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 clear registered enclose zip code post code p.p. 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 before the other 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 . 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 Is this availaible in white? No. 78/612 What is the diskount price of this for orders of over 500 peices? No.34/009 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 ( ) Apple? MacintoshTM 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, 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, Burke Sales Director