LESSON 7 We wish you all the best!

Lesson 7

We wish you all the best!

1) Listen.

Dear Ann,

We wish you all the best in your new career.

               Good luck,                            Millie and Taylor 

To Susan and Eduard,

Congratulations and our best wishes on your wedding,

                Love,                               Aunt Millie and Uncle Taylor

Comprehension questions

Write the salutations and the closings that were used in the two informal notes shown above.

Saludations: ________________________________________________________________

Closings: __________________________________________________________________

Language Focus

The letter

Miss Susan Medler                                                                                                     Some closings are:                       

521 Oradell Avenue           ,                                                                                        Formal: Yours truly,

Oradell, New Jersey                                                                                                  Sincerely yours, Best

                                                                                                                                     personal regards, Best wishes

Dear daughter:                                                                                             

How are things going with you? We miss you                                          

a lot. We´re sending you the postcard from                                Informal: Your friend, 

Montreal. It´s a beautiful city. We bought you                                            Love, Yours, Best Wishes.

many things. We´ll be going back next week.

                                Lots of love

                          Dad and Mom  

Speaking

1) Listen

Tony: Mom! I just got a letter from Jim.

Mother: Great. What does he say?

Tony: He´s doing OK. He misses us a lot.

          He´s looking forward to seeing us noon.

Mother: Let´s answer his letter right away.

Tony: Yes, I´m already doing it.

2) Work with a classmate. Practice the following dialogs.

A: Hi! What´s up?                                            A: Did you read Lucy´s letter?                 A: What are you doing?   

B: I got a letter from Judith.                              B: Yes, she´s doing great. She´s         B: I´m writing a letter to

A. Really? What´s new with                               got a very good job and is                       Richard.

     her?                                                       making a lot of good friends.                     A. That´s very nice of you.         

B: She´s doing fine. It´s a                               A: Does she ask about me?                     Tell him I say hello.

     short letter, though. She                            B: Of course! She sends you all

     doesn´t say much.                                       her love.

3) Study these situations. Use “Best wishes”, “with my best wishes”, “I wish you all the best”.

a) You go to friend´s party. It is his birthday, and you see him. What do you say?

   

Best wishes on your birthday.

b) A friend of yours got his university degree recently, everybody is happy in the family. What do you say about his future professional life?

    I wish you all the best.

c) You heard that your brother got engaged to a beautiful and smart girl in the States, your mom is leaving for the States to see him. What do you say to your mother about your brother´s engagement?

    Mom, please give him my best wishes on his engagement.

d) It´s Christmas time, you are writing to a relative abroad and you want to express your wishes for Christmas. What do you say?

    All good wishes for Christmas.

e) What do you write at the end of a letter?

    Best Wishes/With my best wishes.

Writing

1) Read the following dialog and write the answers to the questions below.

Daisy: Excuse me, Marian. Do you know where my brother Daniel is living?

Marian: No. I don´t. I haven´t heard from him in a long time.

Daisy: Has he written you?

Marian: Yes, he has, and I wrote him back as soon as I got his letter.

Daisy: When did you mail the letter?

Marian: I mailed it last August.

Daisy: How did you mail it?

Marian: I sent it by airmail. By the way, why are you asking me that?

Daisy: Because he called me asking about you.

Marian: Why didn´t he call me?

Daisy: He said he hasn´t heard from you since he left.

Marian: But I´ve mailed him two letters and a postcard to 4225 Sunset Street.

Daisy: That´s the problem. His address is 4225 Sunbeam Street.

Marian: Oh! What can I do? I miss him a lot.

Daisy: Call him right now. I have his phone number.

a) Who is Daniel´s sister?

__________________________________________________________________________

b) When did Marian answer Daniel´s letter?

__________________________________________________________________________

c) Did she mail it in September?

__________________________________________________________________________

d) How did she mail the letter?

__________________________________________________________________________

e) Has Daniel heard from Marian?

__________________________________________________________________________

f) How many letters has Marian mailed to Daniel?

__________________________________________________________________________

g) Did Daniel receive any of them?

__________________________________________________________________________

h) What was the problem?

__________________________________________________________________________

Language study 1    Salutations

Salutations is a typical word or expression placed at the beginning of the letter, before the body of the letter on its left side.

In informal letters, a comma follows                              In formal letters, a colon follows

the salutation:                                                                                 the salutation:

Dear Tom,                                                                                                    Dear Sirs:           

Dear Mother,                                                                                Dear Professor Taylor:

Dear Mary,                                                                                                   Dear Mr. Knight:

Looking at Language

1) Read and complete this informal letter.

                                                                                                                                                                  148 Fifth Avenue,

                                                                                                                                                                  San Diego City,

                                                                                                                                                                   California.

                                                                                                                                                                  January 21, 2004.

Dear Tom,

               How are you getting along? I´m curious to know about your days in that city.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

               Please write soon informing me when you plan to visit us. I´m looking forward to seeing you soon.

                                                                                                                                                                  Your friend,

                                                                                                                                                                       Susan

2) Take note of the different parts of an informal letter.

    1 Heading                                             3 Salutation                  5 Closing paragraph           7 Signature

    2 date                                                   4 Body                                        6 Closing

Language study 2     Closings

Closings paragraph is placed at the end of a letter and it is used as a farewell. Typical closing expressions are “I´m looking forward to hearing from you soon. Give my love / regards / best wishes to… / I´m wish you all the best”. Different expressions are used as closings in formal and informal letters, they are always followed by a comma.

Informal letters use expressions such as:      Formal letters use expressions such as:

Love,                                                  Your friend,                         Yours truly,

Lots of love,                                                                                   Sincerely yours,

Kisses,                                                                             Cordially yours,

Lesson round up

1) Fill in the squares with the letter corresponding to the appropriate answer.

B: Body  D: Date  H: Heading                          S: Salutation                        C: Closing

S: Signature                        P: Closing paragraph

                                                                                                                                                    432 Avenida Libertador

                                                                                                                                                    Mérida,

                                                                                                                                                    Estado Mérida.

                                                                                                                                                    May 25, 2004.

Dear Dad,

               Forgive me for not writing you before, but we were busy moving to our new home. Mérida is a beautiful and peaceful city. Our house is very well situated. We have a Shopping Center two blocks from here, and a beautiful large park in front of us. The university is only half an hour by car, and a good bus service that goes there stops just in front of the park.

               How are things going with you and Mom? We are curious to know about your new car. Please write soon and send some pictures. David hopes you and Mom can visit us as soon we finish our moving and our new house is ready.

               Give my love to Mom, and lots of kisses to my sister.

                             

                                                                                                                      Love,

                                                                                                                       Mary

2) Answer these questions.

a) Who´s writing the letter?

__________________________________________________________________________

b) Where is Mary living?

__________________________________________________________________________

c) Who has a new car?

__________________________________________________________________________

d) What´s Mary´s husband´s name?

__________________________________________________________________________

e) Do they have a Shopping Center near their house?

__________________________________________________________________________

f) How far is the university from home?

__________________________________________________________________________

Looking at Language

3) Write Mary´s father´s reply letter.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) Complete these expressions.

a) I wish____________________________________________________________________

b) I know that_______________________________________________________________

c) Have you heard about_______________________________________________________

d) I want you to know_________________________________________________________

e) Don´t you think that_________________________________________________________

f) Please let me know_________________________________________________________

g) Has Mom told you that______________________________________________________

5) You are abroad. Write a postcard to your family. Use some of the expressions above whenever possible.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Language Check

Personal Letter

Heading:              You write the writer´s address: street, city, state and country (if necessary)

Date:                    Month, day, year.

Salutation:           It is an expression of greeting, placed before the body of the letter. In informal letters, the typical greeting is            

                           “Dear…”

Body:                   It is the content or the message of the letter.

Closing

Paragraph:          It´s the conclusion of the body of the letter.

Closing:               The phrase at the end of the letter, for example: “Sincerely yours” and “Yours truly”.

Signature:           A person´s name written by himself.