II. Business Letter Vocabulary Quiz
1) Before you seal and send your letter, make sure to …. it.
a) punctuation b) proofread c) sensitive d) transition
2) As soon as your certified letter reaches the ….. you will be notified.
a) recipient b) margin c) logo d) salutation
3) Choose ….. if you want to put the date and closing in the center of the page.
a) justified b) modified block format c) block format d) spelling
4) Set off the list of "Do's and Don'ts" by using ….
a) body b) letterhead c) bullets d) formal
5) The envelope indicated that there was ….. , but in fact there was only a letter inside.
a) an enclosure b) a sender c) a salutation d) an indent
6) The ….. of the first paragraph was optimistic, so I wasn't expecting the bad news in the middle.
a) tone b) active voice c) direct mail d) punctuation
7) I decided not to interview her, because her cover letter contained very poor ….. .
a) notation b) block format c) single spacing d) grammar
8) The ….. about the meeting was posted on the bulletin board for everyone to read.
a) memo b) heading c) sender d) junk mail
9) Our address and phone number are shown on our ….. .
a) letterhead b) snail mail c) postage d) salutation
10) In block text format, you do not …… each paragraph.
a) indent b) transit c) punctuation d) margin
(Answers: 1) b 2) a 3) b 4) c 5) a 6) a 7) d 8) a 9) a 10) a )
Step 1 “Enquiry”
I. What do you think an inquiry is? Choose the items, which in your opinion could be the purposes of writing an inquiry:
· to get detailed information about the goods
· to find out the availability of goods
· to define delivery dates
· to get information about terms and discounts, method of transportation and insurance
· to ask for information about prices of goods
· to ask for catalogues and samples of goods
II. Read the letter.
| Date Name/Title Business/Organization Address City, Zip Code Dear Name: When we attended the International Electronics Trade Fair in London last month, we visited your stand and saw a very interesting demonstration of your automatic high-security garage doors. The ability to drive straight in and out of your garage from the comfort of your car, as well as your emphasis on theft protection, appealed to us. We believe that there is a ready market for this in the United States. Our company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the international Zetax Corporation, well-known in the security and theft prevention industry. Would you please send us your current sales literature and price list? Of course, we will be glad to provide the usual credit and trade references if we decide to order from your company. We look forward to your reply. Sincerely yours, Signature Name |
Put the parts of an inquiry-letter in the order to get its correct structure:
- the essence of the question
- short information about your company
- reference to the source of information about this company and its goods
- expressing hope for the future co-operation
1) ___________________________________
2) ___________________________________
3) ___________________________________
4) ___________________________________
III. Read the useful phrases for an inquiry-letter, translate them and think what part of a letter they could be used in:
- If your prices are competitive (the samples meet the standards, your equipment complies with our requirements, etc.) we may be able to let you have regular orders.
- We look forward to your early reply.
- Your prompt answer would be appreciated.
- We read your advertisement in …
- With regard to your advertisement in … of …, we would ask you …
- We have heard of your products from …
· We have seen your current catalogue showing …