Unit 2 Letters, faxes and memos
2.1 It’s in the mail
Choose the missing words from the box. The first one is done for you as an example.
memorandum
courier
pencil
reference
registered
enclose
zip code
post code
acknowledge printer
stationery
word-processed
1. A clear
layout is important in a letter.
2. I
a cheque for ￡19.99.
3. An urgent document may be sent by
instead of by mail.
4. Your ref. is short for Your
.
5. Remember to put the
on a letter to the USA.
6. Remember to put the
on a letter to the UK.
7. If you sign a letter on someone else's behalf, add the letters
person's name.
8. We
receipt of your letter.
9. That flashing light means the
is out of paper.
10. Letters used to be typed, but now they are
11. Paper, envelopes, paper clips, etc. are all items of
.
12. Memo is short for
.
13. If you make notes in
you can erase them easily.
14. Valuable items can be sent by
mail.
15. This unit is all about
.
clear
p.p.
before the
other
2.2 Can you tell me how to spell that?
A. Look at the pairs of words below: one word in each pair or wrongly spelt, the other
correctly spelt.
Decide which spellings are correct and underline the correct ones.
B. Play the recording and PAUSE it after each number. Then spell the correct word out
loud, like this:
Recorded voce: one.
YOU—PAUSE the recording then speak: A-C-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E—then release PAUSE.
Recorded voice giving model answer: Acknowledge: A-C-K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E.
1 acknowlege acknowledge
2 accommodation accommodation
3 aquire acquire
4 across across
5 adress address
6 altogether altogether
7 approximatively approximately
8 independent independent
9 itinerery itinerary
10 permanent permanent
11 pronounciation pronunciation
12 received received
13 reccomend recommend
14 recipient recipient
15 separate separate
2.3 Correcting spelling and punctuation mistakes
A. This extract has 13 spelling mistakes. Find the mistakes and correct them.
Dear Madame,
Thank you very much for your letter and the inclosed literature, wich
we recieved on Thursday 7 July. The infomation it contained was
quiet interesting and we would like futher details on several produkts
in the cataloge:
No. 44/77
No. 78/612
No.34/009
Is this availaible in white?
What is the diskount price of this for orders of over
500 peices?
Is this compatable with your 55/88 device?
B. This extract has several punctuation mistakes. Find the mistake and correct them.
I am afraid, that we have not been able to contact you by telephone
My secretary called throughout the day yesterday at half
hourly-interval’s but was told that you were not available"; please
contact me personally as soon as possible. Because we need to check
a number of detail’s in your order?
You can reach me by telephone at any time this afternoon or
tomorrow morning. Our office hours’ are 8.30 to 5 you can leave a
message for me, to call you back if necessary.
2.4 Abbreviations
1. Just as Rd is short for Road , St are short for
and
2. 12/7/99 means
1999 in Britain but it means
1999 in America.
3. #24 in the USA and No.24 in Britain both mean
24.
4. On an envelope c/o means
and Attn means that the letter is for the
of a
particular person.
5. In a report or textbook eg means
, ie means
and etc.or etc stands for
6. A British firm’s name may be followed by the abbreviation plc or PLC (short for
),
Ltd (
) or & Co. (
).
7. An American firm’s name may be followed by Corp. (
) or Inc.(
).
8. If you buy something by mail order the price may not include p&p (
) and
VAT(
).
9. At the end of a business letter you may see the abbreviations c.c. (
), enc. or encl.
(
). But only an informal letter would have a P.S. (
) at the end.
10. What do these abbreviations stand for?
@ ￥3,000 ea.
© Cambridge University Press 2000 (
)
TM
Apple® Macintosh
WYSIWYG
2.5 Make a good impression
We think that you’ll agree that this letter doesn’t make a very good impression on the
reader.
1 Decide what parts can be improved to give a better impression.
2 Rewrite the letter in your own words.
3 Compare your version with the letter in the Answer Key.
Dear Mr Brown,
What an unexpected pleasure to hear from you after all this time! We
thought you must have forgotten us since you placed your previous order
with us two years ago.
May I tale this opportunity of enclosing for your attention our new
catalogue and price lists. One of he things you’ll probably notice is that all
the prices have gone up by 15% since your last order but still, never mind,
everyone else’s have gone up too – even yours I expect! Nevertheless, for
your current order, we shall be delighted to supply you at the old price, so
you’re quite lucky.
Oh, and another thing, I nearly forgot: you can contact us by fax if you feel
like it. The number is 998321, all right?
So, there we are, nice to be writing to you again.
Yours faithfully,
A. Burke
Sales Director
References
2.1 It’s in the mail
1. clear
2. enclose
3. courier
4. reference
5. zip code
6. post code
7. p.p.
8. acknowledge
9. printer
10. word-processed
11. stationery
12. memorandum
13. pencil
14. registered
2.2 Can you tell me how to spell that?
The correct spellings are given in the recording:
In the odd-numbered sentences, the second spelling is correct.
In the even-numbered sentences, the first spelling is correct.
Make sure you can spell the words out loud easily and fluently, and not just write them correctly.
2.3 Correcting spelling and punctuation mistakes
A. These are the 13 spelling mistakes:
Madam enclosed which received information quite further
products catalogue or catalog available discount pieces
compatible
B. The punctuation mistakes have been corrected here.
I am afraid that we have not been able to contact you by telephone. My secretary called
throughout the day yesterday at half-hourly intervals but was told that you were "not available".
Please contact me personally as soon as possible because we need to check a number of details in
your order.
You can reach me by telephone at any time this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Our office hours
are 8.30 to 5. You can leave a message for me to call you back if necessary.
2.4 Abbreviations
1. Street Square
2. 12th July，7th December
3. number
4. care of attention
5. for example that is
and so on (et cetera)
6. public limited company
Limited
and Company
7. Corporation Incorporated
8. postage and packing
value added tax
9. carbon copy
enclosed/enclosures postscript
10. at 3,000 yen each
copyright
registered trade mark
trade mark
`What you see is what you get'
2.5 Make a good impression
This improved version of Mr Burke's letter shows just one way the letter could be written -many variations are possible.
Dear Mr Brown,
Thank you very much for your order.
Unfortunately, in common with other suppliers, our prices have risen since you placed an order
with us two years ago, but you will be pleased to hear that we will supply your current order at the
old price.
1 enclose our new catalogue and price lists, which contain several exciting new products and our
latest prices.
I will keep you fully informed about the progress of your order. If you would like to get in touch
with me urgently, our new fax number is 998321 or, of course, you may prefer to phone me.
Yours sincerely,
A. Burke
Sales Director