Formal Letter

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Formal Letter

• Letters of Complaint
• Letters of Apology

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Letter of Complaint
Organizational Pattern REAL

R Reason for Writing Start your letter with a
brief summary of what you want to complain about.
E Explanation and elaboration Explain the
situation/problems in more detail
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Organizational Pattern REAL

A Action Demand or offer action to solve the
problem
L Letter Ending Always give a final sentence
or paragraph to conclude the letter
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Sample Letter of Complaint

Sample Complaint Letter
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I hope that you will take action quickly to
resolve this situation.   Yours faithfully,
John Chan John Chan
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Formal Letter
Other points to note

• When we write a formal letter we should remember
  the following
• No contractions, e.g. Im, cant, well etc
• Use of would
• Formal sentence structures

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• Note the following discourse markers

• (a) To make matters worse ( clause)
• (b) As if this were not enough ( clause)
• Both are used to connect a series of
• negative points or criticisms.

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• (c) In view of these problems
• (d) In light of these problems

e.g. In view of these problems, I would suggest
that you take the following measures to improve
the situation.
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• Dont mix Despite/In spite of (prepositions)
• and Although/Even though (conjunction)

• For example
• In spite of the noise, he kept on working.
• Although it was noisy, he kept on working.

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Writing Practice For Students
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Topic 1 Writing a letter of complaint about a
pop concert you attended

• Situation
• Recently, you went to a pop concert. The tickets
  for the concert cost 300 each. However,
  you were not very happy for
  a number of reasons

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• 1. the sound system was very bad
• 2. people in the front rows stood up and
  blocked your view
• 3. the air-conditioning system was not working
• 4. people in the next row were smoking and no
  one stopped them
• 5. the concert started one hour later than
  advertised and finished half an hour early 

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Task

• Write a letter of complaint to the organisers,
  explaining what happened and demanding a refund
  and other action.

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Sample Letter of Apology
Sample Letter of Apology
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Letter of Apology

• Politeness even if some of the
• complaints were not really justified.

• Possible solutions to each complaint. or
  If it cannot be solved, explain the situation
  carefully.

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• Address
• 
  Date
• Dear Mr Chan
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• With reference to your letter dated 25
  th March, we were sorry to hear about your
  experience recently at the Tai Sai Country Park.

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2nd paragraph show solution

• 1st solution
• As for the fact that there was only one
  rubbish bin, we have already taken action and two
  new rubbish bins have recently been placed on the
  site.

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• We extend our sincere apologies for your
  unpleasant experience, and we hope that the
  changes we have introduced will mean that your
  next visit to our barbecue site will be much more
  pleasant. Please do not hesitate to contact us if
  in future you have any further reason for
  complaint.
• Yours sincerely
• C. C. Chan
• C.C.Chan
• Park Warden, Tai Sai Country Park

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Writing Practice For Students
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Topic Write a letter of apology to the
complaint about the pop concert