Learn English Grammar

Letter of condolence

2008-05-08T09:04:00.001-05:00

1655 Maple Street
Redwood, California 92345
March 20, 2008

Dear Professor Wood,
I have just had a letter from my sister, Angela Blue, telling me about your wife’s illness, and her death last month. I wanted to let you know how sad my husband and I were to hear the news, and to send you our sympathy in your grief.
During our undergraduate days, your house was always a center of warmth and kindness for us, as well as a place for eager discussions of ideas. It meant a great deal to young people away from home to find a welcome by your fireside. And the love that was so evident between you and Mrs. Wood set a sort marriage ought to be. Jim and I will always be grateful for that. We hope your memories of such a long and happy marriage will be some comfort at this difficult time.

Sincerely yours,

Helen Simpson

Letter of congratulation (less formal)

2008-05-08T08:59:00.001-05:00

Dear John and Betty,

We were so pleased to have the announcement of the birth of Emily Frances. We hope to come see her as soon as Betty returns home and feel like having visitors again. Meanwhile, we are mailing a small present to welcome the little newcomer.
Good wishes for a long and happy life for new baby.

Affectionately,

Jane and Harry wills

Letter of Congratulation

2008-05-08T08:50:00.002-05:00

1645 Maple Street
Redwood, California 92345
March 20, 2008

Dear Professor Houghton,
I read about your promotion to full professorship in the Alumni News. Congratulations! I’ve been meaning to write and tell you how much I enjoyed your book on James Madison, which I read last winter. Some of my lawyer friends have read and admired it, and I was proud to be able to say that I had studied with you at the university.
My law practice is coming along well, and my family, too. We have two boys and a girl, all in grade school. Angela is very active in community organizations, and so the parliamentary practices you taught us have been put to use.
Angela joins me in wishing all the best to you and Mrs. Houghton.

Yours very sincerely,

Charles Mathews
( Class of 2004 )

Invitation Letter

2008-05-08T08:46:00.000-05:00

Example of A formal Wedding invitation

Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Allan Walker
Request the honor of your presence
At the wedding of their daughter
Mary Angela Walker
To
Mr. John C Edgerton
On Saturday, February Fourteenth,
Two thousand and eight
At half past four o’clock
In the First Lutheran Church
Little Falls, Virginia

Reception immediately following the ceremony
Sycamore Knolls Country Club
Sycamore Drive
Little Falls, Virginia
R.S.V.P.
101 Essex Street
Little Falls, Virginia
Telephone 999-0030

Types of Letters

2008-05-08T08:41:00.002-05:00

Letters are of several different kinds, and each has its own over-all rules for content and style

Personal letters

Personal letters are those that concern the writer as an individual person, not as an officer in an organization, a seller or purchaser, a client or a dispenser of professional services. Personal letters range in formality from intimate to very formal, since people have relationships of many kinds in their lives.
Intimate letters do not follow ordinary rules, since they are the expression of private thoughts and feelings between people who are closely related in life. Just as people who are limited who are intimate with each other don’t pay a great deal of attention to formal rules of etiquette, intimate letters are not bound by many rules. In general, an intimate letter can contain anything that would be said in conversation by the writer to the addressee.
Letters dealing with personal matters that are exchanged between people not intimately related in life might be called social letters. These letters vary in formality. Since some personal relationships are less formal than others. In social letters, attention must be paid to the rules of polite conversation, and the writer must be careful to make appearance of his letter conform to certain standards. Some social communications, which we will call formal letters, are so stereotyped that they follow very rigid rules in their wording format. Examples are invitations to important social affairs and formal weddings. They may be handwritten, but most often they are printed or engraved in a number of copies and sent out to many people at a time.

Business letters

Business letters make up by far the larger pat of the letters written and mailed today. These letters deal with matters of an impersonal, official, or public nature, as contrasted with personal letters, which deal with private matters. The writer and addressee of a business letter may or may not know each other socially; this fact is irrelevant, since matter being discussed is presumably not affected by relationship. Business letters are quite often written to persons with whom the writer is not acquainted at all, even by name, and with whom he has no need or desire to become acquainted.
Business letters are of many different kinds, and their level of formality varies according to the particular circumstances and the type of relationship that exist between the writer and the addressee. (They could be brothers, for instance, writing about the sale of a piece of property; or they might be total strangers, like a member of the public writing to a government official.) However, they all have in common an objective quality that is lacking in personal letters: their purpose is to get or give information, to obtain something that one wants from someone else, to persuade or to negotiate.

A business letter may be private or official. In a private business letter, the writer is speaking for himself or on his own behalf. ( An example of this type of letter would be one written to one’s personal lawyer.) In official business or some other kind of organization; usually, he does not speak on his own behalf but on behalf of the organization he represent, in official correspondence he is more likely to say “we” or “us”.
When business letters are exchanged between people who know each other personally, the language often becomes a great deal less formal than in ordinary business letters, and occasional personal remarks are included, like “regards to your wife,” or “I hope your cold is better.” These touches, however, do not negate the impersonal nature of the communication; they are just bits of courtesy such as would be said in face-to-face business conference
Other than the variations on formality just mentioned, business letters vary little except in the content-the substance of the letter, the matter being discussed.

Types of Letters

2008-03-26T04:17:00.002-06:00

Letters are of several different kinds, and each has its own over-all rules for content and style

Personal letters

Personal letters are those that concern the writer as an individual person, not as an officer in an organization, a seller or purchaser, a client or a dispenser of professional services. Personal letters range in formality from intimate to very formal, since people have relationships of many kinds in their lives.

Intimate letters do not follow ordinary rules, since they are the expression of private thoughts and feelings between people who are closely related in life. Just as people who are limited who are intimate with each other don’t pay a great deal of attention to formal rules of etiquette, intimate letters are not bound by many rules. In general, an intimate letter can contain anything that would be said in conversation by the writer to the addressee.

Letters dealing with personal matters that are exchanged between people not intimately related in life might be called social letters. These letters vary in formality. Since some personal relationships are less formal than others. In social letters, attention must be paid to the rules of polite conversation, and the writer must be careful to make appearance of his letter conform to certain standards. Some social communications, which we will call formal letters, are so stereotyped that they follow very rigid rules in their wording format. Examples are invitations to important social affairs and formal weddings. They may be handwritten, but most often they are printed or engraved in a number of copies and sent out to many people at a time.

Business letters

Business letters make up by far the larger pat of the letters written and mailed today. These letters deal with matters of an impersonal, official, or public nature, as contrasted with personal letters, which deal with private matters. The writer and addressee of a business letter may or may not know each other socially; this fact is irrelevant, since matter being discussed is presumably not affected by relationship. Business letters are quite often written to persons with whom the writer is not acquainted at all, even by name, and with whom he has no need or desire to become acquainted.

Business letters are of many different kinds, and their level of formality varies according to the particular circumstances and the type of relationship that exist between the writer and the addressee. (They could be brothers, for instance, writing about the sale of a piece of property; or they might be total strangers, like a member of the public writing to a government official.) However, they all have in common an objective quality that is lacking in personal letters: their purpose is to get or give information, to obtain something that one wants from someone else, to persuade or to negotiate.

A business letter may be private or official. In a private business letter, the writer is speaking for himself or on his own behalf. ( An example of this type of letter would be one written to one’s personal lawyer.) In official business or some other kind of organization; usually, he does not speak on his own behalf but on behalf of the organization he represent, in official correspondence he is more likely to say “we” or “us”.

When business letters are exchanged between people who know each other personally, the language often becomes a great deal less formal than in ordinary business letters, and occasional personal remarks are included, like “regards to your wife,” or “I hope your cold is better.” These touches, however, do not negate the impersonal nature of the communication; they are just bits of courtesy such as would be said in face-to-face business conference
Other than the variations on formality just mentioned, business letters vary little except in the content-the substance of the letter, the matter being discussed.

Direct and Indirect Speech

2008-03-24T03:31:00.008-06:00

At 09:00 Rick Spivak's bank telephoned and said his credit card payment was late. "the cheque is in the mail," Rick replied quickly. At 11:45 Rick left for 12:00 meeting across town. Arriving late, Rick told his client that traffic had been bad. That evening, rick's financee wore a new drees. Rick hated it."it looks just great on you," he said.
Three lies in one day! Yet Rick just an ordinary guy. each time, he told himself that sometimes the truth causes too many problems. Most of us tell white lies, harmless untruths that help u to avoid trouble. These are our four most frequent reason:

To get something more quickly or to avoid unpleasant situation. " I have to have that report by 5:00 today,"or" i tried to call you but your line was busy".
To appear more acceptable to a new friend or to feel better about yourself. " I run a mile every day",or " I'm looking better better these days."
To make a polite excuse " I'd love to go to your party, but i have to work".
To protect someone else's feelings. "That tie looks great on you".

Is telling lies a new trend? The majority of people in a recent survey said that people were more honest ten years ago. Nevertheless, lying wasn't really born yesterday. In the eighteen century. the French philosopher Vauvenargues told the truth about lying when he wrote " All men are born truthful and die liars".
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Grammar Presentation

Direct Speech ( also called "Quoted Speech")

Subject Reporting Verb Direct Statement

"The cheque is in the mail"
He Said "The dress looks good on You"
"The traffic was bad"

...or, you may change the construction..it'll goes like...

Direct Speech SubjectReporting Verb

"The cheque is in the mail"
"The dress looks good on You" He Said
"The traffic was bad"

Please look at the yellow-bold-typed words above..and compare them with Indirect speech bellow

Subject Reporting Verb Noun/PronounIndirect Speech

His ClientThe cheque was in the mail
He toldAnn(that)The dress looked good on her
HerThe traffic had been bad
_______________________

Said

Notes

Speech my be reported in two ways..Direct speech and Indirect speeh or we also call them as
quoted Speech and Reported Speech..

Direct speech state the excact words that speaker used in speech. In writing, there should be put quotation marks at before and after the speech you are quoting.
look at these example

He said,"The cheque is in the mail."
She told him,"I like that shoes."

Prefer another construction

"The cheque is in the mail",he said.
"I like that shoe",she told him.

In reported speech, we report what the speaker ssid without using the exact words. in this case, the word that can introduce indirect speech.

He said the cheque was in the mail
She told him that she liked the shoes

Remember do not put a quotation mark when writing indirect speech as in direct speech.

Ok Let's have alook on the third table above (indirect speech). The are told (tell) and said (say). Remember. Do not use the verb told(tell) when the listener is not mentioned.

direct speech "I'm sorry to be late,"Rick told Ann.

Indirect speech Rick told her He was sorry to be late .

We use told here because the Her as the listener is mentioned.
Otherwise.

Rick said he was sorry to be late.
NOT Rick told he was sorry to be late.

In indirect speech the verb tense change is optional when reporting:

something someone has just saidA: The cheque is in the mail
B: What did you say?
A: I said the cheque is in the mail
or
I said the cheque was in the mail.

something that is still trueRick said the Bank wants the cheque
or
Rick said the bank wanted the cheque

a general truth or scientific lawProf. Rick told the students that the water freezes at 0 Celcius degree.
or
Prof. Rick told the students that the water froze at 0 Celcius degree