3. Invitation postcards

Cliches:

— We are delighted to accept …

— We look forward to joining you …

— We are sincerely happy to join you …

— Unfortunately it will be impossible for us to …

— We regret we cannot accept …

— Please accept my sincere regrets at not being able to join you for …

You are invited to a birthday party!

Date: March, 20

Time: 4 p.m.

Place: at Tom & Susan’s

Hope you can join us!

Exercise 4. Write an invitation card to your friends.

3. Informal letters

Example. ⁵

14, Acol Road.

London N. W. 6.

12^th Feb, 2005

Dear, Jane,

Thank you for your letter. It was lovely to hear from you, and yes, I’d really like to come and stay next weekend. You know how much I love spending weekends in the country after working all week in the city. I’ll catch the usual train on Friday evening.

Do you remember Harry? Well, I met him at a party the other day. He’s fine, busy as usual. We went to the theatre together and saw an amusing play by Stoppard. Anyway, I’ll give you more of my news when I see you. Must rush now because I’m going to see Jack’s new flat this evening. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Give my best wishes to Peter and the children.

Love, Pat.

Cliches to begin informal letters:

— Dear Sir (Madam, Mr. Brown, Mrs. Black, Miss Jones, Ms Jackson);

— It was lovely to hear from you.

— I was pleased to hear that …

— Thank you for your letter.

— I was sorry to hear that …

— I’m sorry I haven’t written before, but …

— This is just a note to say …

— Just a quick note to say thank you ...

— Sorry I haven’t written for so long, but I’ve been terribly busy.

Cliches to give the general news:

— I’m having a lovely time in …

— I’ve been very busy recently. Last week I … and next week I’m going to

Cliches to end the letter:

— I’m looking forward to seeing you …/ to hearing from you …

— Give my regards to your mother.

— Write to me soon. I hope to hear from you soon.

— Write and tell me when you …/ where you …

— With love, …

— Best wishes…

— Yours truly, …

— Yours faithfully, …

— Sincerely yours, …

Exercise 5. Write an informal letter to your friend.

Exercise 6. Here is an informal letter with 10 gaps. Fill in the gaps with the following linking words or phrases:

Fortunately, so, which, in my opinion, anyway, as, actually, but, at the moment, personally.

Dear Pam,

Thank you for your letter. I was astonished to hear about Sheila and David. I thought they were very happy together. … when I last saw them they were talking about having another baby, … quite surprised me … they have already got four. I feel very sorry for Sheila, but … I never liked David – too much of an intellectual.

… , you’ll be pleased to hear that Joan passed her driving test first time. … she shouldn’t be allowed on the road at all – she’s far too careless and easily distracted.

We’re having a living room decorated …, so the whole house is in a mess …, it’ll be furnished before the weekend, because we’ve got Peter’s parents coming to stay, … I’ll be busy cleaning and cooking as usual. They’re no trouble, … it would be nice to have a quite weekend for a change.

Well, I must end now. Say hello to your family. Write again soon,

Angela.

Exercise 7. Here’s a part of a letter you have just received from an English pen friend. Organize the sentences in the right order. Choose the author of the letter taking into consideration the manner of writing and write the answer with the following phrases:

— Thanks for your letter.

— We enjoyed …, too.

— I’m sorry, but I looked everywhere …, I couldn’t …

— Have you looked …?

— Perhaps you …?

— Sorry I can’t help any more.

— See you soon!

Exercise 8. The following informal letter has twenty mistakes of different kind. Correct them.

My name is Luis Gonzalez, and I come from Mexico. I born in 1951 in one small village outside Mexico City. When I was 6 years I went to the nursery school, and I enjoyed it very much. When I was 11 I’ve moved to Brazil, because my father is diplomat, so my all life I live in different countries. After school, I was for 4 years in a business college, and I got a degree in business administrarion. I working for a company that products small calculator. It’s a good work, and I’m very intresting for computors. I want to learn english because my father and I will start our own business in America soon.

Write a similar composition about yourself. Include information about:

— your background;

— your education;

— your work experience;

— countries you have been to;

— what you hope to do in the future.

Exercise 9. Here’s a part of a letter you have just received from an English pen friend. Write a letter to your friend, advising her whether to continue the course or not and giving her some reassurance.

….. I really don’t know what to do. Although I enjoy college life in general, I’m finding the work really difficult. I’m sure I won’t pass my final exams this summer. Perhaps, I should give up the course now? My parents would be furious though! What would you do if you were me?

Love Jane

Exercise 10. Write a letter to your foreign pen-friend and inform him/her about your plans of going abroad for studying. Tell him/her that you’ve made a good progress in English. You can mention the fact that you moved to a new house last week and ask your friend how she/he is doing.

Exercise 11. Write to an English friend. Give news of a recent holiday you had. Say where you went, who with, and what you did. Give some news about what you are doing at the moment, and how your family is.

Exercise 12. Invite a friend to come to stay at your house for holiday. Suggest some dates. Say what you would like to do during the holiday. Suggest how the friend could travel, and offer to meet him/her.

Exercise 13. Reply to the invitation above. Your friend has invited you to come to stay for holidays. Accept the invitation, and say thank you. Give some information about how you’ll travel, and when you expect to arrive.

Exercise 14. The parents of a friend of yours lent you their house in the country for a week. Write to them to thank them. Say how kind they were, and describe what you did during the week’s holiday.