說“ thank you ”

    Thank you for your letter of yesterday.

    Thank you for your prompt reply.

    Thank you for helping us in this respect.

    Thank you for your information

    說“ please ”

    Please send us a copy of your latest catalogue.

    Please let us know if you can deliver form stock.

    Please instruct your banker to remit the sum soon.

    Please sign the two copies of the contract and return one copy to us.

    經常使用的一些謙恭的詞組。

    We arepleased to say that ...

    We appreciate your useful information.

    Will you please do me a favour?

    May I ask you to read it over?

    It is really very nice of you to do so.

    I am glad to say yes.

    I am sorry that we had to delay the shipment.

    We need the statement by the end of next week.

    ( Could you send us the statement by the end of next week? )

    I was told that you cleared up the dealer-price difficulty.

    ( Thank you for clearing up the dealer-price difficulty. )

    a. 正確地使用謙恭的詞或詞組。在下面哪一種情況下感謝讀者是不恰當的？

    (a) The reader has written you, saying that he enjoys the new car you sold him.

    (b) The reader has written you complaining about the new car you sold him.

    b. 盡量避免使用帶有令人不快意味的詞語。同是一個詞，既可以表示肯定之意（令人愉快），也可表示否定之意（令人不快）。此外，有些詞屬于中性詞，不存在任何令人不快的意味，比如：

    主動性詞——公正、鎮定、成功地、有用的、合理的、有助的、靈活的。

    否定性詞——恐怕、不成功、不合理、不公平、錯誤、遲誤、傲慢、低劣。

    中性詞——大的、其他的。

    c. 改進哪些含有否定（不快）之意味的詞。如：

    (a) We have found out that you are delinquent with regard to your account by $3.

    ( We notice that your account is short by $3. )

    (b) You claim that there 3 witnesses to the accident. We need their names and addresses.

    ( You mentioned that there were three witnesses to the accident. May we have their names and addresses? )

    (c) You are requested to send payment by June 8.

    ( Please send payment by June 8.)

    (d) Since the deadline is May 9 , a prompt reply before that date will be neccessary.

    ( Since the deadline is May 9, Please let us hear from you by then. )

    (e) We would have answered you sooner, but your letter was addressed to the wrong office.

    ( We would have answered you sooner, but your letter just now arrived from our other office. )

    d. 選用肯定詞語。

    (a) The office is closed afer four o'clock.

    ( The office is open until four o'clock. )

    (b) We cannot have these figures for you before next week.

    ( We will have these figures for you next week. )

    (c) We make no refunds after the 3-month guarantee has run out.

    ( We can only make refunds during the 3-month guarantee period. )

    (d) We must tell you that we can't accept your proposal.

    ( Unfortunately, we cannot accept your proposal. )

    (e) This is to inform you that the goods will not be ready by June 4. We will not be able to deliver them until June 8.

    ( We are sorry, but it will be at least June 8 before we  can deliver the goods to you. )

    一種令人不快的思想需要用肯定的詞語來緩和語氣，但是不能因為措詞而冒犯激怒讀者。比較：

    I had hoped that a favourable consideration on your request could be possible.

    I'm sorry we cannot approve your request.

    一個肯定的詞并非總能產生一種令人愉快的語氣，這決定一個人如何去運用它。

    We are patiently waiting to hear from you.

    此句沒有直接責備久久收不到對方的回音。