Company to Company Teachers Book

Unit 1

1B Activity section: Misplaced orders

1 Slembrouck BV, a wholesaler in Belgium, has problems. Business is not good and their profits have fallen. They have dismissed a lot of staff and now their offices are very badly organised. Here are some orders that their sales representative brought back after a trip to England.

•a) What has ABC (Drink Machines) Ltd ordered?

b)Who ordered the shampoo?

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wholesaler a business that buys goods in large quantities direct from the manufacturer and then sells them in smaller quantities to shops, etc.

IB Activity sec

2The accounts department made out these invoices for two of the orders.

•a) Are they correct?

• SLEMBROUCK B.V

Violetstraal 187, B-1000 Brussel,

Invoice No. 391

Order No. 256

b) Look at the invoices again.

i) If the Court Hotel wants to write to Slembrouck BV, who will they address the letter to?

ii)How will they open the letter? (Dear ...)

iii)What subject heading will they put?

iv)If they want to ask Slembrouck BV to deliver the order as soon as possible, how will they start the letter? (... above-mentioned ...)

v)How will they end the letter? (Yours ...)

vi)If ABC (Drink Machines) Ltd wants to send a similar letter, what will

they write?

3Slembrouck BV has now delivered the orders to the Court Hotel and ABC (Drink Machines) Ltd. Unfortunately, there are some problems and both the Court Hotel and ABC Ltd have to write to complain.

In three groups, you must write the correspondence between Slembrouck BV, the Court Hotel and ABC (Drink Machines) Ltd. The role cards at the back of the book will help you but you must decide exactly what to write.

You must write neat, clear business letters. Remember to:

—put the date

—write to a particular person if you have his/her name

—use a subject heading

—thank the person for any letter they have sent you

—use 'Yours sincerely/faithfully' correctly

—sign the letter with your name and title.

When you have written a letter and delivered it to the correct group, you will be given a new role card number.

If you are Slembrouck BV, look at role card 59.

If you are ABC (Drink Machines) Ltd, look at role card 30.

If you are the Court Hotel look at role card 2.

UNIT 2

2A Study section: parts of a letter, beginning and ending

2.1 Interfon looks for new agents

Interfon, Inc., USA, is looking for new business so they sent a letter to their bank' branch in Bahrain. They received the reply shown.

•1 What differences are there between the layouts of the two letters? 2 How can Eastern Bank help Interfon?

INTERFON INC.

Gentlemen:

We are writing to inquire about agents for our products in Bahrain. Your branch in Orlando, Florida, has told us that you may be able to help us.

We are a large manufacturer of radio telephones. At present, we export to Europe and Latin America, but we would like to start exporting to the Arabian Gulf.

Robert J. Winston

Export Division

enc

2A Study section

2.2Arabian Electronics replies

Sometime later, Interfon received this letter from Arabian Electronics. They wrote back straight away.

Arabian Electronics

Your rei. RW:jd

Our ref. MAJ/yb

We are interested in importing radio telephones and we would like to receive some more information. Please could you confirm that the prices in your catalogue are still correct.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely

M A Al Jalahma

Managing Director

PO Box 26180. Manama. Bahrain, Tel 2564 73, Tlx 9452 AEEE

onfirm repeat, say that something is correct

Dear Mr. Al Jalahma:

Agents in Bahrain

Thank you for your letter dated March 3.

I am pleased to send you some of our brochures under separate cover. I can confirm that the prices in our catalog are correct until the end of December.

I am visiting the Middle East soon and I will contact you again shortly to arrange a demonstration of our products.

Meanwhile, please do not hesitate to contact me lr you have any further questions.

Best Regards,

Robert J. Winston

Export Division

hesitate delay because you are not sure

2.3 Parts of a letter

Most letters have three parts.

Dear ...

An opening

This says why you are writing.

The main message

This gives the details.

The close

This usually talks about the future.

Yours faithfully/sincerely etc.

• 1 Look back at 2.1 and 2.2. Find the three parts in each letter. Each part is usually a separate paragraph but the main message can be more than one paragraph if you are writing about more than one subject.

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2Look at 2.1 and 2.2 again. Which letter has more than one paragraph in the main message? What is the subject of each paragraph?

2.4Beginning a letter

Here are some ways to begin a letter.

We are writing to enquire about...

We are writing in connection with ...

We are interested in ... and we would like to know

•1 How would you start these letters?

a)You want to know the prices of some air conditioners.

b)You saw an advertisement in the newspaper yesterday and you want further information.

c)You want to know if the company you are writing to organises holidays to Africa.

If you are answering a letter, you can start:

2How would you start your reply in these situations?

a)A company wrote to you on 23 July. They wanted to know if you sell photocopiers.

b)A man wrote to you on 18 December. He wanted employment with your company. He also sent his curriculum vitae.

c)A company sent you a telex on 3 June. They wanted to know if you were going to the marketing conference in London.

d)A lady telephoned you this morning. She wanted to know if her order No. 599 had arrived.

2.5Ending a letter

Here are some ways to end a letter.

I look forward to receiving your reply/order/products/etc.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

If you gave some information in the letter, you can close:

I hope that this information will help you.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any further information. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions.

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Unit 2

2.6 Practice

Here are the main messages from four letters. Choose the correct beginning and ending from sentences (a)—(h) on page 19 and then add 'Yours faithfully/sincerely' or 'Best wishes'.

I am sorry that I was not in the office when you rang, but here is the information that you wanted. The address of our branch in Singapore is 54 Liu Fang Rd, Jurong Town, Singapore 2262. The manager is Mr S Rushford.

2A Study secti

Dear Ms Wilson

I would be very happy to-meet you in my office on the day you suggested, 1 August, at 11 a.m.

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F G Bending

R e p r e s e n t a t i v e , South E a s t Asia

a)Thank you for your telephone call today, enquiring about our prices.

b)Looking forward to seeing you,

c)Thank you for your letter of 16 February, concerning Arabian Electronics.

d)I look forward to receiving your order.

e)Thank you for your telephone call today.

f)Thank you for your telex of 18 July, concerning your forthcoming visit to Hon Kong.

I hope that this information will help you.

h)Please feel free to contact me if you need any information about our other branche:

2.7 Letter practice

1 Write a letter to Data Services Ltd, 57 West Road, Paxton, PX3 7JA. You want word processor and you woud like to know if they rent them. You need a smal machine with a very good quality printer. Follow this plan-

~ Dear ...

-Open the letter. Say what you are writing about.

-Tell them exactly what you need.

-Close the letter.

-Yours ...

-Sign it with your name and title (Office Manager).

Calle Dia 2361

Jardines del Bosque

Sec. Juarez

Guadalajara

Mexico

8 September 1987

The Personnel Manager

Provincial Assurance Co

Ave. de la Reforma 456

Mexico D. F.

Dear Sir

I am writing to enquire if there are any vacancies in your office for a bilingual secretary (Spanish-English).

I have over ten years' experience in office work, including four years with the National Bank of Mexico. At present, I am working for Automoviles Mexicanos in Guadalajara but I will soon move to Mexico City to live.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully

Ms Miriam Montilla

Follow this plan:

-Dear ...

-Open the letter. Say what you are writing about.

-Ask her to send you her CV (Please could you ... ) . Tell her why you want it.

-Close the letter.

-Yours ...

-Sign it with your name and title (Personnel Manager).

1 Jun Mizuno is. a representative of Nagakura Ltd, a manufacturer of electrical equipment. He is planning a trip to South East Asia to visit some customers there. He wants to visit Leefung Plastics Ltd, who have their head office in Hong Kong and a subsidiary in Singapore. Here are the letters that he wrote to make appointments.

•a) How exactly does he say that he wants to meet the addressees?

b)What information does he want from Leefung in Singapore?

c)How exactly does he ask for the information?

Your ref

Our ref JM/st/43Z

I am now planning my forthcoming trip to South East Asia and I would be very pleased if we could meet to discuss the new range of Nagakura products.

I hope to be in Hong Kong between March 12-13. Would it be convenient to visit you on March 12 at 11.00am?'

I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully

Jun Mizuno

Technical Sales

International Relations Section

Leefung Plastics (International) Ltd

Dear Sirs

I hope you have now received my letter of January 12, concerning my forthcoming trip to Hong Kong.

I would be very grateful if, in your reply to that letter, you could give me the address of your office in Bangkok and the name of the manager.

Looking forward to seeing you,

Yours faithfully

Jun Mizuno

Technical Sales

d)What would Jun Mizuno write if he wanted to do the following?

i)have dinner with the addressee

ii)invite the addressee to try out a new product

e)What would he write if he wanted to know the following?

i)the name of a good hotel

ii)the distance from the airport to the city centre

2Just after he sent the letter to Leefung Plastics Ltd in Hong Kong he remembered tha he needed some more information so he sent them the following letter.

•How does he mention the letter he has already sent?

Jun Mizuno is now waiting for replies from Leefung Plastics (International) Ltd in Hong Kong and Leefung Plastics (Singapore) Ltd. In three groups, you must write the correspondence between them. The role cards at the back of the book will give you some information but you must decide exactly what to write. Remember to write

appropriate, subject headings.

information:

jf you are Nagakura Ltd, see role card 60.

f you are Leefung Plastics (International) Ltd, see role card 27. « you are Leefung Plastics (Singapore) Ltd, see role card 3.

3 A Study section

to advise you that we are now able to reduce the price of our Peach computers by 10%. This is due to the recent fall of the US dollar.

We look forward to receiving your order.

Yours sincerely

J Hutton

Sales Manager

• What do the writers say when they want to:

a refer to the last time that they contacted each other? b) give some good or bad news?

c)give a reason?

3.2Referring

Here are some ways to introduce the subject of the letter.

With reference to ...,

Further to ...,

With regard to ...,

I am writing in connection with

Unit 3

•How would you start a letter about each of the following?

a)an invoice (No. 679) for a photocopier

b)a meeting you had with the addressee on Jan. 16th

c)an advertisement in The Times newspaper

d)an application for a post as secretary in your company

e)a telex order for six typewriters that you received today

3.3 Giving good/bad news

We regret that ...

• Complete these sentences using phrases for referring and giving good or bad news.

3.4 Saying what you can and cannot do

We are unable to ...

We are able to ...

We have been forced to ..

•A company has written to you to ask you to reduce your prices and to ask you if you will accept payment in Egyptian pounds. How will you give them the following information?

a)You cannot lower your prices.

b)You have had to raise your prices because the government has increased the sale tax.

c)However, you can give them a discount of 5% if their order is for more than $2,000.

d)With regard to their second question, you cannot accept payment in Egyptian pounds but you can accept US dollars or German marks.

3 A Study section

3.5 Giving reasons

This is owing to ...

due to ...

as a result of

because of...

Motes: - 'owing to' is normally only used for bad news.

-If you want to use a verb after these phrases, add the fact that....

e.g. This is due to the fact that the dollar has fallen.

•Using the information given and phrases from 3.4 and 3.5, write complete sentences as in the example. Be careful with (e) and (f). (See the second note above.)

b)delay the delivery of the goods - strike by airline pilots

c)increase all salaries by 10% — rise in sales

d)cut all salaries by 10% - fall in sales

e)cannot deliver your new order - we have not received your payment for the last order

f)cancel the meeting - a lot of staff have been ill

3.6 Letter practice

You are a sub-manager of a bank. There has been a change in government regulations. Interest rates have increased to 12% for deposits and 14% for loans. Write a short letter to:

a)customers who have deposit accounts at your branch;

b)customers who have a loan from your branch.

Follow this plan:

date

Dear Sir or Madam

-First, put a heading.

-Next, say what you are writing about.

-Then give the good or bad news. Say what you have had to do or can do.

-Give the reason.

-Close the letter.

Finally, sign it and give your name and title.

Unit 3

3B Activity section: Holiday time

1Western Travel Agency has to arrange a trip for a group of 25 people. They haveave found two companies that organise tours to Mexico.

•a) Which company is the cheaper if the group is travelling in July and wants double rooms with private facilities?

b)Do both companies use the same airline?

Sun Express takes you to Mexico

14 nights

This year Sun Express is organising tne best Mexican holiday ever! YOU ll have a chance to see the Aztec Mexico, the Mayan Mexico and the Spanish Colonial Mexico as we take you from Mexico City right down to the south. For further details of the places you'll visit see pages 8-9.

Prices are per person and include accommodation in a superior class hotel and all meals. All rooms nave private facilities.

Departures every Saturday.

June: £1,200 July: £1,450 August: £1,575

Supplement for a single room: £200

Please qouote tour no. 5210 when booking.

All flights with Pekar Airways direct to Mexico.

Experience Mexico

No-one knows Mexi<

Come with us on our tour of this fabulous country and you'll see sights you've never dreamt of. . . like the Mayan pyramids at Palenque, Chichen-Itza and Uxmal . . . like the sparkling

blue water and white sand of the Caribbean . like the exciting atmosphere of Acapulco . • and much much

more!

Price: £1,300 including flights, dinner, bed and breakfast and all excursions for 15 days.

Supplement for a single room £175 Supplement for private facilities £75 Carrier: Stanley Air

Departures i

very Tuesday in June, July and August.

with GOLDEN HOLIDAYS

carrier (here) airline

private facilities private bathroom and toilet

2Western Travel contacted each company to ask about a discount for large groups. They received these replies.

•Which company is the cheaper now?

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