1

Writing


SET PHRASES FOR WRITING LETTERS


Opening by thanking

Thank you for your letter of 22 January in which you
We have received your letter of telling us that
Thank you for your letter of informing us that
Thank you very much for your inquiry about
Thanking you for your letter of, we

Referring

I am writing with reference to
I am writing in connection with
With reference to
With regard to
Further to

Giving/responding to good news

I am pleased to tell you
I am delighted to inform you
I am happy to advise
We were delighted to hear that

Giving/responding to bad news

I regret to tell you
I am sorry to inform you
We regret that
We were sorry to hear that
I was extremely sorry to learn from your letter of of the problems you have experienced.
We were sorry to learn about the inconvenience you had to suffer

Problems, complaining

We were surprised to find that
We found that
I found that service was not up to the usual standard.
We have not yet received
It appears there must have been some misunderstanding
I regret that I have to complain about
We would like to point out that
We wish to call your attention to
You may probably have overlooked the fact that
2
Responding to complaints

We appreciate your pointing out the error that was made
Thank you very much for your comments.
We always welcome comments from our guests
Thank you for calling to my attention that
I was disturbed to hear that you were unhappy with

Apologising

We must apologise for
We apologise for
We are extremely sorry for losing
that we lost
We are sorry for the inconvenience you had to suffer.
Please accept our apologies for the problems caused by this error.
We will make immediate inquiries about the incident.
We assure that we will do our best to settle the matter immediately and to your satisfaction.
We hope that this has not caused you any inconvenience.
With apologies once again
The problem will not be repeated.

Giving reasons

This is owing to
due to
as a result of
because of
due to the fact that

Saying what you can and cannot do:

We are able to
We are unable to

Inquiries

Would you kindly inform us about
Please let me know as soon as possible
I am writing to ask
We would need information on
We would like to know about...
if you could
We are particularly interested in

Requests

Please could you?
We would be grateful if you couldas soon as possible.
We would appreciate it if you could
Please let us know your decision by 5 February.
Please let us have a reply by
Please send us written confirmation of this booking by
Will you please confirm this booking no later than
Please let us know whether these arrangements suit you.
3

Refusals

Unfortunately the is not available on..
Regrettably we cannot accept
We regret not being able to offer
We have been forced to

Enclosing

Enclosed is a
We have pleasure in enclosing
I am enclosing the relevant brochure
Please find enclosed our latest price-list.

Closing

Please contact me if you require any further information
If you need any more information, please, do not hesitate to let me know
Should you have a complaint, please let us know immediately so that we can deal with the problem
right there and then.
I hope you find this information of use and look forward to seeing you in the near future.
We look forward to your early reply.
Thank you for you cooperation.
Hoping to have the pleasure of welcoming you, we remain

4
Speaking


SET PHRASES FOR SPEAKING

Beginning

Well,
Actually,
In fact,
As a matter of fact,
I would like to begin with
I would like to begin by pointing out that
There are three points I would like to make
I would like to comment on the problem of
The most important points seem to me to be
On the one hand

Ordering

First of all, we must bear in mind
Firstly,
Secondly,
Thirdly,
Then we must mention
Finally,

Introducing a new point

I would now like to turn briefly to the problem of
The next issue I would like to focus on is
Turning to

Adding

In addition,
Additionally,
Furthermore,
Moreover,
Besides,
I might add that
One/Another/A further/An additional (major) advantage/disadvantage of is
Another positive/negative aspect of

Balancing

On the other hand
Although, we mustnt forget
Despite/In spite of the fact that, I still think
Apart from
However,
Still, (itt mgis jelentsben)

5
Introducing examples

Let me give an example
To illustrate this point, let us consider
This is shown by the fact that
For example/For instance
Such as/like
In particular/Particularly
Especially

Explaining

In other words
That is to say
I mean
To be more specific

Generalising

Generally/In general
Generally speaking
On the whole
In practice
All things considered,
In most cases
It is often claimed that
Most people/experts believe that

Expressing causes

Owing to/Due to (the fact that)
Because
As/Since (itt: mivel jelentsben)

Expressing effect

Therefore
As a result
Consequently
For the above mentioned reasons

Expressing opinion

In my opinion
To tell you the truth, I (firmly) believe/think
I am convinced that
To be honest with you, Im sure/certain that
As I see it,
As far as Im concerned
As for me
From my point of view
It seems to me that
I would say that
Well, its common sense.

6
Expressing uncertainty

Im not sure, but
Well, it depends.
Im afraid I dont know it exactly, but
As far as I know
As far as I can remember

Agreeing, partly agreeing, disagreeing

I completely agree.
I think you are (not) right.
I think we can accept your position on that.
Theres no doubt about it.
I agree in principle, but
Im uncertain about
Im not certain that
I have doubts about
I dont completely agree with you on that.
I agree up to a point.
To a certain extent/degree
In a way
You are right, but
I know what you mean, but
You are mistaken.
I totally disagree with you.
Im afraid I cant accept that/your point of view.
Im sorry thats unacceptable for me.

Interrupting

(Im) sorry to interrupt you
May I interrupt you for a moment?
I dont want to interrupt, but
Excuse me, but Id just like to point out that

Coming back to a point

As I was saying
As I have mentioned
Coming back to
To return to

Asking for clarification

Could you repeat that, please?
Could you explain that, please?
What do you mean by this?
When you say do you mean that?
Sorry?
I beg your pardon?
Sorry, I didnt catch you.
Im afraid I dont understand what you mean.
This word is familiar to me, but I dont remember the meaning. Could you explain it?

7
Asking for confirmation

Is that right?
Am I right?

Playing for time

How can I put it?
Let me think
Thats a very interesting question.
Thats a difficult question to answer.
Im glad youve asked that question.

Concluding

In conclusion, it seems that
All things considered, it can be said that
Taking everything into consideration, there is no doubt that
Undoubtedly, we must say that
To sum up, it is obvious that
All in all, it may be concluded that
So, obviously

Others

As you know
The point is
Anyway,
By the way/That reminds me of


8
Some further phrases for typical situations

I am at your disposal.
That sounds correct/good/great.
Would you mind if I asked?
I strongly recommend that
I advise you to
In my view, the only solution is
I propose that
I wonder if I might suggest
Wouldnt it be a good idea to?
Wouldnt it be better to?
What about?
I see no objection to that.
Im totally opposed to the proposal.
Frankly speaking, thats out of the question
Im afraid we cant help you with that.
Have you taken into account?
I was wondering if youd thought of?
There are other considerations, for example
I wonder if you have considered
I can assure you that
We understand your concern about and we assure you that we will make all our efforts to
I would like to remind you that
I wish to draw your attention to
We cannot overlook the fact that
We are prepared toon condition that
I think we could
I dont think we could, unless
We are ready to
We are willing to
I believe we can, if
Is that acceptable?
Would that be acceptable?
Would that be satisfactory?
We hope that this will be acceptable.
I think that would be perfectly acceptable.
In that case, we should
That seems to be a reasonable compromise.
Ill think it over and well get back to it.
Good bye!