J.Smith

LETTER 5 (Shipment of short-shipped goods)

May 19, 20…

Dear Sirs

Your Order No. 2345

We received your letter of 12^th May concerning the above order. We regret that you did not receive the full consignment of cutlery.

Our forwarding agents have informed us that the crates (Nos. 27-29) were left behind on the wharf in the port of shipment. They are arranging for the dispatch of the three crates short-shipped on board the M.V. Marine Star which is due to arrive in Marseilles on the 2^nd June. The dispatch will be franco domicile, with duty paid.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by the short-shipment, which was due to circumstances beyond our control. We shall contact our agents and the port authorities to prevent delays occurring in this way in the future.

Yours faithfully

A.King

A.King

LETTER 6 (Consequences of non-compliance with packing instructions)

August 9, 20…

Dear Sirs

Your Order No. 024875

We received your letter of August 3 yesterday. We regret very much the damage caused to the four crates. We are very concerned to hear that your packing instructions were not carried out.

We have been in touch with our packers and we have asked them to send a detailed report. We have no explanation to offer yet, but will give a full account as soon as we can.

In the meantime, we have arranged for the dispatch of four replacement crates, and we have asked our packers to carry out the packing instructions carefully.

We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the error. We shall ensure that similar mistakes do not occur again.

Faithfully yours,

B.Knight

B.Knight

FOCUS 2. COMMENTARY AND VOCABULARY NOTES

See LETTER 5 … in the future … - в будущем

Как правило, в современном английском языке выражение «in the future» используется в конце предложения, в то время как в начале предложения и в середине в этом выражении определенный артикль отсутствует – «in future».