Outcomes Intermediate › Unit 02 Feelings

Письмо

Урок письма 02 со страниц 122–123 учебника.

Учебник, с. 122
02 Writing — Short emails

Speaking

Work in pairs. Discuss these questions:

  • How often do you check your email?
  • How many emails a day do you think you send?
  • Who do you write to most often?
  • Do you ever send emails in English? Who to? Why?

Writing Explaining why you are writing

We generally begin emails with a line explaining why we are writing. To people we already know, we often begin with sentence starters like this:

Just aquick
short		one
note
email		to let you know
to remind
to ask
to tell
to say I’m sorry
to say thank you
to say congratulations

A Complete each of the pairs of possible endings below with one sentence starter from the box.

  1. … you that next Monday is a public holiday.
    … you to bring that book you said you’d lend me.
  2. … I missed you while you were in Berlin.
    … to hear you’ve been ill.
  3. … for all your hard work organising the conference.
    … for a lovely weekend.
  4. … I arrived safely in Hong Kong.
    … I’ll be a bit late to the meeting tomorrow.
  5. … if you could do me a big favour.
    … if you could send me the photos you took at the party.
  6. … you I can’t make the meeting tomorrow.
    … you how much we enjoyed the barbecue last night.
  7. … on your exam results.
    … to you both. The baby’s beautiful.

B Work in pairs. Write one more possible ending for each of the seven sentence starters in the box.

C Complete the three emails by adding the correct whole sentences from exercise A.

1  Hi Thorsten –

I’m planning to come to Germany next month on business and need to contact Matthias Einhoff before I arrive. I want to arrange a meeting with him to discuss a new project. The problem is, though, I’ve lost his contact details. Do you know anyone who might have them? I’d be really grateful if you could try and find out.

Anyway, I hope all is well – and hope to hear from you soon. Many thanks,
Oliver

2  Hi Lars

I think you arrived the day after I had to go to Vienna for a friend’s wedding. I was there for three days and had a great time, and then came back on the 27th and tried to call you, but I got a message saying the number wasn’t available. Have you changed your mobile or lost it or something?

Anyway, I hope you had fun here and please let me know in advance next time you’re planning to come here again. I would love to see you again. It’s been a long time!

All the best,
Melanie

3  Hi Tatsu,

I can’t believe you got an A! You must be really pleased. Still, after all your hard work, you deserve it! I hope you’re going to go out and celebrate. I’ve got my exams next month and am really worried about them. I just hope I do as well as you did.

Anyway, write to me when you have a free minute and tell me all your news.

Cheers for now,
Davorka

Ответы (ключ)
  1. Just a quick email / note / short note to ask if you could do me a big favour.
  2. Just a quick email / note / short note to say I’m sorry I missed you when you were in Berlin.
  3. Just a quick one / email / note / short note to say congratulations.
Учебник, с. 123

Speaking

Work in pairs. Discuss these questions:

  • Have you ever lost anyone’s contact details? How? Did you manage to get them back again?
  • Have you ever been to a wedding? When? Whose?

Grammar Leaving out words

When we add information to a sentence using and / or, we often leave words out if they have already been used. We assume the missing words are understood by the reader.

I hope this is OK with you and (I hope this) won’t cause too many problems.

A Decide which words have been left out of sentences 1–4.

  1. I’m planning to come to Germany next month on business and really need to contact Matthias Einhoff before I arrive.
  2. I’ll talk to Rose on Thursday and ask her what I missed, but please let me know if there’s anything urgent I need to do or know about before then.
  3. I’ve got my exams coming up next month and am already really worried about them.
  4. Have you changed your mobile or lost it or something?
Ответы (ключ)
  1. and I really need
  2. and I’ll ask; or I need to know about
  3. and I am
  4. or have you lost

B Rewrite each of the groups of sentences below as one sentence. Link your ideas using and / or. Leave out any words you think are unnecessary.

  1. We left Sydney on Friday night. We arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday morning.
  2. I really want to send one of the photos to my mum. I want to burn some of the other photos onto a CD.
  3. Don’t worry about missing class tomorrow. Don’t worry about taking time off if you need to.
  4. Don’t feel you have to wear a suit to the party tonight. Don’t feel you have to bring a present.
  5. I am going to Rome tomorrow. I am going to Pisa on Friday, so I won’t be at the meeting on Thursday. I won’t be at work for the rest of this week.
  6. I thought the story was great. I thought the acting was really good, but I didn’t really like the ending. I didn’t really like some of the songs.
Ответы (ключ)
  1. We left Sydney on Friday night and arrived in Hong Kong on Saturday morning.
  2. I really want to send some of the photos to my mum and burn some of the other photos onto a CD.
  3. Don’t worry about missing class tomorrow or taking time off if you need to.
  4. Don’t feel you have to wear a suit to the party tonight or bring a present.
  5. I am going to Prague tomorrow and Bratislava on Friday, so I won’t be at the meeting on Thursday afternoon or at work for the rest of the week.
  6. I thought the story was great and the acting was really good but I didn’t really like the ending or some of the songs.

В ключе в п. 5 другие названия городов (Prague, Bratislava), чем в учебнике.

Vocabulary Ending emails

The way we end emails depends on who we are writing to. Some endings are more common for formal emails; some are more common for informal ones.

A Look at these nine different ways of ending emails. Which endings could you use: in business emails, in emails to acquaintances, in emails to close friends / family members?

  1. Kind regards →
  2. Yours faithfully →
  3. Many thanks →
  4. Love →
  5. All the best →
  6. Yours sincerely →
  7. Lots of love →
  8. Cheers for now →
  9. Yours →

B Work in pairs. Think of the letters and emails that you send. Which endings in exercise A could you use if you wrote them in English? Say as much as you can about who the emails are to, and which endings you would use.

Practice

Write four short emails. Begin each one with a sentence from Writing: explaining why you are writing. Try to write two informal emails, and two more formal ones. Use as much of the language from these pages as you can.