooge
The Manager
Barclay‘s Bank Ltd
113 Mammon Street
Andover
HU4 9ET
5 April 2008
Dear Mr. Scrooge,
Application for post of trainee manager
…Yours sincerely
Jane Teller
1. Your address, but not your name, usually goes in the top right hand corner. You would
not usually include your telephone number or email address here, but this would be permissible.
2. The name and address of the person you‘re writing to goes below this, on the left. If
you don‘t have a specific name, always at least try to put some sort of title. You should always,
however, address the letter to a particular person if at all possible.
3. The position of the date is more flexible. It can go on the left or the right, usually
below the addressee details. The format of the date is also flexible; it could be written 5 April
2003, 5th April 2003, 5/4/03 or 05/04/03. Avoid putting the day and month the other way round.
4. The salutation at the beginning of the letter depends on whether or not you have the
name of the person.
If you do, write Dear Mr. Ochs, Dear Mrs. Baez, Dear Miss Perhacs, or, if you don‘t know
the marital status of a woman, or if she has written this, Dear Ms. Bunyan. It is possible to write
Dear Robert Fripp or Dear Alison Statton, but many people consider this awkward. If the person
has a specific title, use this: Dear Dr. Hammill.
If you don‘t know the name of the person, you would traditionally write Dear Sir. This is
clearly somewhat sexist, so many people prefer Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Sir or Madam.
The ending of the letter depends on how you have started: see below.
5. It is common now to put the subject of the letter directly below the salutation. This
would be in bold or underlined. The purpose is to give the reader an idea of what the letter is
about before reading it, and to be able to pass it on to a more appropriate person if necessary.
If you are replying to a letter which had a reference (or ref.) on it, you should repeat this
on your letter, probably on the same line as the date, but on the other side of the page.
Write Your ref.: xxxx/xx
6. The content of your letter should be as short as possible, divided into short, clear
paragraphs.
7. It is common to end your letter with a phrase such as I look forward to hearing from
you. It‘s OK to do this, but it‘s a bit meaningless.
8. To end the letter, you would normally write Yours sincerely if you have started the
letter with the name of the person, or Yours faithfully if you have started with something like
Dear Sir.
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9. Sign you name directly below this and then print it below the signature.
Be concise and relevant
The person you are writing to may be deluged with letters and if yours is 3 sides of dense
text, then there is every possibility it will end up in the bin. Letters should take seconds rather
than minutes to read.
As a result, get straight to the point and stick to it, don‘t include any unnecessary or
supplementary information, don‘t use any flowery language or long words just for the sake of it,
and don‘t repeat too much information which may already be included in a CV, for example.
Check your grammar and spelling very carefully
Mistakes will create a very bad impression, will lessen the effect of what you‘re saying and
in the case of a job application letter, could well also consign it to the bin. So:-
use the spellchecker if you‘re using a computer check the spelling yourself, as the
spellchecker won‘t recognize incorrect use, for example, of dose and does. Use a good
dictionary.
check your grammar carefully. If it‘s been pointed out to you that you make mistakes,
look especially for these kinds of errors. Get someone else to check it for you if necessary.
check your sentences and punctuation. Are the sentences complete? Does the punctuation
help to make what you‘re saying clearer?
Don‘t rush the letter; many mistakes occur because of this. Allow plenty of time for
checking, and if necessary, for rewriting. The letter may well help to decide your future.
Use the right tone of language
It‘s important to use the right type of language, the right ‗register‘. Most letters you write
will need to be formal, but not overly so. In fact, you should use similar language to that which
you use in your academic writing. This means you should:-
avoid everyday, colloquial language; slang or jargon
avoid contractions (I‘m; it‘// etc)
avoid emotive, subjective language (terrible, rubbish etc)
avoid vague words such as nice, good, get etc
You should always be polite and respectful, even if complaining. One way of doing this in
English, which is common in formal letter writing, is to use ‗modal verbs‘ such as would, could
and should. Instead of simply writing Please send me, you could express this more formally as I
would be grateful if you could send me ... Don‘t overdo it though, and make your language too
formal or maybe old fashioned; don‘t look through a thesaurus and put in lots of unnecessarily
long words.
Having said this, British people tend to be fairly informal, even in business and academic
circles, so it is normal to start using first names at an early stage
Make sure the letter is well presented
First impressions are important, so use good quality paper, centre the letter on the page,
don‘t leave coffee stains on it, make sure you‘ve spelt the person‘s name correctly and don‘t
forget to sign it!
Some useful phrases:
I am writing to enquire about…
Could you please send me further information / details about…?
I would be very interested in finding out more about…
I am writing to complain about…
I want to express my strong dissatisfaction with…
I demand a full refund….
I expect you to send me a replacement…
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I would be grateful if you could send me a refund / replacement.
I am writing in response to/ with regard to your advertisement which appeared in the …
issue of…
I would like to apply for the position / the post of ….
I would be grateful if you could consider my application.
I hope you will be able to consider me for the position of….
Sample letter 1: Application for a job (CV)
12,KenmoreRoadLittletown
LT12 9BH
1stDecember 2001
Mr G. Sands
Fitness First
Lake Road
Littletown
LT1 5MX
Dear Mr Sands
Re: Fitness Instructor FF/32
I am writing to apply for the job of Fitness Instructor, as advertised in Thursday's Courant.
This is an ideal job for me given my enthusiasm for sport, my related experience and
qualifications.
Sport and fitness training have always been important to me, which is why I chose to take a
BTEC Diploma in Sports Science. I obtained distinctions in the Sports Anatomy & Physiology
and Sports Injuries modules last year and am confident that I will get similar marks in Exercise
Physiology, Mechanics of Sport and Sports Supervision & Management this year. I am a
confident user of Microsoft Office 2000 and have worked extensively with Fitness Publisher, a
program for analysing fitness.
As you can see from my CV, I've taken the opportunity to gain extra qualifications that
were on offer at college, which has helped me get part-time work as a pool attendant. I'm called
on to provide cover during busy times so am used to working irregular hours at short notice. I've
also run a lunchtime aerobics class at college since the start of this year.
I finish college in six weeks and am keen to find a job rather than carry on with further
full-time study. I could start any part time work or training sooner as many of my classes are
finishing and most of my assignments are done. I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Louise Longford
Sample letter 2: Business letter (information request)
Whitcomb Polytechnic
20-30 Newcastle Road
Whitcombe
Tyne and Wear
WT5 4AH
11 October 2007
The General Manager
Fukuoka Motors (UK) Ltd
PO Box 137
28
York Road
Loughton
Durham
LT3 5HD
Dear Sir
I understand from my colleague, Professor William Jones, who visited your Loughton plant
last month, that you sometimes allow groups of students to tour the factory and see for
themselves how Japanese production techniques operate in a European environment. Professor
Jones himself was most impressed by his own visit, and recommended that I write to you.
Would it be possible for a group of 20 Business Studies students - male and female, aged
between 18 and 22 - from Whitcomb Polytechnic to visit you before the end of this term, which is
on the 21 December? I realise that you must receive many requests for such visits, and that the
time available may already be booked up. If it is not, and you are able to see us, I should be most
grateful if you could suggest a date and let me know of any normal conditions you lay down for
visits of this kind.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully
B Farrant (Dr)
Senior Lecturer
Sample letter 3: Letter of complaint
96 Russel Street
Henleaze
Bristol
BS4 1 AB
10 Semptember 2006
Customer Service Dept.
Cheap-O Stores Ltd.
52 Stroud Road
Gloucester
GL2 8LO
Dear Sir or Madam
I am writing to complain about the goods and service in one of your supermarkets.
Last Saturday, I visited my local Cheap-O Supermarket in Bristol to buy groceries, which
you advertised as being extremely good value. However, most products were being sold at a
price much higher than in other shops, and when I got home, I also found out that nearly all the
dairy products I had bought were past their sell-by dates. I think overpriced food that has gone
off is anything but good value.
When I returned to the shop to make a complaint, I was told that the dairy shelves had
been checked that morning and that all the products were fresh. They also claimed I had bought
the products in a different shop, and refused to give me a refund.
I am very disappointed, and expect you to take some action immediately. I am enclosing a
copy of the receipt for my purchases, for which I am expecting a full refund. .If I do not hear
from you within 14 days, I will contact the Food Standards Agency with my complaint.
I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully
Doris Stapelton (Mrs)
Exercise 1. Test yourself:
1. You can start your letter: ''I am writing __ your letter of...''
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as regards
with reference to
2. If you are following up after a phone call, you could write:
Following our telephone conversation of this morning...
Further our telephone conversation this morning...
3. If someone has asked you for (e.g. a brochure) you can write in your letter:
As you asked for, I am enclosing a brochure...
As you requested, I am enclosing a brochure
4. You are writing to all your customers to give them some important information.
You start your letter:
Please advise that...
Please be advised that...
5. If you are writing to ask for something, you could write:
I would appreciate for your advice
I would be grateful for your advice
6. If you are asking your reader to do something, you could ask:
I would appreciate if you could...
I would appreciate it if you could...
7. If you are including something with your letter (a brochure or a price list, for
example) you can write:
Enclosed is...
Enclosing is...
8. To refer to a future meeting, you can write:
I look forward to see you on (date)
I look forward to seeing you on (date)
9. A standard way to end your letter is to offer help. You can write:
''Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of any further assistance.''
''If you would like any further help, please to contact me.''
10. If you want someone to act immediately, you can write:
''Please (confirm / contact me, etc) at your earliest convenience.''
''Please (confirm / contact me) immediately.''
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