Thu Tin

Contents
Unit 1 BUSINESS LETTER LAYOUT AND STRUCTURE............................................................................... 2

Part 1 Introduction of business letters ................................................................................................................ 2
Part 2 Sample layout of a business letter ........................................................................................................... 2
Part 3 Elements of a business letter.................................................................................................................... 3
Part 4 Practices ................................................................................................................................................... 5
Unit 2 BUSINESS LETTER STYLES .................................................................................................................. 9
Part 1 Useful expressions in a business letter ................................................................................................... 9
Part 2 Correct usage of business English sentences ......................................................................................... 10
Part 3 Practices ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Unit 3 MAKING ENQUIRIES and REPLIES .................................................................................................... 17
Part 1 Sample letters ........................................................................................................................................ 17
Part 2 Helpful expressions ............................................................................................................................... 19
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an enquiry ............................................................................................... 19
Part 4. Practices ................................................................................................................................................ 20
Unit 4 MAKING QUOTATIONS........................................................................................................................ 26
Part 2. Helpful expressions .............................................................................................................................. 28
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of a reply & quotation ................................................................................. 29
Part 4 Practices ................................................................................................................................................. 31
Unit 5 MAKING OFFERS................................................................................................................................... 36
Part 1. Sample letters ....................................................................................................................................... 36
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an offer ................................................................................................... 39
Part 4. Practices ................................................................................................................................................ 43
Unit 6 PLACING AN ORDER ............................................................................................................................ 47
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an order ................................................................................................... 50
Part 4. Practices ................................................................................................................................................ 51
Unit 7 PAYMENTS ............................................................................................................................................. 58
Part 2 Structure and phraseology ..................................................................................................................... 60
Part 3 Practices ................................................................................................................................................. 62
Unit 8 MAKING COMPLAINTS AND REPLIES ............................................................................................. 67
Part 2. Helpful expressions ............................................................................................................................. 70
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of a complaint ............................................................................................ 71
Part 4 Structure and phraseology of a reply to a complaint ........................................................................... 73
Part 5 Practices ................................................................................................................................................. 75
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Unit 1 BUSINESS LETTER LAYOUT AND STRUCTURE
Part 1 Introduction of business letters
1 What is a business letter?
- A business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business
organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and
other external parties. Business letters may include: letters, memos, fax, emails
- The overall style of letter will depend on the relationship between the parties concerned.
- The writers and receivers include:
 business «» business  citizen «» government official
 business «» consumer  employer «» employee
 job applicant «» company  staff member «» staff member
2 Purposes of a business letter
 to persuade  to recommend  to invite or welcome
 to inform  to apologize  to follow up
 to request  to congratulate  to formalize decisions
 to express thanks  to reject a proposal or offer
 to remind  to introduce a person or policy
Part 2 Sample layout of a business letter
Match the parts of the letter below with their names:
Attention line, Blind copy circulated, Complimentary Close, Copies to be circulated, Date, Enclosure, Ending,
For, Inside address, Letter Body, Letter head, Main part, Position /Title, References, Salutation, Signature,
Subject line (Heading), Typed signature
1. RELIANCE HOLDING FINANCE GROUP
88 Martin Lane London EC2V 6BH United Kingdom- Telephone and Fax: 01-588 3782
2. TOCONTAP SAIGON 3. Your ref: LE/Inq.123

125 Nguyen Hue Street Our ref: SC/RP
District 1, Hochiminh City
Vietnam 4. 14 November, 20--
5. Attention: Mr. Nguyen Hong, Director
6. Dear Sirs
7. Re: Up-to-date list of addresses
8. We thank you very much for your letter of 11 November 20--, asking for an up-to-date list
of addresses of our branches.
We are pleased to enclose this brochure, showing the location of all our branches and
agencies at home and abroad.
We look forward to receiving your early reply.
9. Yours faithfully
10. (For RELIANCE HOLDINGS)
11. (Signed)
12. S.S. Carson (Mr.)
13. Sales Manager
14. Encl.:
+01 Brochure
2
Part 3 Elements of a business letter
1. Letter head: It is the name and address of a sender’s company
2. References: It is used for reference
3. Date
Consider the following ways of stating a date in a business letter, which are correct, which are incorrect?
What’s wrong:
- “1 September 20--”
=> Correct: _______________________________________________________________________
- 4/5/20--
British English => _____________________________________________________________
American English => _____________________________________________________________
(Note: Abbreviation may be used for Jan. Feb. Aug. Do not write the month in figures. No mention of town.
--------------------------------------------------
E.g.: 14th January, 20 (BE)--; or: September 2, 20—(AE)
--------------------------------------------------
4. Inside address: It is a receiver’s name, title and address
5. Attention line: It is used in case a letter can be sent to a company but with a special attention to a particular
reader.
6. Salutation
British American
Formal - a department or a company: ………………………. ……………………
(company, - unknown man => ………………………………….. ……………………
department, - unknown woman => ……………………………… ……………………
unknown - unknown sex => ………………………….……….. ……………………
person) ……………………
Less formal ………………………………………………………… ……………………………
(known ………………………………………………………… ………..…………………
person) ………………………………………………………… ………..…
Informal ………………………………………………………… ……………………………

………………………………………………………… ………..…………………
………………………………………………………… ……………
7. Subject line (heading)
This gives a brief indication of the content of the letter. It is usually placed on clear line space after the
salutation. It may also be omitted.
E.g.:
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. Letter Body
Divided into 3 main parts: Opening/ Main/ Ending
8.1 Opening
- Refer to previous contact
E.g.:
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
- State the reason for writing:
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E.g.:
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8.2 Main part
The principle:
- Each main idea/ comment/ suggestion/ request…. should be in each paragraph.
- Each paragraph should begin with one topic sentence with supporting ideas
- Linking words are used to combine the whole text
Note: In an offer, the comments on prices, payments, delivery, warranty… should be separated.
E.g: Prices:
- Our prices are extremely competitive (…………………………………………….). With only USD 200, you
can get the complete set of the unit with all necessary accessories or spare parts to bring you peace in mind
(……………………………………………………….). Enclosed, you will find a price list for our full range of
products which you cannot obtain them cheaper elsewhere (………………………………………………..). We are
confident that, your customers will find them represent the best value for money
(……………………………………………………).
8.3. Ending
- Refer to future business:
_____________________________________________________________________________
Positive ending:
__________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
- Negative ending (threat/warning)
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. Complimentary Close
Salutation British style American style
Dear Sirs …………………………………… ……………………………
Dear Sir or Madam; Dear Sir ; …………………………………… ……………………………
Dear Madam
Dear Mr./Ms… (unknown sex) …………………………………… ……………………………
Dear Mr. Brown, …………………………………… ……………………………
Dear Mrs./ Miss/ Ms Smith ……………………………
Dear Linda/Mike …………………………………… ……………………………
……………………………… …………………………….
10. For
When signing on behalf of an employer it is usual to write “For”; For the letter to a person the first time you
deal with, “FOR” should be highly recommended It means on behalf of your firm.
E.g.: For ABC Co./ For Imexco Ltd.
11. Signature
This is for the hand written signature of the writer
12. Typed signature
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After leaving 4/5 blank lines for signature, the name of the sender should be shown. “Ms/Miss/Ms” must
always be added in brackets after a woman’s name, “Mr.” may be added only for the first time.
E.g.: Nguyen Thao Van (Ms.); John Lennon (Mr.)
13. Position /Title
This shows the position or title of the writer
E.g.:
Yours faithfully Yours sincerely
(signed) (signed)
GEORGE RAINE MAI LAN (Ms)
Chairman Sales Manager
14. Enclosure
This indicates that an enclosure is being sent along with the letter.
(Enc. / Encl.)
E.g.: Enc. A Pricelist
15. Copies to be circulated
When a copy of a letter is to be sent to a third party (perhaps someone in the same organization), it is usual to
indicate this by typing “cc” (carbon copy) followed by two spaces and the name of the recipient of the copy.
The usual position for this is at the foot of the letter after the designation or after any enclosure indicated.
E.g.:
E.g.: cc: Miss Thao Van, Chief Accountant
16. Blind copy circulated
If the writer does not wish the recipient of the letter to know that a third person is receiving a copy of the letter,
then “bcc” (blind copy circulated) must be typed. This should be shown only on copies of the letter and not on
the original (top) copy.
E.g.: Bcc Mr. Keith Lawson, Managing Director
Part 4 Practices
Practice 1 Rearrange the following informational letters in a correct order
(1) Inquiry from a retailer to a foreign manufacturer
A As we usually place very large orders, we would expect a quantity discount in addition to a 20% trade
discount off net list prices, and our terms of payment are normally 30-day bill of exchange, documents
against acceptance.
B Dear Sirs
C If these conditions interest you, and you can meet orders of over 500 garments at one time, please send us
your current catalogue and price-list.
D We are a large chain of retailers and are looking for a manufacturer who could supply us with a wide
range of sweaters for the teenage market.
E We were impressed by the selection of sweaters that were displayed on your stand at the “Menswear
Exhibition” that was held in Hamburg last month.
F Yours faithfully
G We hope to hear from you soon.
Your answer
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
(2) Request for sole distribution rights
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A We have recently extended our radio and television department and are now thinking of adding new
ranges to our present stocks.
B We are particularly interested in your BELLTONE radio and television models and should be glad if you
would send us your trade catalogue and terms of sale and payment.
C Yours faithfully
D We look forward to a favourable reply.
E Your products have not been offered by any other dealers in this city, and if we decide to introduce them
we should like to request sole distribution rights in this area.
F Dear Sir/Madam
Your answer
1 2 3 4 5 6
Practice 2 Rearrange the following good-news letters in a correct order.

(1) Letter of recommendation
Dear Mr. Trump,
A Raylene is constantly attending computer seminars and reading books to keep current with new
technology. She has graciously accepted the responsibility of managing two different computer operating
systems (Windows NT/Small Business Server and Linux Red Hat) and has successfully maintained it
without problems or failure. She has scheduled system maintenance around the company’s hours of
operation to ensure consistent workflow and minimize downtime. Raylene is a good computer teacher
and a patient and accommodating worker. Many of her co-workers have remarked how easy she is to
work with.
B Raylene has unquestionable loyalty and devotion. She can be relied upon to deliver quality work in a
timely fashion. Her positive and professional disposition makes her a valuable and likeable person.
Raylene Chang will be a tremendous asset to your organization.
C It is a pleasure to provide you with information about Raylene Chang, who is a possible candidate
for the Systems Administration position with your company. Raylene has been employed with Case
Management Works since 2001. Her talents, skills, and dedication have helped the company through
the millennium without any complications.
D During the first six months of Raylene’s employment, she developed and completed the company’s
policy and procedure manual. This manual has helped the company maintain consistency and
regulated company policies. Raylene’s strong attributes are her organizational skills and attention to
detail. These special qualities enabled the company to meet deadlines and helped to detect omissions
in statistical reports.
Yours sincerely
Your answer
1 2 3 4 5
(2) Reply to an inquiry for products
Dear Donald
A As a token of appreciation. I am enclosing five coupons worth 10% off your next five purchases or orders
in the next six months.
B Thank you and we hope to make more bags for you soon.
C Advanced Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
D Thank you for trusting us to be your source of high-quality and well-designed handcrafted drawstring
bags and tote bags.
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E We also thank you for your kind expression of appreciation in our products, and we would like you to
know how much we enjoy serving your needs in your craft store.
Best wishes
Your answer
1 2 3 4 5
Practice 3 Rearrange the following bad-news letters in a correct order.
(1) Reply to an invitation
Dear Sirs
A This year I am involved in developing a new department here at the clinic that is taking up all my time.
As much as I would enjoy working with BCCJ again, I am afraid that I wouldn’t be able to give the
duties the attention the project deserves.
B Your invitation for me to act as chairperson for BCCJ’s upcoming Annual Auction Dinner is an honor. I
enjoyed serving in that role last year. Your members are an excellent group with great ideas, and it was a
privilege to work with them.
C I wish you and the committee great success in achieving this year’s goal.
D Perhaps I may suggest one of my colleagues who would have the time to do the job the way it ought to be
done. Give me a call if you are interested, and I will be happy to suggest some names for you. We want
the industry to be well represented.
Yours faithfully,
Your answer
1 2 3 4
(2) Reply to an order

Dear Ms. Sara
A We are writing to let you know that this product has been unexpectedly popular, with over 10,000
requests on the day you placed your order.
B We anticipate that your product will ship next Monday. While you wait, we encourage you to
consider using the enclosed $5 off coupon toward the purchase of any product in our catalog.
C We appreciate your business and want you to know that our highest priority is your satisfaction.
D Thank you for your order. We appreciate your interest in our product.
E This unexpected increase in demand has resulted in a temporary out-of-stock/backorder situation.
We will fulfill your order, received at 11:59 p.m. on 09/09/2009, in the order it was received.
Best regards
Your answer
1 2 3 4 5
Practice 4 Rearrange the following persuasive letters in a correct order.

(1) Sales letter offering a Fax machine
Dear Mr.
A Short for facsimile, a fax machine consists of three parts. A scanner reads your original document and
converts the images on the page into a digital code. A modem translates this code into a transmittable
analog signal. Finally, a telephone calls the receiving fax machine and sends the message. When you
receive a document, the process reverses. The telephone answers the call and receives the message. The
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modem translates the message back to a digital code, and then this code is converted to images on a page
and printed. Thus, the received document is a facsimile of the original, transmitted document.
B Fax machines are available with a wide range of useful features, from conveniences such autodialer and
on-hook dialing to qualities such as fine mode and half-tone (for sending finely detailed documents). Our
on-staff experts can help you determine which features will best meet your business’s needs.
C Indeed, everyone at Murgano’s is eager to make your fax purchase as /user-friendly/uncomplicated as

possible. Just give us a call or drop by our showroom. We will put a fax in your future fast.
D Few business folks these days would deny that the fax machine has become an indispensable tool. Instead
of waiting days for a letter to cross the country by mail, you can push a button and fax it in seconds.
Instead of paying the high price for an overnight courier to deliver your document, you can fax the some
document anywhere in the world for the price of a phone call.
Yours sincerely,
Your answer
1 2 3 4
(2) Sales letter offering Cookwares
Gentlemen:
D We said it and we mean it: NEVER WASH PANS AGAIN!
C You can now do all your cooking in beautiful Ceramic Ware - cook and serve food in the same lovely
dishes! Boil, fry, roast, bake - do it all in Ceramic Ware. Freeze food in the same dishes, if you wish.
These beautiful utensils, made of the same amazing ceramic used in missile cones, can go from freezer to
stove to table. You then slip them into the dishwasher or the sink with the other dishes. Never slave at
scouring pans again!
A Come See Ceramic Cookware Demonstrated In Big Store’s Housewares Department Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, August 8th, 9th And 10th.
B Handle these Ceramic cook-and-serve pieces. Test and try them yourselves. See how practically and
beautifully they have been designed. Note how easily the clever lifting handle clicks on and off. Then
stock up. As you can see by the enclosed brochure, prices are surprisingly reasonable.
Yours truly,
Your answer
1 2 3 4
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Unit 2 BUSINESS LETTER STYLES
Part 1 Useful expressions in a business letter
(1) Starting the reference, explaining the reason for writing
- With reference to ...................
- In reply to ...................
- I would like to thank you for ...................
- I am writing to apply/ inform / request ...................
(2) Acknowledging/ confirming
- I am writing to confirm ……………….
- We acknowledge (with thanks) the receipt of ...................
- We are pleased to confirm our sales
- We have received your offer ................... for which we thank you.
- We are pleased to receive ………………………….
(3) Requesting
- Could / would you please ...................
- I shall be glad if you will ...................
- We shall be pleased if you can / will …
- It would be helpful if you can …
- We would be grateful / obliged if you could ...................
- We would (highly) appreciate it if you could ...................
(4) Thanking, informing
- Thank you for ...................
- I would like to thank you for………………..
- We were very pleased to inform you that………………..
- We have much pleasure in informing about………………..
(5) Enclosing
- We are enclosing a catalogue ....................
- We have enclosed our price list ...................
- We have pleasure in enclosing ...................
- Pleased find enclosed/attached ...................
- From the enclosed/attached you will find………………
(6) Apologizing and expressing regret
- I am afraid that ...................
- We are sorry that ...................
- We regret our inability to ...................
- We are regretful that we shall not be able to ...................
- I regret that I cannot ...................
- Please accept our many apologies for…………
- We would apologize for……………………….
(7) Expressing urgency
- Would you please place your order:
.................. at your earliest convenience.
................... without delay/ at the minimum of delay.
................... as soon as possible.
.................. prompt/promptly.
.................. immediately.
(8) Confirming
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- I am pleased to confirm that ...................
- I confirm that ...................
(9) Emphasizing
- We would like to draw your attention to...................
- Would you please note that...................
- We would like to stress the importance of ...................
- We would point out the ...................
(10) Ending
- I look forward to seeing / meeting you ...................
- Finally, I would like to thank /remind you ...................
- Once again, we thank you for your ................... and look forward to your early reply.
Part 2 Correct usage of business English sentences

1. Spelling mistakes
- If you need further infomation, please contact us and we will be willing to be at your service.
=> ___________________________
- The acountant is very hardworking and active.
=> ___________________________
2. Capital letters
- We are afraid that our sale manager seems to be busy at this season.
=> ___________________________
- This letter is to inform you that invoice No123 has been 03 weeks outstanding.
=> ___________________________
Notes: Capital letters are used in the following cases:
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. Punctuations
- Our Personnel Manager Mr Hanh is very active in job hunting.
=> ___________________________
- Our product was in a sense very reasonable in price.
=> ___________________________
- Man proposes, God disposes.
=> ___________________________
- Man proposes but God disposes.
=> ___________________________
- I think this project is time consuming and it will be impossible for us to fulfill on schedule.
=> ___________________________
Note: Comma is used in FANBOYS sentences (For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So)
- Nervously I threw away my cigarettes.
=> ___________________________
=> Comma is used after adverbs of manner when they are at the beginning.
4 Tenses use
- We are pleased to inform you that we are going to launch a new range of our most up-to-date laser printers
next season.
=> _____________________________________________
- Please send me the full set of shipping documents. (Less formal)
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=> _____________________________________________
- I will be glad if you can make delivery before June. (neutral)
=> _____________________________________________
Subject-Verb agreement:
- Three-fourths of the project has been completed.
=> _____________________________________________
- Neither his assistants nor the Managing Director were at fault for the mess-up last week.
=> _____________________________________________
- There is a subject called ethics which deal with morals.
=> _____________________________________________
- The goods is now available for shipment.
=> _____________________________________________
- Quality and after-sale service are our concern.
5 Influence of mother tongue

- Although the prices of materials have gone up, but we keep our products unchanged in prices.
=> _____________________________________________
- The reason for wrong goods delivered in this shipment is because our packer has misread the contract.
=> _____________________________________________
6 Sentence fragment
- This information is presented here. Because it is necessary to the understanding of the following pages
=> _____________________________________________
7 Choppy sentence
- English is the principal language of international business, it is taught in schools throughout the world.
=> _________________________________________________________________________________
- This is the warehouse. They use the warehouse to store bonded goods.
=> _________________________________________________________________________________
- These items are various in designs and attractive in colours. They are selling well in European market.
=> _____________________________________________
8 Dangling or Non-parallel sentences
Non-parallel sentences
- He deals with orders from Europe, and the Asian ones are dealt with by her.
=> _______________________________________________________________________________
DANGLING PRESENT PARTICIPLE
- Working without a coffee break, the telephone calls were completed before noon.
=> _____________________________________________
DANGLING PAST PARTICIPLE
- Shocked by the gravity of the situation, something had to be done.
=> _____________________________________________
DANGLING INFINITIVE
- To complete the survey properly, the form must be signed and sealed in the provided envelope.
=> _____________________________________________
DANGLING GERUND PHRASE
- After having danced all night, it was late and no restaurants were open.
=> _____________________________________________
DANGLING ELIPTICAL CLAUSES
- When golden brown, remove the cookies from the oven and set them on the counter to cool.
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=> ___________________________________________________________________________________
DANGLING APPOSITIVES
- An expert in the field, the professor's work was the focus of the conference.
=> ___________________________________________________________________________________
9 Misplaced modifiers
Note the differences in meaning of the following sentences
- Only the manager said that he would return.
- The manager only said that he would return.
- The manager said only that he would return.
- The manager said that only he would return.
- The manager said that he only would return.
- The manager said that he would only return.
MISPLACED PRESENT PARTICIPLE
- The teacher was strict on students using detention as a means of discipline.
=> _____________________________________________
MISPLACED PAST PARTICIPLE
- They did their homework aided by their parents.
=> _____________________________________________
MISPLACED GERUND PHRASE
- Barbie and Kelly went to see the doctor having had the day off work.
=> _____________________________________________
MISPLACED APPOSITIVES
- The car’s engine, a high-class automobile, has a great deal of horse power.
=> _____________________________________________
MISPLACED Subjects
Incorrect: The board president was approached after the performance by an unknown woman.
=> _____________________________________________
MISPLACED ADJECTIVES
Incorrect: The attorney asked that his client be admitted to a mental hospital because he was insane.
=> _____________________________________________
Part 3 Practices
Practice 1 Match the two halves in columns A and B to make a full sentence.
1. With reference to… A. any trouble to this consignment but would like to emphasize
that, it is totally out of our control.
2. I am writing to apply… B. for any inconvenience caused by this error
3. Further to… C. for the post of Personal Assistance in your company
4. We would like to thank you D. if you can promptly arrange for the dispatch of the goods
for… before Mid July
5. We are pleased to receive… E. if you could forward the full set of shipping documents to our
bank
6. I would be obliged if… F. let me have your early comment on the goods supplied?
7. It would be helpful for us… G. the goods on your request are now in stock and we have no
difficulties in supplying them before 1 January
8. Could you please… H. my C.V and relevant qualifications
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9. We would highly appreciate I. our latest Catalogue and current Price List for your reference
it…
10. We were very pleased to J. our telephone conversation yesterday, we would like to confirm
inform you that… our sales terms as follows.
11. Please find enclosed… K. supplying the goods requested from stock.
12. From the enclosed… L. Survey Report, you will find that, a serious mistake has been
made in your Packing List
13. We are enclosing… N. the high quality because our customers are very fastidious.
14. It would certainly be no M. to dispose the wrongly-delivered items at the best obtainable
trouble for us… price but you should let us have your price list for them ASAP.
15. We are willing… O. to receiving your early order as this line of products is quoted
only to regular customers before offered to the public.
16. Please accept our many P. to the deadline of delivery, as we are in urgent need of the
apologies… goods for this season.
17. We would very much Q. you could check this matter with your packer as in the opinion
apologize for… of the Surveyor, this is a mistake in packing
18. We regret that… R. your complaint about the shipment of coffee
19. Would you pay attention… S. your offer No. 123 for a complete set of tea and breakfast
services
20. We would emphasize the T. your request for our service for maintenance of TL 308 cutter,
importance of… but regret that we can not do it until the end of this month.
21. I look forward… U. your request for payment by L/C seems to be impossible for us
because this method is very complicated and costly
Practice 2 Find the mistakes in the following sentences and correct them in accordance with a business
letter style.
1. She’s a very good acountant.
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. This contract shall become effective only when the buyer has obtained an import license from his goverment.
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. I am writing about invoice No.123 which should have been paid 03 weeks ago.
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. At the moment, human resource is recruiting new employees for R&D.
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. You will agree that the managing director is very active.
____________________________________________________________________________________
6. We promise that we’ll make delivery before 1 June, 2015.
____________________________________________________________________________________
7. I am pleased to inform you that 26 people will be attending the meeting.
____________________________________________________________________________________
8. Six miles are the distance between the home office and the satellite office.
____________________________________________________________________________________
9. I would like to thank you for your enquiry dated 2/5/2015.
____________________________________________________________________________________
10. Although the prices are fluctuating, but we will not be affected by this.
____________________________________________________________________________________
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11. The reason that our stock price fell is because third quarter earnings were low.
____________________________________________________________________________________
12. Our sales representatives are available from 9am to 5pm every day and we are happy to assist you.
____________________________________________________________________________________
13. They discussed advantages and disadvantages of the proposal.
____________________________________________________________________________________
14. Every manager and employee in the company agree with the decision.
____________________________________________________________________________________
15. The practice of this management company is to have each corporate tenant sign their lease on the third day
of the month.
____________________________________________________________________________________
16. We will award free parking to the employee who the Personnel Director selects.
____________________________________________________________________________________
17. Deciding to purchase a piece of real estate, an agreement was negotiated by the buyer and seller.
____________________________________________________________________________________
18. It is important that franchisees understand not only the product, but also market it appropriately.
____________________________________________________________________________________
19. I found a new job and I really like my co-workers.
____________________________________________________________________________________
20. The project was put on hold we did not have time to slow down, so we kept working.
____________________________________________________________________________________
21. We will order this item substantially.
____________________________________________________________________________________
22. We are considering your proposal carefully and will inform you the result.
____________________________________________________________________________________
23. When S.S Song Huong arrived at Saigon Port yesterday, we duly took delivery of the goods and their
documents.
____________________________________________________________________________________
24. We are enclosing our sample so that you can consider it.
____________________________________________________________________________________
25. While they were negotiating the terms and conditions, the buyer raised the questions of late delivery.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 3 Replace the words/expression in italics in the following letter with more formal words/ expressions
Dear Mr. Sexton,

1. I thought I'd write/ _____________________________________________about 2.condition of the
playground /____________________________________________ Over the last two weeks, I have noticed 3.
loads of rubbish/________________________________
4. I reckon/_____________________________ that this litter is a health hazard. For example, yesterday a year
4 boy fell over and cut his hand on a broken bottle. The boy 5. I'm talking about
/_____________________________ needed four stitches.
6. On top of this _____________________________, the litter is an eyesore. Our school has beautiful views of
the river, and these are 7.wrecked/_______________ by the litter.
8. I reckon/_____________________________ that there are 9. a lot of things/
_____________________________ that you could do to 10. correct/_________ this problem. Firstly, 11.you
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could______________________________________ purchase additional litterbins. This would help 12
stop/___________________________ people discarding their litter 13 recklessly/
________________________
14 What's more/__________________________, I think that our school needs 15. Better/
________________________________ security to prevent vandals littering.
16 To finish/_______________________, I hope you will take my concerns seriously and I look forward 17 to
you writing back to me/_______________________________________
18 Best regards/________________________________
Practice 4 Complete the following advertisement with an appropriate word or phrases.
ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS FOR MANAGERS

Stuck in a rut?
Need a change?
If the answer is YES, 1…………………… , our ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS could be the answer.
Our weekend programs provide opportunities for developing leadership qualities within a tough
2………………….. supportive group environment. 3 …………………………… , we’ll sharpen you up as an
individual 4 …………………………… making you into a top-class team player.
The weekend is spent at our trading center in the beautiful Lake District 5 ……………………………, you’ll
want some comfort.6……………………, we’ve taken over a small castle, but 7……………………you’ll have
to get the hang of the drawbridge. We start on a Friday evening without dinner. 8 ……………………………
there is an orientation session 9 …………………………… it’s down to business. You’ll spend most of your
weekend outside, working with others on a variety of challenging activities. 10 …………………………… ,
there’s a warm bed waiting for you after you’ve finished the course.
You can expect to return home on Sunday evening a changed person, 11 …………………………… ready to
face any new challenges. …………………………… 12 ……………………………, we hope you’ll
13 …………………………… return for another ADVENTURE WEEKEND at some future date.
14 …………………………… , most of our graduates find that they don’t need to.
For more information, contact Mike Barker on 071-556 8967 (phone) or 071-457 0553 (fax)
Practice 5 Vietnamese-English translation

1. Chuyến hàng cà phê này không được giám định chất lượng trước khi giao; hậu quả là chất lượng không được
như mẫu.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Việc quý ngài không giao hàng đúng hạn cho chúng tôi khiến chúng tôi bị phạt 5% theo hợp đồng ủy thác
với khách hàng nội địa. Do vậy, chúng tôi khiếu nại đòi bồi thường số tiền này.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Sản phẩm của họ có giá rất cạnh tranh trên thị trường. Tuy nhiên, dịch vụ hậu mãi chưa được tốt.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
15
4. Xin lưu ý rằng, người mua được chỉ được quyền khiếu nại trong trường hợp hàng giao thiếu hoặc kém chất
lượng, với điều kiện gửi cho người bán thư dự kháng về tình trạng hàng hóa trong vòng 5 ngày kể từ ngày hàng
tới đích.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Thực ra mà nói, mặc dầu thị trường hiện nay rất cạnh tranh nhưng chúng tôi luôn dành cho quý ngài nhiều ưu
đãi vì quý ngài là khách hàng lâu năm.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
6. Ngoài những tình huống kể trên, quý ngài sẽ được miễn trách khi bất khả kháng xảy ra.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
7. Nhìn chung, chúng tôi đã nỗ lực hết sức để khắc phục những sự cố này.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
8. Nói cách khác là, sản phẩm của chúng tôi luôn được khách hàng đánh giá cao về tính đa dạng và hợp thời
trang.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
9. Đề nghị quý ngài xuất trình những chứng từ vận tải như sau lập thành ba bản gốc, trừ khi có quy định khác
trước ngày 17/10 cho ngân hàng xác nhận để thanh toán.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
10. Thông thuờng chúng tôi yêu cầu khách hàng mới trả trước 30% trị giá hợp đồng khi ký. Phần còn lại thanh
toán bằng L/C trả ngay.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
16
Unit 3 MAKING ENQUIRIES and REPLIES
Part 1 Sample letters
1. Reply to an advertisement
(The customer is replying to an advertisement for CDs in a trade journal)
Dear Sir/ Madam
We are a large music store in the center of Poitiers and would like to know more about the re-writable and
recordable CDs you advertised in this month’s edition of “Hi Fi News”.
Could you tell us if the CDs are leading brand names, or made by small independent companies, and whether
they would be suitable for domestic recording? It would also be helpful if you could send us some samples. If
they are of the standard we require, we will place a substantial order. We would also like to know if you offer
any trade discounts.
We look forward to receiving your early reply.
Yours faithfully
(signed)
P.Gerard (M.)
Manager
2. Reply to a request for catalogues and samples
Dear Mr. Gerard

Thank you for your inquiry of 12 May in which you asked about the CDs we advertised in this month’s edition
of “HiFi News”.
I can confirm that they are of high quality, and suitable for domestic recording. They are ‘Kolby’ products,
which is a brand name you will certainly recognize, and the reason their prices are so competitive is that they
are part of a consignment of bankrupt stock that was offered to us.
Because of their low price, and the small profit margin, we will not be offering any trade discounts on this
consignment. But we sell a wide range of electronic and computer products and have enclosed a price-list
giving you details of trade, quantity, and cash discounts.
We have sent, by separate post, samples of the advertised CDs and other brands we stock, and would urge you
to place an order as soon as possible as there has been a huge response to our advertisement.
We would like to thank you for your interest and look forward to receiving your early order.
Yours sincerely
Sales Director
Encl. price-list
3. Enquiry from a retailer to a foreign manufacturer
Dear Sir/ Madam

We are a chain of retailers based in Birmingham and are looking for a manufacturer who can supply us with a
wide range of sweaters for the men’s leisurewear market. We were impressed by the selection of sweaters that
were displayed on your stand at the “Menswear Exhibition” that was held in Hamburg last month.
As we usually place very large orders, we would expect a quantity discount in addition to a 20% trade discount
off net list prices. Our terms of payment are normally 30-day bill of exchange, documents against acceptance
(D/A).
If these conditions interest you, and you can meet orders of over 500 garments at one time, please send us your
current catalogue and price-list.
17
We hope to hear from you soon.
Yours faithfully
Peter Crane (Mr.)
Chief Buyer
F. Lynch & Co. Ltd
4. Reply to the general enquiry in which the buyer asked for certain concessions
Dear Mr. Crane

We were pleased to receive your inquiry, and to hear that you liked our range of sweaters. We can confirm that
there would certainly be no trouble in supplying you from our wide selection of garments.
We can offer you a quantity discount, which would be 5% off net prices for orders over £2,000, but the usual
allowance for a trade discount in Italy is 15%, and we always deal on payment by sight draft, cash against
documents. However, we would be prepared to review this once we have established a firm trading association
with you.
Enclosed you will find our summer catalogue and price-list quoting prices CIF London. We are sure you will
find a ready sale for our products in England, as have other retailers throughout Europe and America, and we
do hope we can reach agreement on the terms quoted.
Thank you for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Sales Director
Encl. + 01 Catalogue/01 Price List
5. Reply to a request for a catalogue and pricelist
Dear Ms Lowe
We were pleased to receive your enquiry today, and are enclosing the catalogue and price list you asked for.
You will see that we can offer a wide selection of dinner and tea services ranging from the rugged ‘Greystone’
earthenware breakfast sets to the delicate ‘Ming’ bone china dinner service. You can choose from more than
fifty designs, which includes the elegance of ‘Wedgwood’, the delicate pattern of ‘Willow’, and the richness of
‘Brownstone’ glaze.
We would very much like to add your clients to our worldwide list of customers, and could promise them an
excellent product with a first-class service. We would be glad to accept orders for any number of pieces, and
can mix sets if required.
You will see that our prices are quoted CIF to Eastern Canadian seaboard ports and we are offering a special
10% discount off all net prices, with delivery within three weeks from receipt of order.
If there is any further information you need, please contact us, or go to our website at the address above. Once
again thank you for your enquiry.
Yours sincerely,
(signed)
J. Merton (Mr.)
Sales Manager
Encl. + 01 Catalogue
+ 01 Price List
18
Part 2 Helpful expressions
1. It would also be helpful if you could Sẽ thật hữu ích nếu quý ngài gửi cho chúng tôi một số mẫu
send us some samples. hàng.
2. If they are of the standard we require, Nếu chúng đáp ứng được tiêu chuẩn yêu cầu, chúng tôi sẽ đặt
we will place a substantial order. một đơn hàng lớn.
3. We look forward to receiving your Chúng tôi mong các ngài trả lời sớm.
early reply.
4. Thank you for your inquiry of 12 May Chúng tôi xin cám ơn thư hỏi hàng đề ngày 12 tháng 5 hỏi
for ..... mua…
5. We would also like to know if you Chúng tôi muốn biết liệu các ngài có chiết khấu thương mại
offer any trade discounts. không.
6. We are looking for a manufacturer Chúng tôi đang tìm một nhà sản xuất có thể cung cấp cho
who can supply us with a wide range of chúng tôi nhiều chủng loại áo len cho thị trường khách hàng
sweaters for the teenage market. thiếu niên.
7. Please quote us your price on CIF Đề nghị các ngài báo giá cho chúng tôi theo điều kiện CIF
London basis. Luân Đôn.
8. If there is any further information you Nếu quý ngài cần thêm thông tin, xin vui lòng liên hệ chúng
need, please contact us, or go to our tôi, hoặc vào website của chúng tôi theo địa chỉ trên.
website at the address above.
9. If you can meet orders of over 500 Nếu các ngài có thể xử lý được các đơn hàng trên 500 bộ
garments at one time, please send us your giao làm một lần, xin vui lòng gửi cho chúng tôi ca ta lô và
current catalogue and price-list. bảng giá hiện hành.
10. May I know what particular items Tôi có thể biết các ngài muốn mua các mặt hàng cụ thể nào
you are interested in this range? trong dòng hàng này được không?
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an enquiry

1. Structure of an enquiry
- Tell the supplier how you obtained your potential supplier’s name.
- Introduce to your supplier what sort of firm you are.
- Indicating the state of the market.
- Ask for information (catalogues, pricelists, prospectus, samples, patterns …)
- Suggest terms, methods of payment, discounts.
- Hope for an early offer/ quotation/ reply
2. Phraseology
2.1. How you obtained your potential supplier’s name

We have seen your advertisement…
- in the latest/June issue /____________/ ____________ of the “TTC”.
- in your ___________________________ on the net
By the introduction of Vietcochamber, …we are pleased to learn…
of your name and address
- that you are a sole/ ____________ exporter/ …………………… of…
- We were very impressed by your products displayed at Quang Trung Fair/ ………………….…
19
2.2Tell your supplier what sort of firm you are
- We are a ____________/ ____________/____________ importer/ distributor of… and are actively
____________ in importing….
- We would take this opportunity of introducing ____________ as a chain store/wholesaler located/
____________ in Hochiminh City, specializing/ dealing in all kinds of…
2.3 Indicate the state of the market
- At the moment we are ____________in your ____________
- We are now in the ____________for ____________and wish to purchase about…
- We are now ____________ ____________the possibility of…
+ adding some new products into our present stock.
+ expanding our business into…
2.4. Ask for information (catalogues, price-list, prospectus, samples, patterns…)
- We would be grateful/obliged if you could send us/ ____________your sales documents/ current
pricelist/latest catalogue…
- It would be helpful for us if you could send us your sample /____________ /____________ of the range you
are manufacturing/supplying now.
2.5. Suggest terms, methods of payment, discounts…
- The price is____________to be CIF Saigon port.
- As we are a regular customer of this range, would you ____________us a quantity / ____________ /
____________ /____________discount of 10%…
- We would expect payment by…
- As this line is new to us, would it be possible for us to have about 100 units, ____________/ ____________ /
to test the market demand.
- We usually ____________ ____________on 30% discount on orders of more than 2000 units.
2.6. Hope for an early offer / quotation / reply….
- Sales ____________ of your products in this market are good/ ____________/ ____________
- We look forward to receiving your early ____________/ ____________ /____________
Part 4. Practices
Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words or phrases.
1. Letter 1
Dear Sirs
Thank you for your (1)_________ of 1st Dec. for Ladies’ woolens.
We have much pleasure in sending you (2) _________ a fairly full collection of our (3) _________ and best
selling designs and hope some of them will (4)_________ you.
We would like to (5) _________ to our exclusive quality “Gold Ring” which has been an outstanding success.
We believe that it represents the best (6) _________ for money in this type of goods and we are sure that you
will find it sells well indeed. If the range of (7) _________ we have selected does not contain anything you
want, please do not (8) _________ to let us know your exact (9) _________
We look forward to your (10) _________. which will have our best attention.
Yours faithfully
20
2. Letter 2
Dear Sirs
We thank you for your (1) _________ of 20th Dec. for samples and a pattern card of floor coverings. We have
today sent by air a range of (2) _________, specially selected for their hard wearing quality but regret we do
not have the (3) _________ you require. For the purpose mentioned we (4)_________ quality No. 5 which is
specially made to (5) _________ to the wear and tear of rough and uneven surfaces.
We invite you (6) _________ the samples and are confident that they will (7)_________
Meanwhile we (8) _________ a copy of our pricelist and (9) _________ of trade, and look forward (10)
_________ from you.
Yours faithfully
3. Letter 3
Dear M. Morreau
Thank you for your (1) _________ of 27th June in which you expressed an interest in relating a selection of our
products in your shops in France.
Please find (2) _________ our current brochure and price list.
(3) _________ for a 20% trade discount, we regret that we cannot (4) _________ more than 15%. However, we
do give a 5% quantity discount on (5) _________. for over £10,000. We are sure that you will agree that these
terms are highly (6) _________
We are confident that we can (7) _________ within two months as you require, but wish to emphasize that (8)
_________ will have to be by sight draft until we have (9) _________. a business relationship.
Thank you for your (10) _________. and we hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Glaston Pottiers Ltd
(signed)
Sales managers
Practice 2. Matching
Match the words in column A with their definitions in column B
A B
1. Catalogue a. Company that is partly owned by a larger one.
2. Tender b. Person who buys goods or services from a shop or company.
3. Estimate c. Money taken off the usual selling price of goods when the buyer is
purchasing a large amount.
4. Wholesaler d. Place where a company demonstrates its products.
5. Customer e. Publication giving details of goods or services offered by a company.
6. Subsidiary f. Prices given for work to be done.
7. Showroom g. Written estimate, usually for a large job such as building a factory.
8. Prospectus h. Publication giving details about school or college.
9. Quantity discount i. Person or company that buys goods from manufacturers and sells them to
retailers.
10. Sale or return j. Term used when a supplier agrees to buy back unsold goods.
21
Practice 3. Sentence building
Sort out the jumbled words below to make sentences typical of business correspondence. Add capital letters and
punctuation as necessary.
1. offer/ do/ you/ large/ a/ orders/ discounts/ on
________________________________________________________________________________
2. details/ of/ can/ you/ prices/ please/ me/ send/ your
________________________________________________________________________________
3. after-sales/ do/ an/ offer/ you/ service
________________________________________________________________________________
4. guaranteed/ are/ for/ how/ goods/ long/ the
________________________________________________________________________________
5. goods/ can/ how/ delivered/ soon/ the/ be
________________________________________________________________________________
6. terms/ what/ payment/ your/ of/ are
________________________________________________________________________________
7. can/ buy/ where/ the/ I/ goods
________________________________________________________________________________
8. you/ do/ what/ quantity/ discounts/ sort/ offer/ of
________________________________________________________________________________
9. can/ send/ mail/ please/ your/ by/ me/ you/ express/ catalogue
Practice 4. Rewrite/ Complete the following sentences so that they have a similar meaning to the one above,
but are more suitable for formal business correspondence.
1. ‘Ask them for a cash discount.’
=> Could you_________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. ‘Ask Schmidt to send us their catalogue and a price list.’
=> Could you_________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. ‘We’re going to give them a big order, so find out if they allow quantity discounts.’
=> As we intend to place a substantial order_________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. ‘If they can’t deliver the goods before Friday, tell Larousse to email us.’
=> Please could you
5. ‘It would be a lot of help if they could send some samples.’
=> We would appreciate ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. ‘Say that we’d like Andover to send someone here to give us an estimate.’
=> We would be grateful if ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. ‘Say we’d like to see a demonstration of both models.’
=> We would be interested _____________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. ‘Find out if Weston’s will let us have twenty units on approval.’
=> Would you be ______________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. ‘Ask when he will let us have the cheque.’`
22
=> I am writing to enquire ______________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
10. ‘Say our suppliers generally let us settle by monthly statement.’
=> As a rule _________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 5. English - Vietnamese Translation

1. Your name has been given to us by the British Chamber of Commerce.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. We have seen your advertisement in the latest issue of the “Agriculture”.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. We have learned your name and address from the introduction of the Japanese Embassy, who has advised us
that you are the sole exporter of …
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. We are interested in the purchase of your range of … advertised in … and would like to know if…
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Our company is one of the main producers of… in Vietnam
_____________________________________________________________
6. We would like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves as one of the leading trading companies dealing
in all kinds of material for textiles industry.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. There is a brisk demand here for high- quality T-shirts of the type you manufacture now.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. At the moment, we are in the market for… and we shall be glad if you will quote us…
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. We would be glad to receive specifications of your new personal computer IPC, together with your current
export price list and particulars of shipment.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
10. We shall be obliged if you will send us the prospectus, quote your latest price and state the time of delivery
with your most favorable terms of payment.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 6. Vietnamese - English Translation
1. Thông thường chúng tôi được hưởng 10% chiết khấu thương mại cùng với chiết khấu số lượng đối với các
đơn hàng trên 1000 chiếc.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
23
2. Trường hợp chúng tôi thanh toán tiền hàng sớm theo điều kiện thanh toán khi giao hàng, quý ngài có thể
dành mức chiết khấu trả sớm bao nhiêu?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Triển vọng bán hàng may mặc của quí ngài tại thị trường này rất hứa hẹn, chúng tôi mong sớm nhận được
thư báo giá và bìa mẫu hàng của các ngài.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. Chúng tôi mong sớm nhận được chào hàng của các ngài và hy vọng rằng trong tương lai mối quan hệ làm ăn
của chúng ta sẽ ngày càng tốt đẹp hơn.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Nhờ đoàn đại biểu thương mại Nhật Bản ở Hà Nội mà chúng tôi được biết địa chỉ của các ngài.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. Chúng tôi đề nghị quý ngài cho ý kiến về các vấn đề này và sớm gửi cho chúng tôi bằng văn bản.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi muốn mua cà phê xuất xứ Việt Nam, giao hàng ngay và sẽ đánh giá cao nếu quý ngài gửi mẫu
hàng cùng với chi tiết các điều khoản và điều kiện cho đơn hàng 10 tấn.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. Chúng tôi chắc chắn rằng các ngài sẽ thấy mặt hàng này bán chạy thật sự tại thị trường Châu Âu.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. Chúng tôi rất vui mừng gửi kèm theo đây một bộ khá đầy đủ các mẫu mã mới nhất và bán chạy nhất của các
sản phẩm này.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
10. Chúng tôi vui mừng báo cho các ngài biết là đã gửi cho các ngài bằng bưu kiện các mẫu hàng mà quý ngài
quan tâm.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 7. Letter-writing
Công ty anh/chị là doanh nghiệp kinh doanh máy tính tại Việt Nam, có hệ thống đại lý nằm tại các khu vực
thương mại và giáo dục. Qua quảng cáo của tờ Laptop Users’ Journal, anh/chị biết công ty Kingston Co. mới
tung ra một loại máy laptop mới ZX99 với nhiều tính năng nổi trội so với các loại laptop khác. Anh/ chị cho
rằng sẽ có nhu cầu lớn nếu loại này được giới thiệu trên thị trường Việt Nam.
Hãy viết thư cho công ty Kingston Co. yêu cầu họ gửi tài liệu chào hàng cho loại sản phẩm này và xin làm đại
lý độc quyền cho học tại Việt Nam.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
24
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
25
Unit 4 MAKING QUOTATIONS
1. Quotation for rainwear
Dear Mr. ...
We were pleased to learn from your letter of 15 June of the enquiries you have received for our raincoats.
Our AQUATITE range is particularly suitable for warm climates, and during the past year we have supplied
this range to dealers in several tropical countries. We have already had repeat orders from many of them. This
range is popular not only because of its light weight, but also because the material used has been specially
treated to prevent excessive condensation on the inside surface.
We are pleased to quote as follows:
- Payment Terms: By DA, one month from the date of invoice

- Shipment: within 3-4 weeks of receiving order.
- Validity: For acceptance within one month.
We feel you may be interested in some of our other products, and enclose descriptive booklets and a supply of
sales literature for distribution among your customers.
We hope to receive your order soon.
Yours sincerely
2. Quotations for printing paper
Dear Mr.
We thank you for your enquiry of yesterday and, as requested, enclose samples of different qualities of paper
suitable for poster work.
We are pleased to quote our Printing Paper as follows:
These prices include delivery at your works.

All these papers are of good quality and quite suitable for poster work. We guarantee that they will not
discolour when pasted.
We can promise delivery within one week from receiving your order, and hope you will find both samples and
prices satisfactory.
Yours sincerely
26
3. Quotation for Powerboats
Dear Mr. …
Thank you for your enquiry dated 7 July 20-- about our PB 5000 30-foot SunVoyager Powerboats, in which
you asked us to give you our best CIF price for two of these.
The price for two PB 5000 with specifications as in our 20-- catalogue pages 42 - 45 is USD 179,800 (in words:
one seven nine thousand eight hundred United Dollars), CIF Saigon Port.
If you require the special steel anchors and chains (our catalogue numbers: 5567 and 8876), the total price is
USD187, 850.00.
The goods will be ready for shipment in 3 or 4 weeks from the date of your written order. We pack each PB
500 for export in a 40-foot open top container. We understand from your freight forwarders that Vietfract have
a scheduled service to Saigon port once a month.
We would appreciate payment by irrevocable Letter of Credit confirmed on a London bank and valid for 90
(ninety) days from the date of your order. The prices given in this offer are valid for a period of thirty days from
the date of this fax.
If you require any further information, I shall be pleased to help you.
We look forward to receiving your official order

Yours sincerely
4. Quotation for sweaters
Dear Mr.
We are pleased to receive your enquiry, and to hear that you liked our range of sweaters.
There would certainly be no trouble in supplying you from our wide selection of garments which we make for
all age groups.
We can offer you the quantity discount you asked for which would be 5% off net prices for orders over $2,000,
but the usual allowance for a trade discount in Italy is 15%, and we always deal on payment by sight draft, cash
against documents. However, we would be prepared to review this once we have established a firm trading
association with you.
Enclosed you will find our summer catalogue and price-list quoting prices c.i.f London.
We are sure you will find a ready sale for our products in England as have other retailers throughout Europe
and America, and we do hope we can reach an agreement on the terms quoted.
Thank you for your interest, we look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
Encl.: 01 Catalouge and Pricelist
27
5. Quotation for crockery
Dear Mr. Clarke
Thank you for your enquiry of 18 April for a further supply of our crockery. We are pleased to quote as
follows:
These prices are understood FOB Saigon port, including packing, but packing is charged for, with an allowance
for their return in good condition.
We can deliver from stock and will allow you a discount of 5%, but only on items ordered in quantities of
10,000 or more. In addition, there would be a cash discount of 2% on total cost of payment within one month
from date of invoice.
We hope you will find these terms satisfactory and look forward to the pleasure of your order.
Yours sincerely
Part 2. Helpful expressions

1. Thank you for your enquiry of 18 April for a Cám ơn quý ngài về thư hỏi hàng ngày 18 tháng 4, yêu
further supply of our chinaware. cầu cung cấp thêm mặt hàng gốm sứ .
2. We thank you for your enquiry of yesterday Cám ơn quý ngài về bức thư hỏi hàng ngày hôm qua và
and, as requested, enclose samples of different theo yêu cầu, chúng tôi sẽ gửi kèm theo các mẫu giấy với
qualities of paper suitable for poster work. chất lượng khác nhau phù hợp cho quảng cáo áp phích.
3. Enclosed you will find our summer catalogue Kèm theo đây, quý khách hàng có thể thấy ca-ta-lô mùa
and price-list quoting prices c.i.f London. hè và bảng giá báo theo giá c.i.f Luân Đôn.
4. There would certainly be no trouble in Chắc chắn không có gì trở ngại gì trong việc cung cấp
supplying you from our wide selection of cho quý khách nhiều mẫu hàng may mặc mà chúng tôi
garments which we make for all age groups. sản xuất cho mọi nhóm tuổi.
5. The goods will be ready for shipment in 3 or Hàng sẽ sẵn sàng giao trong vòng 3 đến 4 tuần kể từ
4 weeks from the date of your written order. ngày quý khách đặt hàng.
6. We always deal on payment by sight draft, Chúng tôi luôn yêu cầu chi trả bằng hối phiếu trả ngay,
cash against documents. thanh toán theo chứng từ.
7. We would appreciate payment by irrevocable Chúng tôi đánh giá cao việc thanh toán bằng thư tín
Letter of Credit confirmed on a London bank dụng không hủy ngang do ngân hàng Luân Đôn xác nhận
and valid for 90 (ninety) days from the date of và có hiệu lực trong vòng 90 ngày kể từ ngày đặt hàng.
your order.
8. We can deliver from stock and will allow Chúng tôi có thể giao hàng ngay và sẽ dành cho quý ngài
you a discount of 10%, but only on items mức chiết khấu 10%, tuy nhiên chỉ áp dụng cho các mặt
ordered in quantities of 10,000 or more. hàng đặt số lượng từ 10.000 chiếc trở lên.
9. There would be a cash discount of 10% on Chúng tôi sẽ chiết khấu trả sớm 10% trên tổng chi phí
total cost of payment within one month from thanh toán trong vòng 1 tháng kể từ ngày xuất hóa đơn.
date of invoice.
10. We would be prepared to review this once Chúng tôi sẵn sàng xem xét vấn đề này khi đã thiết lập
we have established a firm trading association được mối quan hệ hợp tác kinh doanh bền vững với quý
with you. khách hàng.
28
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of a reply & quotation
1. Structure of a reply & quotation
- Express thanks to the enquiry and confirm your sale
- Enclose necessary sales literatures/ documents
- State the terms and conditions
- Express regret (if any)
- Add favorable comments
- Hope for an order
2. Phraseology
2.1. Express thanks to the enquiry and confirm your sale
- We thank you for your enquiry dated / ____________12 August, 20-- ________which you asked us about the
range of__
- We are pleased to ____________.of your interest from your letter of__ in our__
=> and are glad/pleased to ________.you that:
- We can supply from ____________ and have no trouble in ____________.the delivery date.
- We will be able to deliver the goods you ______________
2.2 Enclose sales literatures/documents

- As __________., we are pleased to enclose our __
- Enclosed you will find our __________ catalogue, ____________pricelist.
- Details of our terms of ____________for your market are enclosed
=> you will easily find/__________ that our terms and conditions are extremely ____________/
____________/____________.
2.3 State the terms and conditions
(1) Prices
We are pleased to quote as follows:
- The unit price for each item/________._________ is USD 500-FOB, Saigon port__
- The quoted price is firm/________/ ________. until 12 August, 20--only.
- Please _________that the prices should be understood CIF London _________________________ packing
- The prices are ____________to change as the market demand is fluctuating.
(2) Discounts
- Our ____________trade discount for this range is 5% but we are prepared to offer __________5% cash
discount for orders of USD 10000.
-To maintain your ___________with us
-In view of your past __________with us
=> we will be offering an additional rate of 5% to __________ __________ wholesalers like you.
=> We are willing to offer a trade/quantity discount of 5% on order of 5000 units or____________.
(3) Payment
- Payment should be made by L/C at 60 days ____________.
- Payment is ____________ by sight draft, documents against payment. (DP)
(4) Delivery
- Delivery can be made without any delay/within 15 days upon receipt of your ________________ orders.
- As there are regular ____________from Saigon to London every week, __________ goods will reach you
within 30 days from the date of your formal orders.
- On receipt of your firm order, the goods will certainly be arranged for ____________ without any delay and
you will have the goods at ___________ in only 15 days.
29
- You will ____________.have the goods you ask for in 15 days from today’s date ____________ your order
comes to us in ___________ 3 days.
2. 4. Express regret (if any)
(1). Prices and discounts
- Because of their ___________. price and the ___________ profit margin we are __________.on, we will not
be offering any trade discounts on this consignment.
- As the quoted prices have __________us with the smallest profit margins, we regret that we cannot offer you
any discount on orders of ___________ 5000 units.
- It would not be ________________ for us granting a discount of 5% as the usual ______________ of trade
discount in Vietnam for this range is only 3%.
- If you were interested in a cheaper____________ , we would highly ______________ the range of … which
are of a little lower in ________________ but at much lower prices.
(2) Payment
- We regret our ____________to accept payment by T/T because our policy is to require new customers to pay
by L/C to ______________ mutual rights and responsibilities of sellers as well as buyers
- We are sorry that we cannot see our ____________ to accept your requirement for ____________ by DA, 60
days sight draft
- We find it ______________ to offer any credit for this consignment as we often ____________. on low profit
for fast turnover.
(3) Delivery
- As the ____________ for this range is extremely high at this time of the year, you will have to ___________
another 6 weeks before we can make delivery.
- Delivery within 2 weeks ____________ to be impossible for us, as we have to ________________ the goods
from our manufacturers/suppliers.
(4) Size of order
- We are a small supplier and we cannot ____________ deal with orders of 5000 units at one __________
- We are ____________ that, in your case, you should ________________. a retailer rather than a wholesaler.
2.5. Add your favorable comments
- We are ____________ /____________that you will find our products:
 of best value for ____________
 a __________sale
 sell well ____________in your market
 completely meet your customers’____________.
- You can rest ____________that the various designs and ______________ colors of our products will:
 give your customers long lasting____________.
 win the ______________ of your customers
- We are offering the goods at ______________ generous terms and conditions and hope that you do not
________.to miss such an excellent opportunity.
2.6. Hope for order
- If you are interested in /require further information/ If you have any queries/ request:
 please ____________ us on…
 please do not hesitate to let us know
 feel __________ to contact me on…
=> and we will be willing to be of any ____________ to you
- We look forward to:
 receiving your early____________.
 having your early ______________
30
Part 4 Practices
Practice 1. Sentence building: Sort out the jumbled words below to make sentences typical of business
correspondence. Add capital letters and punctuation as necessary.
1. Thank you / our / concerning /inquiry/ displayed / at / your /for / earth-moving equipment / of / 16 August
/the International Farm Machinery Fair.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. list /enclosed /and /our /find /current /catalogue /please /price.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. We/substantial/ are /on /willing /to over /consider /orders /discount/ $300,000.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. With / to /terms /regards/ payment / of / documents / the / would / by /30-day/ consider/ against /we payment
/bill of exchange/ acceptance
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Payment /by /would /established /need /relationship /to /be /sight draft /until /business /we /a /have.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. As/I/our /price/ requested /you/ current/ am /by /catalogue /sending/ express /and /list /to /mail.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. I /within /can /confirm /are /fulfill/ orders /unusual /we /three /months/ unless /there /that /specifications.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. all /normal /machinery /is /three /for /our /against /guaranteed /years /use.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. require /we /that /within /are /confident /can /limit /deliver /we /well /the /two-month time /you.
________________________________________________________________________________
10. any/me /require /you /contact /if /further/ please /information.
________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 2. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words
1. Quotation for potteries
Dear Mrs.
Thank you for you enquiry of 14 May (1)____________ our fitness equipment.
I can (2) ____________ that only the highest-quality materials are used in all our equipment, and this is
reflected in our 5-year (3) ____________ .
Our prices are highly (4) ____________, due to small profit margins, so I (5)____________ that we can not
offer credit (6) ____________ However, we do offer a 5% (7)’ ____________discount on orders over $5,000.
I have (8) ____________ in enclosing our catalogue and a price list. Please (9) ____________. that all prices
are quoted CIF London.
If there is any further (10) ____________ you need, please contact us .
Once again, thank you for your letter.
Yours sincerely
31
2. Quotation for oven-to-table ware
Dear Mr.
Thank you for your (1) ____________ of 28 June in which you expressed an interest in retailing a selection of
our products in your shops in Nancy.
Please find (2) ____________ our current catalogue and price list. You might also be interested in visiting our
website.
In (3) ____________ to your request for a 20% trade discount, we (4)____________ that we cannot offer more
than 15%. However, we do give a 5% (5) ____________ discount on orders over $20,000. In comparison with
similar companies in the UK, these terms are extremely (6) ____________. Payment would need to be by sight
draft until we have (7) ____________ a business relationship.
Finally, we are confident that we can (8) ____________ well within the two-month time limit you (9)
____________
Thank you for your (10) ____________ We hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
J. Merton
Sales Manager
Enc.: Catalogue + Pricelist
3. Quotation for delivery vans
Dear Mr. Russell
Thank you for your phone call of Thursday March (1) ____________ about hiring our delivery vans.
My colleague Ms Angela Smith, who took the call, said you were mainly (2) ____________ in 5-ton vehicles
like the “Tobor”, so I am (3) ____________ our booklet “small truck hire”, giving you details of our (4)
____________ These also appear on our website at www.vanhire.co.uk. You will (5) ____________ that the
summer months of June, July, and August are the least expensive and that we (6) ____________ a 20%
discount on weekend hire, starting Saturday at 08.00 and ending Sunday at 20.00.
Our main (7) ____________ in the UK are in London and Birmingham, but we also have (8) ____________ in
France, Germany, and Italy. If you are thinking of hiring abroad you will (9) ____________ details on our
website.
Please let me know if I can be of (10) ____________ help.
Yours sincerely
Practice 3. English - Vietnamese Translation

Opening
1. We thank you for your enquiry No.103 dated 13 March, 20- and have pleasure in submitting our estimates as
under.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. In reply to your enquiry of… we are glad to inform you that we are in a position to supply you the TL20
television sets.
32
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Thank you for your enquiry of… but we regret to say that we have run out of stock of K135 and for K136 we
do not expect delivery until later this month.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Prices, payment and discount
4. We are sending you a copy of our latest price list under separate cover.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. Because of their low price and the small profit margin we are working on, we shall not be offering any trade
discounts on this consignment.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. Our usual trade discount is 10%. However, in addition to this, 5% discount is allowed to the wholesalers
provided the minimum order is for 10,000 units.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Please note that the above-mentioned prices are FOB Saigon Port excluding packing.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. Prices are subject to variation without notice, in accordance with market fluctuation.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 4. Vietnamese - English Translation

1. Chúng tôi tiếc không thể giao hàng trong vòng hai tuần khi nhận được đơn hàng vì phải cần thời gian để
chuẩn bị nguyên liệu.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. Giá đã báo là giá xuất xưởng nhưng nếu yêu cầu, chúng tôi có thể sắp xếp việc chuyên chở và mua bảo hiểm,
và trừ khi có quy định khác, thanh toán bằng hối phiếu trả trong vòng 30 ngày, trao chứng từ khi chấp nhận trả
tiền.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Chúng tôi thường yêu cầu thanh toán bằng hối phiếu trả ngay, trao chứng từ khi thanh toán. Tuy nhiên chúng
tôi sẽ sẵn sàng xem xét lại vấn đề này một khi chúng ta đã thiết lập một mối quan hệ làm ăn vững chắc.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. Chúng tôi bán rất nhiều loại thiết bị văn phòng và đã gửi kèm bảng giá, báo chi tiết về chiết khấu thương
mại, chiết khấu số lượng cùng với chiết khấu trả sớm đối với lô hàng có trị giá từ 20 ngàn đô la trở lên.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
33
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________________________________________________________________________________
5. Từ bức thư của quý ngài, chúng tôi rất vui được biết rằng những sản phẩm này đang bán chạy tại thị trường
sở tại.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
6. Riêng về mức chiết khấu thương mại, chúng tôi dành mức 25% so với giá bán lẻ cho những nhà bán sỉ có
thiện chí, cùng với mức chiết khấu số lượng 10% cho các đơn hàng trên 1000 chiếc.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi thường chiết khấu số lượng 18% trên giá F.O.B, và yêu cầu thanh toán bằng thư tín dụng không
hủy ngang, trả tiền ngay.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
8. Chúng tôi thường không chiết khấu cho khách hàng mua lẻ nhưng do mối quan hệ làm ăn đã lâu của quý
ngài với chúng tôi, chúng tôi sẽ chấp nhận chiết khấu 20% giá bán lẻ.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
9. Giá này được hiểu là giá CIF, Canbera, Incoterms 2010, bao gồm cả chi phí đóng gói và các phụ kiện.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
10. Yêu cầu thanh toán cho các đơn đặt hàng đầu tiên bằng hối phiếu, trả vào tài khoản của chúng tôi tại ngân
hàng Vietcombank, thanh toán theo chứng từ.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Công ty anh (chị) nhận được thư hỏi hàng của khách hàng, hỏi mua một số loại áo khoác nam nữ. Hãy viết một
thư báo giá gửi theo những ý chính như sau:
- Đối với loại áo khoác mà khách hỏi mua, gửi kèm báo giá cho khách và lưu ý giá này là giá FOB cảng Sài
gòn, không kể đóng gói. Số hàng này có thể giao ngay trong vòng 03 tuần khi nhận được đơn hàng chính thức.
- Vì là đây là khách hàng mới nên công ty sẵn sàng dành mức chiết khấu thương mại cùng với chiết khấu số
lượng là 15% cho mọi đơn hàng có trị giá trên 10.000 đôla Mỹ.
- Yêu cầu khách thanh toán bằng thư tín dụng không hủy ngang tới tài khoản của người bán tại Vietcombank,
cho người bán hưởng 100% trị giá hóa đơn.
Lưu ý: Bắt đầu thư từ “Dear Mr…. ”

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35
Unit 5 MAKING OFFERS
Part 1. Sample letters
1. Offer for sweaters
Dear Sirs
We thank you for your enquiry of 30 August 20—and are pleased to offer you the goods on request under the
following terms and conditions:
1. Commodity: Sweaters for all age groups
2. Specifications: As per enclosed catalogue No. 246/TV and sample sent to you by post today.
3. Quantity: as required and specified in your order.
4. Price: as per attached price list and all the prices should be understood CIF Kobe including packing.
5. Payment: to be made by confirmed irrevocable Letter of Credit, in United States Dollars, opened through
Tokyo Commercial Bank, 15 days prior to the shipment, valid for 45 days, to the account of Vietcombank,
Hochiminh city branch, in our favour for the full value of the goods to be shipped, which mentioned:
Transhipment, partial shipment and re-export are prohibited.
6. Delivery: in one shipment in Mid October, 20—
7. Packing: in export customary standard cartons, suitable for long sea voyage.
8. Validity: This offer is valid and effective until… and subject to our final confirmation.
We are offering our sweaters which are excellent in quality, attractive in designs and competitive in prices in
order to start our sales in Japan. Provided your order is for 20000 pieces or more, we will be prepared to offer
you a 2% discount from the total value of your order.
We look forward to receiving your official order.
Yours faithfully
Encl.: Catalogue & Pricelist
2. Offer for garments

Dear Sirs
We are pleased to make you an offer regarding our “Swinger” dresses and trouser suits in the sizes you require.
Nearly all the models you saw at our fashion show are obtainable, except trouser suits in pink, of which the
smaller sizes have been sold out. This line is being manufactured continuously, but will only be available again
in February, so could be delivered to you in March.
All other models can be supplied by the middle of January 20---, subject to our receiving your firm order by
15th November. Our C.I.F prices to be for sea/land transport to Chicago. If you would prefer the goods to be
sent by air freight, this will be charged extra at cost.
Commodity:
- Trousers suits sizes 8 - 16 in white, yellow, red, turquoise, navy blue, black. Sizes 12 - 14 also in pink.
per 100: $2,650.00
- Swinger dresses sizes 1 -16 in white, yellow, red, turquoise, black: per 100: $1,845.00
Prices: valid until 31 December, 20 --
Delivery: C.I.F. Chicago, sea freight
Payment: by irrevocable letter of credit, or cheque with order.
You will be receiving cuttings of our materials and a color chart. These were airmailed to you this morning.
We hope you agree that our prices are very competitive for these good quality clothes, and look forward to
receiving your initial order.
Yours faithfully
36
3. Offer for aluminums fittings
Dear Sirs
We thank you for your letter of 25 June, and are glad to inform you that all the items listed in your enquiry are
in stock. We are enclosing a pro forma invoice for the aluminums fittings you are interested in; if you wish to
place a firm order, will you please arrange for settlement of the invoice by draft through your bank, and advise
us at the same time.
We can guarantee delivery in Melbourne within 3 weeks of receiving your instructions. If you require the items
urgently, we will arrange for them to be sent by air, but this will, of course, entail higher freight charges.
We are enclosing details of our terms of payment, and would be happy to discuss discounts with you if you
would let us know how large your orders are likely to be.
We are also enclosing a copy of the report, which appeared in the March issue of The Metal Worker, on our
ALUMOY fittings.
We are looking forward to hearing from you, and assure you that your orders will receive our immediate
attention.
Yours faithfully
4. Offer for raincoats
Dear Sirs
We are very glad to have your letter of 1 December and to hear that you have been receiving enquiries about
our weatherproof coats.
The Lifewater range you mention has been a great success wherever it has been introduced, and we are already
exporting it to several tropical countries, in both Asia and Africa. Unlike many waterproof coats, the Lifewater
does not cause excessive condensation on the inside surface, and so would be suitable for your climate.
We can quote you the following prices:
- 250 Lifewater coats, women's, medium USD 375.00
- 250 -do- small USD 375.00
- 250 -do- medium USD 493.75
- 250 -do- small USD 43125
- F.O.B Liverpool USD 167,500
- Freight Liverpool Calcutta USD 5020.00
- Insurance USD 18 30.00
- Total USD 1,743.50
We will be able to ship the raincoats within 2 - 3 weeks of receiving your order.
We are grateful to you for your suggestion concerning an ultra lightweight coat for the Indian market, and are
pleased to inform you that we have been looking into the question of a suitable material for some time now.
Our Research Department assure us that they will have a model ready in the very near future, and we will come
back to the matter as soon as we have some definite news for you.
We are enclosing full details of our terms of business, and have sent you by separate post a set of descriptive
brochures of our products, and a supply of sales literature.
We look forward to hearing from you again.
Yours faithfully
37
5. Offer for floor covering
Dear Mr.
In your letter of 1 May you ask us to send you samples of our rubberized floor coverings for use on rough
surfaces. We appreciate your interest, and have today despatched a range of qualities which we have selected
specially to meet your needs.
All of these materials are robust and hard wearing, and we particularly recommend No.7 which is a synthetic
substance developed by our research department to withstand the wear and tear of rough, and uneven floors.
Please give the samples any test you wish: we are confident that they will stand up to the roughest handling.
Our price list is enclosed, together with our trade terms, as we think you will need these when you have
completed your tests. It will be a pleasure to quote you terms for contract supplies, and our technical
representatives are at your service at all times.
Yours sincerely
1. As a result of the favorable supply situation Do tình hình bán hàng rất thuận lợi hiện nay, chúng tôi
we are able to offer you firm, for immediate có thể chào hàng cố định cho quý ngài, giao hàng ngay.
delivery.
2. We thank you for your inquiry of 15 June and Chúng tôi cám ơn thư hỏi hàng của quý ngài đề ngày
are glad to learn of your requirements / demands 15/6 và vui mừng được biết rằng quý ngài có nhu cầu
for… (to learn that you are interested in our…) mua…
3. We have pleasure in receiving your inquiry Chúng tôi lấy làm hân hạnh nhận được thư hỏi hàng
dated… and glad to submit the following offer / của quý ngài đề ngày… và vui mừng chào bán hàng
our offer with the terms and conditions as theo những điều khoản và điều kiện như sau.
follows.
4. You will find enclosed with this letter a Quý ngài sẽ thấy kèm theo thư này là mẫu hàng…
sample/pattern of…
5. We can offer you for immediate shipment, Chúng tôi có thể chào bán cho quý ngài giao hàng ngay
6,000 tons of lubricant, as per sample LO34, at 6000 tấn dầu nhớt, theo mẫu hàng số LO34, với giá
the price of… per ton CIF Saigon port and là… một tấn CIF cảng Sài Gòn và thanh toán bằng L/C
payment to be made by irrevocable letter of không hủy ngang như thường lệ.
credit as usual.
6. Payment is made against B/L, an invoice, by Thanh toán khi xuất trình vận đơn, hóa đơn bằng L/C
L/C opened in our favor at London Commercial mở cho chúng tôi hưởng tại ngân hàng thương mại
Bank for the full value of the commodity London cho toàn bộ trị giá lô hàng dự tính sẽ giao.
intended for the shipment.
7. The price quoted includes packing in special Giá đã báo bao gồm cả chi phí đóng gói trong các
export cases. thùng hàng có tiêu chuẩn xuất khẩu đặc biệt.
8. We offer the goods subject to their being Chúng tôi chào bán hàng tùy thuộc vào hàng vẫn chưa
unsold on receipt of your order. được bán khi nhận được đơn hàng của quý ngài.
9. Please note that this offer is firm / valid and Xin quý ngài lưu ý rằng chào hàng này cố định/ (có hiệu
effective until… / for (within) 15 days. lực) cho đến ngày…/trong vòng 15 ngày.
10. In view of the heavy demand for this line, we Xét đến nhu cầu cao đối với mặt hàng này, chúng tôi
advise you to order at once. khuyên quý ngài đặt hàng ngay.
11. Due to demand of this commodity on the Do nhu cầu đối với mặt hàng này trên thị trường thế
world markets greatly exceeding the supplies, we giới vượt quá mức cung, chúng tôi sẽ không thể bán
38
shall be unable to obtain further supplies. hàng cho quý ngài được nữa.
Ask for instructions
12. Please, cable your acceptance immediately Xin quý ngài điện chấp nhận ngay đối với chào hàng
for the present offer remains open for it within 15 này vì nó chỉ có hiệu lực trong vòng 15 ngày.
days.
13. If our proposal is acceptable to you, please Nếu quý ngài chấp nhận đề nghị của chúng tôi, xin hãy
confirm by return. xác nhận bằng thư về.
14. Please send us your instructions by telex so Xin quý ngài hãy gửi cho chúng tôi chỉ dẫn của quý
as we can learn of your exact requirement. ngài bằng telex để chúng tôi có thể biết được yêu cầu
cụ thể của quý ngài.
15. We look forward to receiving your early Chúng tôi mong sớm nhận được đơn hàng chính thức
official order. của quý ngài.
16. We hope that you will take every advantage Chúng tôi hy vọng rằng quý ngài sẽ tận dụng được
of this exceptional offer and let us have your chào hàng đặc biệt này và gửi cho chúng tôi xác nhận
purchase confirmation. mua hàng.
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an offer
1. Structure of an offer
(1) Opening
- Express thanks for an enquiry
- Pleasure to offer
(2) Major Terms and Conditions
- Commodity - Payment
- Quality - Delivery
- Quantity - Packing and marking
- Price - Validity
(3) Additional suggestions
- Ask for instructions
- Give comments, encourage an order or promise
- Offer for other items
(4) Closing
- Hope for future order
2. Phraseoloy
2.1. Opening
Express thanks for an enquiry
- We thank you for your inquiry of … and are pleased to______________ of your requirements / demand for…
- We are pleased to learn from your inquiry dated.. that you are ______________ in our range of…
Pleasure to offer
- As a result of the______________supply situation we are able to offer you firm, for ______________delivery
the range of …
- You will be glad to learn that improved methods of production have ______________us to offer you our
products of… at a ______________ price for large quantities
=> Please ______________the following terms and conditions:
=> We, therefore, are making a ______________offer on the terms and conditions as follows:
39
2.2. Terms and conditions
(1) Commodity
General stipulations:
Principal name+ Brand name + main specifications/description + year of manufacture + Origin
E.g.: ____________________________________________________________________________________
- TOYOTA Tractors Model LH97, brand new, made in 20--, in Japan.
(2) Quality/Description/ Specifications
a) Sale by sample
e.g.:
- As per sample (kept by/ sent to)
- About as per sample____________by seller____________by both parties, at buyer’s/ seller’s/ a third party’s
(bank, ICC…)____________, such sample forms an____________part of this offer.
b) Sale by standard
- In accordance with the Vietnamese State’s Standard No.TCVN… in ____________in Vietnam
c) Sale by Technical documents (Catalogue, Index, Appendix, Annex No…)
- In ____________with Seller’s Technical Drawing, signed by both parties attached herein, being an integral
part of the ____________offer.
- See the annex/index/appendix ____________ herein…
d) Sale as seen/ Sale as is; (Inspected and approved)

- The goods will be supplied on the basis of “sale as is”/ “inspected and approved by the buyer”
e) Sale by description:
- Stating the specifications of the goods
Agricultural products:
rice-grain, maize, groundnut kernel, sesame, cassava, coffee bean, cashew-nuts…
Specifications:
Agricultural products:
- Foreign matters, Humidity, Moisture
- Granity, Broken, Defective nuts
- Grain size, Inherent vice
E.g.: Vietnamese Long white Rice
Humidity: 14.5% max.
Foreign matters: 0.4% Max
- Machinery: Capacity, engine (cubic Cm), performance…
(3) Quantity
- Unit calculated, quantity, weight: Unit/ piece/ set/ service/ dozen/ gross…
- Tolerance/approximately/ more or less/ (+/)
- The option of tolerance: at buyer’s/seller’s option/ Price applied to the optional quantity.
- Franchising
- Spare parts /accessories … included or excluded
E.g.:
- Quantity: 1000 MT, 5% more or less at seller’s option; Franchising: 1%.
40
(4) Price (7 items)
• Paying currency, Calculating currency (If any)/ Rate of exchange (if any)
• Unit of weights and measures: e.g.: 80,000USD/set/gross/MT…
• Terms of delivery: FAS/FOB/CIF…
• Documents referred: with/without Incoterms or any other documents
• Packing charge included or excluded
• With or without spare parts/ accessories/ empty bags
E.g.:
Unit Price: USD20/Unit, FOB Saigon port, subject to Incoterms 2010, including packing, 300 empty boxes
Total Value: USD 20,000.00
(In words: twenty thousand US dollars only)
(5) Payment
a) General stipulations
• By TT/ cash
• Collection: DA; DP
• Mail order: COD, CWO (for domestic transactions)
b) Payment by L/C (8 items)
- Type of L/C used: Deferred/ sight L/C - Value of L/C
- Name of issuing bank - Name of beneficiary
- Name of advising bank - Validity of L/C
- Currency of L/C - Documents required: Invoice, B/L, Packing List…
Example:
Payment (1) is made by confirmed irrevocable Letter of Credit, (2) in United States Dollars, (3) opened at
Tokyo Commercial Bank, (4) 15 days prior to the shipment, (5) valid for 45 days, (6) to the account of
Vietcombank, (7) in our favour for the full value of the goods to be shipped, which mentioned: Transshipment,
partial shipment and re-export are prohibited, (8) against the following documents in triplicate unless
otherwise stated:
Common documents required:
(1) Full set of Clean on board B/L (3/3) (6) Certificate of Origin
(2) Signed Commercial Invoice (7) Work’s Test certificate
(3) Packing List (8) Consular Invoice (duplicate)
(4) Mate’s receipt (duplicate) (9) Insurance policy/certificate
(5) Inspection certificates, such as Certificate of
quality/ quantity/fumigation/sanitary..
(6) Delivery
- Time of delivery
- Place of delivery: port of loading/discharge/ transshipment…
- Other stipulations: partial shipments, transshipment: allowed/ prohibited; stale B/L: acceptable/ unacceptable
E.g.:
Delivery:
- In one shipment in July,20—
- Port of loading: Saigon port
- Port of discharge: Liverpool
- Transshipment: prohibited
- Partial shipment: prohibited
- Stale B/L: not accepted
41
(7) Packaging and marking
a) Packaging
General stipulations
- in accordance with your/buyer’s instructions.

- suitable for sea transport / in export standard packing
- in sea worthy packing/ in unused cases
Particular stipulations:
Type of packaging, material used, plies, strapping, hooping, nailing…
b) Marking
General stipulations
- In accordance with your/the buyer’s instructions
- In weather-proof ink/paint
Particular stipulations:
- Wording + illustrative symbol
(8) Validity
- This offer is valid and effective/ ____________ for .... days; until .....( and has to be confirmed by us
thereafter)
- This offer remains ____________for it within ... days.
- Subject to the goods being ____________when the order is received.
- Prices quoted are ____________.and not subject to changes/ ____________./ increase provided our offer is
accepted within the next 20 days
3. Additional suggestions
(1) Ask for instructions
- Please cable your____________immediately for the present offer remains ____________for it within 15
days.
- If you decide to ____________our offer, please cable your acceptance by return of post.
- Please send us your ____________by telex so that we can learn of your exact ____________.
(2) Give comments, encourage an order and promise
- Our whole____________is at your service. We hope you will make use of it / take every advantage of this
offer.
- We should appreciate the opportunity of showing you how ____________we can serve you.
- If you think that our offer meets your____________, please let us have your order at an early date, as
____________are limited
(3) Offer for other items
- If you are not interested in the above mentioned range, we would take a ____________ of enclosing our
similar ones, which are of different ____________for your consideration.
- If you find the prices offered for the goods in____________ high, we are enclosing the similar ranges, which
are of little ____________quality but at much more ____________ prices.
4. Closing
Positive ending: Hope for future order
- We look forward to receiving your early order
- We will hold a quantity in ____________ for you, as we feel sure you would not wish to miss such an
opportunity.
42
Part 4. Practices
Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words or phrases
1. Offer for plastic kitchenware
Dear Sirs
We are very (1)_____________ to have your enquiry, and are (2)_____________ the price list you (3)
_____________, together with our terms of sale.
As you have evidently realized, plastic kitchenware is here to stay it has already ousted heavy and expandable
metal, glass and china from the modern kitchen. Dealers who have displayed our brightly coloured range have
reported good sales even in the present season, when hardware sales are usually (4) _____________ their
lowest.
After studying our prices and our liberal terms to the (5) _____________, you will understand why we are
working (6) _____________ capacity to (7)_____________ the demand. We would advise you, therefore, to
(8)_____________. us have your order by the end of the month, as this will enable you to have stock of our
attractive lines by Easter.
We look (9) _____________ to the (10) _____________ of being of service to you.
Yours faithfully
2. Offer for furniture and fittings
Dear Sirs
We (1) _____________ you for your enquiry of 31 January, and can confirm our telephone conversation of
yesterday, in which we (2) _____________ you that we can (3) _____________ part of the goods required
from (4) _____________, in (5) _____________ with the enclosed detailed offer. For the balance we would
require approximately three weeks from the (6)_____________ of receiving your confirmation that this
arrangement is acceptable.
Prices (7) _____________ are f.o.b. London.
(8) _____________ in wooden cases.
Delivery as specified above.
Payment (9) _____________ documents, by banker's draft.
We hope your client will (10) _____________ our terms and delivery dates satisfactory, and we can assure you
that you may count on our full co operation and attention in this matter.
Yours faithfully
3. Offer for fashion goods

Dear Sirs
We thank you for your enquiry (1) _____________ 12 October, and appreciate your interest in our (2)
_____________
Details of our export prices and (3) _____________ of payment are enclosed, and we have arranged for a copy
of our catalogue to be (4_____________ to you today.
Our representative for Europe, Mr. Nam, will be in Paris from the 24th to the 30th of this month, and we have
asked him to (5) _____________ an appointment to visit you during this period. He will have with him a full
(6)_____________ of samples of our hand made lines, and is authorized to discuss the (7) _____________ of
an order with you or to (8) _____________ a contract.
We think our (9) _____________ will be what you wish for the fashionable trade, and look forward to the
opportunity of (10) _____________ business with you.
Yours faithfully
43
Practice 2. Sort out the jumbled words below to make sentences typical of business correspondence. Add
capital letters and punctuation as necessary.
1. are /best/ the / all/ quality/ made/ material/ the/ from/ very/ items/.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. prevents/ wool/ special/ the/ strength/ which/ shrinkage/ undergoes/ and/ a/ process/ increases/.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. all/ we/ one/ separate/ under/ each/ items/ cover/ of / have/ sample/ sent/ for/.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. as/ compete/ the/ products/ of/ we/ exporting/ companies/ any/ quality/ with/ are/ our/ other/ can/ .
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. lower/ for/ similar/ The/ those/ are/ competitors/ of/ than/ prices/ products/ our/ quality/ offered/ of/ .
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 3. English-Vietnamese Translation
1. This price is subject to change without notice.
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. We have cabled you our new price for our new sewing machine this morning. The new price will become
effective tomorrow.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. We should note you that our offer is subject to our standard conditions of sales.
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. We would remind you that the offer made in our last letter is valid for one month from the date of the letter.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. On your request, we now keep this firm open for a further ten days from 10th March.
___________________________________________________________________________________
6. Our prices are in force if you order by return mail.
___________________________________________________________________________________
7. Our prices are binding until 30th June.
___________________________________________________________________________________
8. This offer is firm subject to your reply reaching us not later than the 22nd.
___________________________________________________________________________________
9. We offer you firm for three days on FOB basis.
___________________________________________________________________________________
10. In case of firm offers, we usually keep our offers open for three days.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 4. Vietnamese-English Translation
1. Trị giá của đơn hàng của chúng tôi tùy thuộc rất nhiều vào mức giá của quý công ty.
___________________________________________________________________________________
2. Chúng tôi nhận thấy rằng thị trường của các ngài đang có nhu cầu lớn đối với giày thể thao và nhân dịp này
xin gửi kèm báo giá số… để các ngài xem xét.
___________________________________________________________________________________
44
___________________________________________________________________________________
3. Chúng tôi vui mừng chào bán cho số hàng hóa liệt kê trong chào hàng số … và hy vọng rằng sẽ sớm nhận
được hồi âm của các ngài.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
4. Hiện nay, chúng tôi muốn mở rộng việc bán hàng quần áo thể thao sang thị trường của các ngài và hi vọng
rằng các ngài sẽ quan tâm tới ngành hàng này.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
5. Chúng tôi xin gửi kèm thư này báo giá mới nhất cho loại áo khoác hiện đang có nhu cầu cao tại thị trường
các ngài.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
6. Chúng tôi tin tưởng rằng chào hàng trên sẽ được các ngài chấp nhận và rất mong muốn nhận được đơn đặt
hàng mua thử.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi sẵn sàng chiết khấu đặc biệt 3% cho các ngài với bất kỳ đơn đặt hàng nào nhận được vào trước
ngày 6 tháng 5.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
8. Chúng tôi đang chào bán những mặt hàng có chất lượng thực sự cao nhất theo những điều kiện hết sức có lợi
và rất hoan nghênh cơ hội phục vụ quý công ty.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
9. Vì số hàng trong kho hạn chế, chúng tôi khuyên quý khách nên đặt hàng ngay.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
10. Chào hàng này là cố định, tùy thuộc vào việc chúng tôi nhận được thư trả lời trước ngày 15 tháng 8.
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Viết thư theo gợi ý dưới đây.
Sau khi nhận được thư hỏi hàng đề ngày…. của khách hàng ở Indonesia, công ty anh chị nhận thấy có thể chào
hàng với những điều khoản và điều kiện sau đây:
1. Tên hàng: Máy xén cỏ (grass-cutter)
2. Quy cách phẩm chất: Theo như catalog đính kèm số AB234.
3. Số lượng: 500 chiếc.
4. Đơn giá: 30USD/ chiếc FOB cảng Sài Gòn, không kể chi phí đóng gói bao bì.
5. Đóng gói: theo tiêu chuẩn đóng gói bao bì xuất khẩu của Việt Nam.
6. Thanh toán: bằng L/C có xác nhận, trả tiền ngay như thường lệ.
Hãy viết thư chào hàng theo gợi ý trên, cuối thư, bày tỏ mong muốn sớm nhận được đặt hàng của khách và nói
thêm về uy tín của công ty trong việc thực hiện các đơn hàng của khách.
Bắt đầu thư từ “Dear Sir”.
45
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
46
Unit 6 PLACING AN ORDER
1. Placing an order for fancy rush mats
Dear Sirs
Order No. 1001/RM
We thank you for your offer No. 303/RM dated 10th July and have pleasure in placing our order on the
following terms and conditions:
1. Commodity: fancy rush mats
2. Quality and specifications: as per attached specification and designs.
3. Quantity: 5,000 (five thousand) pieces
4. Price:
Unit price: USD 0.45/piece
Total value: USD 1,250.00. (In words: one thousand two hundred and fifty US dollars only). The price is C.I.F.
Hamburg including packing, subject to Incoterms 2010.
5. Payment: By an irrevocable letter of credit opened in favor of the seller to the account at Vietcombank,
Hochiminh city and confirmed by London Commercial Bank, 15 days prior to the first shipment, which
mentions: Partial shipment is allowed.
6. Delivery: 3,000 Ps in September, 20 –; 2,000 Ps in October, 20—
7. Packing and marking: to be wrapped in strong rush matting, steel hooped, 20 pieces in one bag, and marked
1001/2/TVTL
8. Insurance: The goods are required to be insured under Marine All Risks terms from warehouse Vietnam to
warehouse Hamburg. The insurance is to be effected with a first class Vietnamese or foreign insurance
company.
Please confirm your acceptance of this order and such acceptance should arrive not later than 14 days after the
date of this order.
Yours faithfully
For International Import CO.
(Signed)
M. Belter
Purchasing Manager
2. Order form for sweaters

F. Lynch & Co. Ltd.
Nesson House, Newell Street, Birmingham B3 3EF, UK
Telephone: 021 236 789 Fax: 021 236 8592 Telex: 341641
Hoang Gia Co., Ltd. 9 March 20--
76 Tran Phu Street District 5
Hochiminh city, Vietnam
ORDER NO. 3678
\
Comments:
47
- 15% Trade Disc.
- Payment: by D/P
- Shipment: 6 weeks from the date of this order
- Packing: in customary export cases.
For F. Lynch & Co. Ltd
(signed)
L. Crane (Chief Buyer)
3. Placing an order for Crockery
Dear Mr Merton
Please find enclosed an order (R1432) from our principals, MacKenzie Bros Ltd., 1 S Whale Drive, Dawson,
Ontario, Canada.
They have asked us to instruct you that the 60 sets of crockery ordered should be packed in six crates, ten sets
per crate, with each piece individually wrapped, and the crates marked clearly with their name, the words
'fragile', 'crockery', and numbered 1 6.
They have agreed to pay by letter of credit, which we discussed on the phone last week, and they would like
delivery before the end of this month, which should be easily effected as there are regular sailings from
Liverpool.
If the colors they have chosen are not in stock, they will accept an alternative provided the designs are those
stipulated on the order.
Please send any further correspondence relating to shipment or payment direct to MacKenzie Bros. and let us
have a copy of the commercial invoice when it is made up.
Yours sincerely
4. Advice of despatch
Dear Mr. …
Order 81432
The above order has now been completed and sent to Liverpool Docks where it is awaiting loading onto SS
Manitoba which sails for Dawson Canada on the 16 July and arrives on 30th July.
Once we have the necessary documents we will hand them to Burnley City Bank, your bank's agents here, and
they will forward them to the Canadian Union Trust Bank.
We have taken special care to see that the goods have been packed as per your instructions; the six crates being
marked with your name, and numbered 1 6. Each crate measures 6ft x 4ft x 3ft and weighs 5cwt.
We managed to get all items from stock with the exception of Cat. No. G16 which we only had in red. But we
included it in the consignment as it had the Willow pattern you asked for.
If there is any further information you require, please contact us. Thank you very much for your order, and we
look forward to hearing from you again soon.
Yours sincerely
48
5. Delay in delivery - Reason: bankruptcy of supplier
Dear Mr. ...
I am writing to you concerning your order, No. CU 1154/d which you placed four weeks ago. At that time we
had expected to be able to complete the order well within the delivery date we gave you which was 18 June, but
since then we have heard that our main supplier of chrome has gone bankrupt.
This means that we have to find another supplier who could fulfill all the outstanding contracts we have to
complete. As you will appreciate this will take some time, but we are confident that we should be able to
arrange to get our materials and deliver consignments to our customers by the middle of next month.
The units themselves have been assembled and simply now need completing. We regret this unfortunate
situation over which we had no control and apologize for the inconvenience. If you wish to cancel the order it
would be quite understandable, but we stress that we will be able to complete delivery by next month and
would appreciate it if you could bear with us till then.
Please let us know your decision as soon as possible. Thank you for your consideration.
Yours sincerely

1. We thank you for your offer No. 303/RM dated Chúng tôi cảm ơn chào hàng số 303/RM đề ngày
10th July. 10/7.
2. We have pleasure in placing our order on the Chúng tôi rất vui mừng đặt hàng theo những điều
following terms and conditions. khoản và điều kiện sau.
3. Payment is to be made by an irrevocable letter of Thanh toán bằng thư tín dụng không thể hủy ngang
credit opened in favor of the seller to the account at mở qua ngân hàng thương mại Vietcombank cho
Vietcombank. người bán hưởng.
4. They have asked us to instruct you that the 60 Họ đã yêu cầu chúng tôi cho ông biết là 60 bộ chén
sets of crockery ordered should be packed in six đĩa được đặt cần phải đóng gói trong sáu thùng, mỗi
crates, ten sets per crate, with each piece thùng 10 bộ, mỗi chiếc phải được gói riêng, và các
individually wrapped, and the crates marked clearly thùng phải được ghi rõ tên của công ty họ, có các chữ
with their name, the words ‘fragile’, ‘crockery’ and ‘hàng dễ vỡ’, ‘hàng chén đĩa’, và được đánh số từ 1 –
numbered 1 – 6. 6.
5. If the colors they have chosen are not in stock, Nếu không có màu sắc mà họ đã chọn, họ sẽ chấp
they will accept an alternative provided the designs nhận màu khác miễn là mẫu mã đúng như quy định
are those stipulated on the order. trong đơn hàng.
6. Let us have a copy of the commercial invoice Đề nghị gửi cho chúng tôi bản sao hóa đơn thương
when it is made up. mại sau khi lập.
7. The above order has now been completed and Đơn đặt hàng trên hiện đã hoàn tất và chuyển tới
sent to Liverpool Docks where it is awaiting loading cảng Liverpool, đang chờ bốc lên tàu SS Manitoba đi
on to SS Manitoba which sails for Dawson Canada. Dawson, Canada.
8. We have taken special care to see that the goods Chúng tôi đặc biệt lưu ý tới việc đóng gói hàng hóa
have been packed as per your instructions. như chỉ dẫn của quý ngài.
9. We managed to get all items from stock with the Chúng tôi có khả năng giao ngay mọi mặt hàng, trừ
exception of Cat. No. G16 which we only had in mặt hàng số G16 trên ca-ta-lô, là loại chúng tôi chỉ
red. có màu đỏ.
10. We regret this unfortunate situation over which Chúng tôi rất tiếc về tình huống không may nằm
we had no control and apologize for the ngoài tầm kiểm soát của chúng tôi và thành thực xin
inconvenience. lỗi về sự phiền phức này.
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Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an order
1. Structure of an order
1.1 Opening
- Express thanks to an offer/ quotation (if any)
- Pleasure to order
1.2 Terms and Conditions
(1) Commodity (5) Payment (9) Insurance
(2) Quality/ Specifications (6) Delivery (10) Technical documents
(3) Quantity (7) Packing (11) Guarantee/Warranty
(4) Price (8) Marking (12) Validity
1.3 Ending
- Stress the importance of due/promp delivery
- Hope for acceptance
- Positive ending
2. Phraseology
2.1. Opening
1. Express thanks for offer/quotation
- We thank you very much for your Offer (______________,______________) No 123 for ABC and are pleased
to place our firm Order No… under the terms and conditions as follows
2. Pleasure to order
- We ______________to purchase your range of ABC for immediate (June) shipment
- We are______________in your range of ABC and have______________to place a firm order with you.
=> Here are the terms and conditions and we hope you will find them______________
3. Terms and conditions
(1) Commodity
(2) Quality/Description/ Specifications
(3) Quantity => The same as an offer
(4) Price
(5) Payment
(6) Delivery
(7) Packing
E.g.: “In order to avoid (______________,______________) possible damage (______________ ,
______________ , ______________, ______________)
=> The goods are required to be packed (______________,______________) in strong (______________)
cartons (crates, boxes, cases….)
=> The cases (parcels, boxes,…) must be strengthened (______________ ,______________, ______________
) with ______________ (tape, ______________)
(8) Marking
- Marking is required to be made in weather-proof (______________) ink (______________).
- On the front side of the case, the name of the ______________, the name port of______________, the origin
of the goods and the case numbers should be______________.marked such as:
A.B.C, Saigon Port, Vietnam, Made in Japan, C/No 1/50
(9) Insurance
- Insurance shall be ______________ by the seller from a first class insurer nominated by the buyer, under the
terms:
+ Clause A/B/C
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+ All risks: “From Warehouse Liverpool, U.K to Warehouse Saigon port, Vietnam
- The goods are required to be______________, under Marine All Risks terms, from warehouse Vietnam
to______________ Hamburg. The insurance is to be______________with a first class Vietnamese or foreign
insurer.
(10) Technical documents
- Technical documents are required to be made in 03 sets. 01 set should be ______________ to us earlier for
translation______________ The other 02 will be shipped with the______________
- All the necessary technical documents______________with the machine must be signed by you and sent to us
immediately upon your______________to this order.
(11) Guarantee/Warranty
- Guarantee will be 12 months from the date of delivery/______________/ ______________The seller shall be
liable for any defect, ______________in the goods delivered. If any defect comes to ______________ during
this period, the seller shall replace, ______________ , modify, ______________ , or make good such
______________ free of charge to the buyer.
- Warranty is 24 months after dispatch. Should the machines ______________to be defective during the
guarantee period, the Seller______________to replace or repair any defective part free of charge; this
warranty does not______________ to normal wear and tear or damage caused by ______________storage or
______________maintenance
(12) Validity
- This order is valid and ______________for 15 days from the date of this order.
- This order is______________ until 15 August, 20—
3. Ending
Stress the importance of due delivery
- We shall be very grateful for due (______________) shipment as we are in______________ need of the
goods for delivery.
Hope for acceptance
- I look forward to receiving your advice of dispatch/ ______________/______________. / confirmation.
Positive endings
We hope/trust that :
=> this will be the first of ______________ orders we will be placing with you
=> we will be able to submit______________orders with you , if this one is completed to our ______________
=> the ______________of this order will lead to further business between our corporations.
Part 4. Practices
Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words

1. Letter 1
Dear Mr.
Thank you for your order No. R497 which we are (1)_________ present making (2) _________ The
instruments will be (3) _________ individually in 8 crates numbered and marked (4) _________ our logo. They
will be (5) _________ airfreight CIF Marseille to reach you no (6) _________ than 18 May.
Our invoice showing the 12% trade and 3% quantity (7) _________, the insurance certificate, and the air (8)
_________ -bill will be sent to the Bank of Marseille as (9) _________
Yours (10) _________
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2. Letter 2
Dear Sirs,
Further to our telephone conversation on Friday, I am writing to you (1) _________ your order, No. SX1940,
which was (2) _________ with us on 10 January.
Once again, I must (3) _________ for the delay in processing this order. This was due to a staffing (4)
_________ . However, since I spoke to you, we have (5) _________ four new employees at our depot, and I am
pleased to tell you that your order is now ready for despatch. It will (6) _________ you within five working
days.
Special (7) _________ has been taken to ensure that the (8) _________ has been packed (9) _________ to your
requirements. Each item will be individually wrapped to (10) _________ damage.
Yours faithfully,
3. Choose the best verb or phrase to complete each sentence

1. We would like to _____________an order with you for 5,000 units.
2. As we are unable to supply the quantity you asked for, we would have no objection if you preferred to
_____________your order.
3. I am writing to _____________your order, which we received this morning, for 20 ‘Omega Engineers’.
4. We are pleased to inform you that your order K451 has already been _____________ from our depot.
5. Please _____________ your order in writing, so that we can inform your distribution depot.
6. Your order was _____________ yesterday on the MV Oxford.
7. Unfortunately, we shall have to _____________your order unless payment is settled in cash.
8. I would like to reassure you that your order will be _____________ in our depot by staff who have
experience in handling these delicate materials.
9. As soon as the bank _____________ the shipping documents, the credit will be released.
10. If some of the items are out of stock, please do not send _____________
Practice 2. Underline the correct word in the brackets
Dear (1) (Sirs, Mr.…, John)

We are pleased to (2) (advise, advice, guide) you of the despatch of (3)(order, command, request) number
ML/D6320 which was collected this morning for (4) (jet, plane, air) freighting to London by Air India.
We enclosed the air way-(5) (receipt, bill, invoice), insurance (6) (note, certification, certificate), and (7)
(invoice, bill, receipt) for freight and insurance charges.
We look forward to (8) (further, later, latter) orders from you.

Yours (9) (sincerely, faithfully, regards)
(signed)
Dillip Patel
Export Manager
Enc: (10) (3, 2, 4)
52
Practice 3. Match the word in column A with the definition in column B
A B
1. Compliments slip a. Person or organization that conveys goods to their destination.
2. Invoice b. Letter accompanying a document or goods, explaining the contents.
3. Forwarding agent c. List of goods or services that states how much must be paid for them.
4. Settlement d. Document informing a customer that a consignment is on its way to them.
5. Airway bill e. Amount taken off the usual selling price of goods because the buyer is
purchasing a large quantity.
6. Ship f. Small piece of paper with a company’s details on it.
7. Covering letter g. To send goods by road, rail, air, or sea.
8. Advice note h. Document that gives information about goods sent by air.
9. Trade discount i. Payment of an account
10. Quantity discount j. Amount taken off the usual selling price of goods when they are sold by a
manufacturer or wholesaler to a retailer.
Practice 4 All the sentences below given reasons for refusing an order. Match the sentences in column A with
sentences in column B with similar meanings.
A B
1. We don’t make this product now because a. Unfortunately, we do not have the capacity to supply
people don’t buy enough of it. an order as large as this.
2. We can’t sell you anything unless you pay b. We can’t let you have 15% off because we price our
cash. products as cheaply as possible.
3. We cannot offer the discount you suggest as c. There’s no way we can deliver in such a short time.
our profit margins are extremely low.
4. We can’t possibly fill this huge order: it’s d. We have stopped manufacturing this product as there
more than our total output for at least six is no longer sufficient demand.
months.
5. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee delivery e. We regret that we would only be prepared to supply on
within five working days. a cash basis.

1. We are pleased to inform you that we have already made up your order, No. 9901/1/5, for 50 canteens of
‘Silverline’ cutlery, and are now making arrangements for shipment to Rotterdam.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Your order No. 6712/1 is now being processed and should be ready for dispatch by next week.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. We have pleasure in supplying 60 tons with first shipment of 30 tons and followed by the balance which we
will further inform you after we receive shipment notice of the first order of 30 tons.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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4. I was surprised and sorry to hear that your consignment (Order No. B145) has not reached you. On enquiry I
found that it had been delayed by a local dispute on the cargo vessel SS Hamburg on which it had been loaded.
I am now trying to get the goods transferred to the SS Samoa which should sail for Yokohama before the end of
next week. However, I shall keep you informed.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. I am writing to tell you that there will be a three-week delay in delivery. This is due to a fire at our Greenford
works which destroyed most of the machinery. Nevertheless, your order has been transferred to our Slough
factory and is being processed there. I apologize for the delay which was due to circumstances beyond our
control.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
6. We regret to inform you that there will be a hold up/ delay in getting your consignment to you. This is due to
the cut in supplies from Gara where civil war suddenly broke out last week. We have contacted a possible
supplier in Lagos and he will let us know if he can help us. If you wish to cancel your order, you may, but I
think you will find most manufacturers are experiencing the same difficulties at present.
____________________________________________________________________________________
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____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
7. We are sorry to say that we are completely out of stock of this item and it will be at least six weeks before we
get our next delivery, please contact us then.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
8. Thank you for your order for heavy-duty industrial overalls. Unfortunately we have run out of the
strengthened denim style you asked for. As you have particularly requested only this material, we will not offer
a substitute, but will inform you immediately we receive delivery of a new consignment. This will be within the
next two months.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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9. We receive your order for ACN dynamos today, but regret that due to a strike at the ACN factory we are
unable to fulfil it at present. We are aware that other models will not suit your requirements, but hope that the
dispute will be settled soon and that we will be able to supply you. We will keep you informed of
developments.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
10. We never offer quarterly terms on initial orders, even to customers who can provide references. However,
we might consider this sort of credit once we have established a trading relationship.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 6 Vietnamese-English Translation
1. Chúng tôi xin cám ơn thư chào hàng của quý ngài đề ngày 15/10 chào bán các mặt hàng gốm sứ và xin vui
mừng đặt mua theo những điều khoản và điều kiện sau.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. Chúng tôi xin chấp nhận giá đã báo trong thư chào hàng của quý ngài đề ngày… và xin gửi kèm đơn hàng cố
định đặt mua …
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
3. Những chứng từ sau đây phải được làm thành ba bản, để xuất trình khi thanh toán.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
4. Một bộ tài liệu kỹ thuật sẽ được gửi bằng đường máy bay để chúng tôi cho dịch sang tiếng Việt.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
5. Chúng tôi muốn nhấn mạnh rằng việc giao hàng đúng hạn là cực kỳ quan trọng vì đơn hàng này chiếm một
phần lớn trong công trình xây dựng của chúng tôi.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
6. Chúng tôi sẽ lấy làm biết ơn về việc giao hàng nhanh chóng vì hiện chúng tôi rất cần hàng để hoàn tất việc
bán hàng cho khách hàng của chúng tôi.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi mong nhận được thông báo giao hàng bằng thư về.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
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8. Xin hãy xác nhận chấp nhận của quý ngài cho đơn hàng này, chấp nhận này phải đến chỗ chúng tôi không
chậm hơn 7 ngày tính từ ngày đặt hàng.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
9. Nếu hàng bán chạy như chúng tôi mong đợi, sau này, chúng tôi sẽ đặt thêm các đơn hàng khác.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
10. Chúng tôi hy vọng rằng việc thực hiện đơn hàng này sẽ dẫn tới mối quan hệ làm ăn tốt đẹp giữa 2 công ty
chúng ta về sau này.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Công ty anh chị muốn mua 1 số máy hút bụi (Vacuum Cleaner) nhãn hiệu KS20A của hãng Sankey để bán tại
Việt Nam. Anh/chị hãy soạn thảo một thư đặt hàng với nội dung sau:
- Cảm ơn công ty SANKEY đã gửi ca-ta-lô và hàng mẫu cùng báo giá.
- Chúng ta có thể chấp nhận mức giá chào, tuy nhiên cũng cần lưu ý công ty SANKEY cho ta hưởng tỷ lệ chiết
khấu là 6% cho đơn hàng đặt mua trên 2000 chiếc vì đây là đơn đặt hàng đầu tiên.
- Đề nghị SANKEY cho ta hưởng thời hạn chậm trả L/C là 3 tháng vì đây là mặt hàng mới trên thị trường ta
cần phải có thời gian mới tiêu thụ được.
- Nếu đơn hàng đầu tiên này bán chạy trên thị trường, ta sẽ sẵn sàng kí hợp đồng đại lý tiêu thụ với SANKEY
để thúc đẩy việc tiêu thụ mặt hàng này trên thị trường Việt Nam vì chúng ta có mạng lưới bán lẻ ở hầu hết các
thành phố lớn ở Việt Nam.
Bắt đầu thư bằng Dear Sir.
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57
Unit 7 PAYMENTS
1. Advice of payment 1
Dear Mr
Thank you for being so prompt in sending the documents for our last order. No. 14463. We have accepted the
sight bill, and the bank should send you an advice shortly.
We have been dealing with you on a cash against documents basis for over a year and would like to change to
payment by 40-day bill of exchange, documents against acceptance. ,
When we first contacted you last February you told us that you would be prepared to reconsider terms of
payment once we had established a trading association. We think that sufficient time has elapsed for us to be
allowed the terms we have asked for. If you need references, we will be glad to supply them.
As we are planning to send another order within the month, could you please confirm that you agree to these
new terms of payment?
Yours sincerely
2. Advice of payment 2
Dear Mr
We have instructed our bank to arrange for a letter of credit for £6,158.92 to be paid against your pro forma
invoice No. G1152/S. The proceeds will be credited to you as soon as Canadian Trust receive the documents.
We usually ask you to wrap each piece of crockery individually and pack no more than ten sets into a crate to
allow for easy and safe handling. This was not done with our last consignment and as a consequence there were
breakages (see attached list). We would like either replacements to be included in our next shipment, or your
credit note.
Your sincerely
3. Agreeing to more time

Dear Ms
Thank you for your letter of 15 January regarding our November statement and December Invoice No. 7713.
We were sorry to hear about the difficulties you have had, and understand the situation. However, we would
appreciate it if you could clear the account as soon as possible, as we ourselves have suppliers to pay.
We look forward to hearing from you soon.
Yours sincerely
4. Offer of a compromise
Dear Mr
Bill No. B/E 7714
I was sorry to learn about the embargo your government has placed on exports to Zurimba and of the problems
this has created. However, the above bill already allows credit for 40 days, and although I appreciate your offer
of an additional 6% interest on the outstanding USD35,498.00, it is impossible for me to allow a further 6o
days' credit as I myself have commitments.
I think the following solution might help us both.
You need not add interest on the present amount, but I have enclosed a new draft (B/E 7731) for
USD17,749.00, which is half the outstanding balance, and will allow you 40 days to pay it. But I expect you to
pay the remaining USD17,749.00 by banker’s draft.
Please confirm your acceptance by signing the enclosed bill and sending it to me with your draft by return of
post.
58
I hope that your negotiations with the Brazilian importers have a positive outcome and trust that this setback
will soon be resolved.
Yours sincerely
Enc. Bill B/E 7731
5. First request
Dear Mr
I am writing concerning our invoice No. H931 for USD919.63, a copy of which is enclosed. It appears that this
invoice has not yet been settled.
I see from our records that since we began trading you have cleared your accounts regularly on the due dates.
That is why I wondered if any problems have arisen which I might be able to help you with? Please let me
know if I can be of assistance.
Yours sincerely
6. Reply to first request

Dear Mr
I was surprised to receive your letter of 20 November in which you said you had not received payment for
invoice No. H931.
I instructed my bank. The Welsh Co-operative Bank, Swansea, to credit your account in Bamley’s Bank,
Cardiff, with the £919.63 on 2nd November.
As my bank statement showed the money had been debited to my account, I assumed that it had been credited
to your account as well. It is possible that your bank has not advised you yet. Could you please check this with
Bamley’s, and if there are any problems let me know, so that I can make enquiries here?
Yours sincerely
7. Second request
Dear Mr
With reference to my letter of 10 August, I enclose copy invoices which made up your June statement, the
balance of which still remains outstanding.
Having dealt with you for some time, we are concerned that we have neither received your remittance nor any
explanation as to why the balance of €6,000.00 has not been cleared. Please would you either reply with an
explanation or send us a cheque to clear the account within the next seven days?
Yours sincerely
8. Reply to second request
Dear Mr
First let me apologize for not having cleared our June statement or replying to your letter of 10 August.
However, I am surprised that you did not receive our circular letter informing all our suppliers that we were
moving from Milan to Turin. I have checked our post book, and find that a letter was sent to you on June 30.
As you will see from the copy enclosed, we warned suppliers that there might be some delay in clearing
accounts and replying to correspondence as the move would involve employing new staff who needed time to
get used to our accounts and filing systems.
59
You will be pleased to hear that we have now settled into our new offices and will have a fully trained staff by
the end of next month. Meanwhile, I am enclosing a cheque for €20,000 on account, and will send a full
settlement of your June statement within the next few days.
Could you please note our new address for future reference?
Yours sincerely
Enc. Bank Draft No. 427322 for €20,000
8. Third request
Dear Mr
Account No. TYG 99014
We wrote to you on two occasions, 21 October and 14 November, concerning the above account, which now
has an outstanding balance of £3,541.46 and is made up of the copy invoices enclosed.
We have waited three months for either a reply to explain why the balance has not been cleared, or a
remittance, but have received neither.
We are reluctant to take legal action to recover the amount, but you leave us no alternative. Unless we receive
your remittance within the next ten days, we will instruct our solicitors to start proceedings.
Yours sincerely
Enc. invoice copies
Part 2 Structure and phraseology

1. Notes for Drafting Late Payment Letters and replies
1.1 Reminder Letters
- Letter should be printed on the company letterhead.
- Use a stern yet polite formal tone in the letter.
- Always mention the reminders in the subject line and number them.
- You may treat the third reminder as the final one.
- The intensity of warning should go on increasing with each reminder.
- Mention the date on which the payment was expected.
- You can also ask the defaulter to make payments in installments
- Always write a line stating that the letter should be ignored if the necessary action is taken at the end of the
letter.
- Mention the end date of the payment in the letter.
- To maintain a long-term relationship, give due consideration to the problems faced by the defaulter.
1.2 Explanation Letters
- Establish that you are aware about the late payment in the first paragraph itself.
- Mention a strong valid reason for the late payment in the body of the letter.
- Remind your creditor of your positive payment history.
- Keep the tone of the letter formal and refrain from using slang.
- Write on the company letterhead and in case of a personal letter, give your contact details
- Sending the letter as soon as you realize the payment is due is necessary.
- Ask for an extension of time period to make a pay back.
- Substantiate honest reason your stand by providing an and if possible, support it with a proof.
- Mention a repayment strategy, you can also propose to pay in installments.
- Fix a day for repayment and see to it that you stand by your commitment.
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2. Phraseology
2.1. First request
(1) Mention the overdue account with Invoice No. and Enclose a copy of invoice
-We are writing concerning the ________________ October account for £3,171.63, a copy of which is
enclosed and which should have been ________________last month.
- With reference to your Invoice No. 8145376, for £1, 710 (see________________) which we expected to be
________________ three weeks ago, we still have not yet received your ________________
(2) Ask for payment or explanation of late payment
- We think you may have ________________invoice No. 5A 1910 for 351.95 (see copy) which was
________________last month.
- Please let us know why the ________________ has not been paid.
- Would you please either let us have your cheque, or an________________of why the invoice is
still________________?
- Please could you let us have your cheque to________________?
(3) Apologize if payment has been made.

If, however, you have already sent a remittance, then please________________this letter.
Please disregard this letter, if the ________________has already been taken.
Please ________________this letter, if you have already made the payment.
2.2. Second request

(1) Mention the previous request and the outstanding amount
- We wrote to you on 3 March concerning our January statement which is still ________________ Enclosed
you will find a copy of the statement and our letter.
- This is the________________letter I have sent you with regard to your March account which has not
been________________.
- My first letter dated 21 April, asked why the account________________, and you will see from the enclosed
that…
(2) State that you have not received payment if this was promised in the reply, or that no reply has been
received.
- Since l wrote I have not received either a ________________from you.
- I would like to know why you have neither replied nor sent a cheque to_____________________________
- In your reply to my letter of 21 April, you promised that _______________________ by the end of May, yet I
have not received your remittance or an explanation.
(3) Insist that you receive payment or an answer within a certain time.
- We must now insist that you clear this account within ________________, or at least offer an explanation for
not paying it.
- As we have traded for some time, we have not ________________ for payment.
- I would like your remittance by return of post, or________________, your reasons for not clearing this
account.
- However, we must now insist that either you ________________ or offer a reasonable explanation for not
doing so.
2.3. Third requests (Final Demands)
(1) Review the situation from the time the account should have been paid.
-We have written you two letters on 22 September and 19 October, and have sent copies of the
________________ with them, but have not received either a reply or remittance.
- I have written to you twice on 8 May and 4 June, concerning your balance of £93,1.85 which has been
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outstanding since April, but ________________have not received a reply.
- I am writing to you about your June account which I had hoped ________________ by now on 5 July and 12
August, I sent letters with copies of invoices and statements its, asking you to clear the balance
or________________ offer an explanation of why you have not sent a remittance.
(2) Explain that you have been patient.
- When we arranged terms we offered you payment against________________, yet it has been three months
since you wrote promising the account would be cleared. We ________________that you have no
________________ of clearing the balance.
-We had expected this matter to have been settled________________ago, but you have shown no
________________ with us.
(3) Request for payment
-We feel that you have been given sufficient time to clear this balance and now ________________within the
next ten days.
- We must now________________this outstanding account. Please send your remittance immediately.
(4) Threaten a legal action (if it is necessary)
- We were________________ that you did not bother to reply to either of our letters as, asking you try clear
your account, and you have left us ________________ but to take legal action.
- We are giving you a ________________ seven days to send your remittance after which the matter will be
dealt with by our________________
- Unless payment is________________ , we will have to take steps to________________
- We will ________________ if no payment has been made within the given time.
- ‘We will use ________________to enforce payment.
Part 3 Practices
Practice 1 Words and definitions
Make words from the jumbled letters and match them with the definitions below.
a DAB TEDB 1 Means of allowing credit, e.g. bill of exchange.

_____________________________ 2 Debt that is not likely to be paid.
b TDREIC TAINRG 3 Method of payment by which the seller can give the buyer
_____________________________ creditforan agreed period, e.g. 30 days.
c LIBL FO CAXNEGEH 4 Evaluation of the creditworthiness of an in dividual or
_____________________________ company.
d TLAFEDU 5 To fail to do something required by law.
_____________________________ 6 Written report on a company's creditworthiness.
e ERECEENRF
_____________________________
f DERCTI STILFCIIAE
_____________________________
Practice 2 Formal and informal English

Change the following sentences into a more formal styles.
1. Thank you for forwarding the documents so quickly.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
2. We feel that enough time has passed for you to pay.
62
_________________________________________________________________________________________
3. l am writing to ask for open account facilities.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
4. We would like to remind you that this information is highly secret.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Your quarterly settlement is three weeks late.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
6. We are pleased to tell you that the credit facilities you asked for are fine.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
7. Our prices are very low.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 3. Choose the suitable word in bracket.
Dear Mr Janssen
We wrote to you on 25 March concerning the above 1________________(account, bill) for £2,100.00 which
has now been outstanding 2 ________________ (for, since, about) three months. When we agreed to offer you
credit facilities we pointed out thai it was essential to 3___________ (pay, clear;handle) accounts __________
(in. at. on) the exact date, particularty as we generally do not 5___________ (supply, present , offer) credit
terms.
As you realize, delayed payments can create problems for us 6___________ (by, to, with) our own suppliers,
there fore we would appreciate it if you could either let us know why the 7___________ (balance, credit,
payment) has not been paid or let us have a remittance 8___________ (within , for, during) the next ten days.
We would be grateful if this could receive your immediate attention.
Yours sincerely
Practice 4 Vietnamese-English translation

1. Chúng tôi muốn quý ngài lưu ý rằng chúng tôi đã chào bán giá thấp trên cơ sở thanh toán tiền sớm.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Chúng tôi rất mong quý ngài hiểu rằng chúng tôi không cố tình thanh không toán nợ đúng hạn.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
3. Chúng tôi rất thông cảm với vấn đề quý ngài gặp phải trong việc thanh toán số dư nợ và sẵn sàng gia hạn
thêm 6 tuần nữa.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
4. Từ khi chúng tôi viết thư cho quý ngài ngày... về khoản dư nợ chưa được thanh toán trị giá ..., mà chúng tôi
vẫn chưa nhận được thư trả lời. Xét thấy quý ngài đã ủng hộ chúng tôi trong thời gian qua, nên chúng tôi đã
không hối thúc quý ngài thanh toán.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
5. Cảm ơn quý ngài đã viết thư và giải thích cho chúng tôi biết tại sao số nợ trong tháng 5 vẫn chưa được thanh
toán. Tuy nhiên, chúng tôi không thể gia hạn nợ thêm được nữa vì chúng tôi đã cho hưởng mức chiết khấu cao
để đổi lấy việc thanh toán đúng hạn.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
63
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
6. Chúng tôi sẽ cho quý ngài thêm 7 ngày nữa để gửi tiền cho chúng tôi, sau thời gian này, vấn đề sẽ được luật
sư chúng tôi giải quyết.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi cảm thấy đã đủ kiên nhẫn và đã xem xét rất kỹ lưỡng vấn đề này. Tuy nhiên, giờ đây chúng tôi rất
tiếc phải thực hiện các biện pháp để thu hồi nợ theo luật định.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
8. Xét thấy quý ngài đã ủng hộ chúng tôi trong thời gian qua, chúng tôi sẵn sàng cho phép quý ngài thanh toán
trước phân nửa khoản nợ bằng hối phiếu trả ngay, và phần còn lại thanh toán bằng cách chấp nhận hối phiếu
đính kèm trả chậm 30 ngày.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
9. Do chính sách của chúng tôi là kinh doanh dựa trên lợi nhuận thấp nên tiếc là không thể cho quý ngài hưởng
điều kiện bán chịu dài hạn được.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
10. Chúng tôi rất ngạc nhiên và thất vọng vì không nhận được thư trả lời của quý ngài cho 2 lá thư của chúng
tôi ngày...nhắc quý ngài về khoản dư nợ trị giá...
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 5 Request for more time to settle an account
M. Morreau received the consignment from Glaston Potteries . Unfortunately he is unable to pay within the
period stated on Glaston's invoice. He writes to John Merton, Sales Manager at Glaston, to apologize. Rewrite
his letter in less elaborate language: leave out any details which are not relevant.
Dear Mr. Merton
I deeply regret that at this moment in time I am unable to settle your Invoice dated 9 May for my order No.
3716 for ten Lotus dinner services at £35 each, catalogue number L305, and twenty 'Wedgwood' dinner
senvices at £43 each, catalogue number WE18.
The consignment arrived in good condition and as usual I admired the quality and elegance of your products.
They always sell very well in my two shops here in Nancy. Unfortunately, two days after the arrival of the
consignment, disaster struck. After several centimetres of incessant rain my stockroom was completely flooded
and much of the stock damaged or destroyed.
I am waiting with great patience for my insurers to settle my claim, but meanwhile it is with sorrow that I have
to tell you that I am unable to pay any of my suppliers. However, on a more optimistic note, I am able to inform
64
you that the aforementioned Insurers have promised me compensation within the next four weeks. When I
receive this, I will take measures to pay all my suppliers as soon as I possibly can.
Trusting that you will understand this difficult situation,
I remain
Your humble servant
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
Practice 6 Letter writing
Mr Janssen, manager, receives a letter below
Dear Mr Janssen
We wrote to you on 25 March concerning the above account for £2,100.00 which has now been outstanding for
three months. When we agreed to offer you credit facilities we pointed out thai it was essential to clear accounts
on the exact date, particularty as we generally do not offer credit terms.
As you realize, delayed payments can create problems for us by with our own suppliers, there fore we would
appreciate it if you could either let us know why the balance has not been paid or let us have a remittance
within the next ten days.
We would be grateful if this could receive your immediate attention.
Yours sincerely
Kail Janssen emails his PA, Renata Heynold, asking her to draft a reply to Helen Stuart. As Renata Heynold,
write the reply.
Memo
Renata,
Rease draft a reply to Helen Stuart s letter of 28 April - it's in your tray.
- Thank her for her letters (please quote dates).
65
- Explain about the fire at Head Office. Say that it destroyed a lot of computer data which has disrupted all
correspondence with suppliers and customers, and we need time to get back to our normal routine.
- Request a further 30 days to settle. She's suggested 10, so be as polite as you can. Say our insurers will release
compensation within the coming month, so we can pay the outstanding account in full.
I’d be grateful if you could let me have It for signature by noon today.
Thanks
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
66
Unit 8 MAKING COMPLAINTS AND REPLIES
1. Complaint of wrong goods
a. Complaint
Dear Sirs
Our order No. TL 2643
We acknowledge receipt of full documents and the consignment under the above-mentioned order on arrival of
SS. White Queen at Saigon port on 5th December 20—.
On first account everything appeared to be correct and in good condition except case No. 13. When we have
this case opened, it has been found that it contained quite different articles; and we can only presume that a
mistake was made and the contents of this case were for another order.
As we are in urgent need of the articles we ordered to complete our sales to our own customers, we must ask
you to arrange the dispatch of replacements as soon as possible.
We enclose the Survey Report issued by local Vinacontrol and the list of contents of case No. 13, and shall be
glad if you will check this with our order and your copy of the invoice.
In the mean time, we are holding the above-mentioned case at your disposal. Please let us know what you wish
us to do with it.
Yours faithfully
b. Reply
Dear Mr.
Your order No. TL 2643
We thank you for your letter dated 6th August. We were glad to learn that the consignment was delivered
promptly, but it was to be regretted that case No. 13 did not contain the goods you ordered.
On going into the matter, we find that a mistake was indeed made in packing through a confusion of numbers,
and we have arranged for the right goods to be dispatched to you without delay.
We shall be much obliged if you will keep case No. 13 and its contents until called for by the local agents of the
World Transport Ltd., our forwarding agents, whom we have instructed accordingly.
Please accept our many apologies for the trouble caused to you by the error.
Yours sincerely
2. Complaint concerning quality
a. Complaint
Dear Sir/ Madam
We have recently received several complaints from customers about your fountain pens. The pens are clearly
not giving satisfaction, and in some cases we have had to refund the purchase price.
The pens complained about are part of the batch of 500 supplied against our order number 8562 dated 28
March. This order was placed on the basis of a sample pen left by your representative. We have ourselves
compared the performance of this sample with that of a number of the pens from this batch, and there is little
doubt that many of them are faulty - some of them leak and others blot when writing.
The complaints we have received relate only to pens from the batch mentioned above. Pens supplied before
these have always been satisfactory.
We, therefore, wish you to accept return of the unsold balance, amounting to 377 pens, and replace them with
pens of the quality our earlier dealings with you have led us to expect. Please let us know what arrangements
you wish us to make for their return.
Yours faithfully
67
b. Reply (accepting complaint)
Dear Mr. ...

Thank you for your letter dated 10 May pointing out faults in the pens supplied to your order number 8562.
This has caused us a good deal of concern and we are glad that you brought this matter to our notice.
We have now tested a number of pens from the production batch you mention, and agree that they are not
perfect. The defects have been traced to a fault in one of the machines, which has now been rectified.
Please arrange to return to us your unsold balance of 377 pens, carriage forward. We have already arranged for
400 pens to be sent to replace this unsold balance. The extra 23 pens are sent without charge, and will enable
you to provide free replacement of any further pens about which you may receive complaints.
We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you.
Yours sincerely
3. Complaint of inferior quality

a. Complaint
Dear Sirs
We are very sorry to have to inform that your last delivery is not up to your usual standard.
The material seems to be too loosely woven and is inclined to pull out of shape. By separate mail we have sent
you a cutting from this material, also one from cloth of an early consignment, so that you can compare the two
and see the difference in texture.
We have always been able to rely on the high quality of the materials you sent us and we are all the more
disappointed in this case because we supplied the cloth to new customers. As we shall have to take it back we
must ask you to let us know, without delay, what you can do to help us in getting over this difficulty.
Yours faithfully
b. Reply
Dear Mr. ...
We have received your letter of 14 October and thank you for sending us the two samples of cloth for
examination. We have passed these onto the factory for comment and we quote the following from their reply.
It was found that some short staple yarn had, by accident, been woven into the material, and this cloth was put
on one side for disposal in a suitable market. Evidently through an oversight some of the cloth was packed in
your consignment. The factory manager was very grateful for the samples, as it is possible other buyers may
have received these imperfect goods, and enquiries are being made accordingly.
We told the manufacturers how greatly concerned we were over your disappointment in the quality, and the fact
that you had supplied the cloth to new customers. They expressed their very great regret, and we have arranged
with them for the immediate despatch. Furthermore, they guarantee the quality of the cloth now sent.
If you care to dispose of the inferior cloth at the best price obtainable for it, we will send you a credit note for
the difference as soon as we hear from you.
We apologize sincerely for the trouble caused to you, and will take all possible steps to ensure that such a
mistake is not made again.
Yours sincerely
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4. Complaint concerning damaged goods
a. Complaint
Dear Sir or Madam
Our order No. R569
We ordered 350 compact discs on 3 January and they were delivered yesterday. Unfortunately, we regret that
80 of them were badly scratched.
The package containing these goods appears to be in perfect condition and we accepted and signed for it
without question. It was on unpacking the compact discs when the damage was discovered, and we can only
assume that this was due to careless handling at some stage prior to packing.
We are enclosing a list of the damaged goods and shall be glad if you will replace them. They have been kept
aside in case you need them to support a claim on your suppliers for compensation.
We look forward to having your early reply.
Yours faithfully
b. Reply
Dear Ms. ...
YOUR ORDER No. R569
We were sorry to learn from your letter of 10 January that some of the compact discs supplied to the above
order were damaged when they reached you.
Replacements for the damaged goods have been sent by parcel post this morning. It will not be necessary for
you to return the damaged goods, and they may be destroyed.
Despite the care we take in packing goods sent by carrier, there have recently been several reports of damage.
To avoid further inconvenience and annoyance to customers, as well as expense for ourselves, we are now
seeking the advice of a packaging consultant in the hope of improving our methods of handling.
We regret the need for you to write to us and hope the steps we are taking will ensure the safe arrival of all your
orders in future.
Yours sincerely
5. Complaints concerning shortage of goods

a. Complaint
Dear Sir or Madam
Your consignment under our Order No. 123 carried by SS Song Huong arrived at our port today. After careful
inspection it has been found that against 24,000 tins of condensed milk ordered and invoiced, the consignment
contains only 23,460 tins. In fact, out of 500 cases received, thirty cases bearing serial numbers CD48-CD 77
contained 30 tins each, thus making a shortage of 540 tins.
Please examine the matter and arrange the shipment of missing tins as soon as possible as we can accept them
only if they arrive before the end of September.
Yours faithfully
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b. Reply
Dear Mrs. ...
We regret to learn from your letter of 7th August that in our last shipment forwarded to you on SS Song Huong,
540 tins of condensed milk were missing.
From the enclosed documents and packing list, you will see that the number of cases and the tins coincides with
that invoiced by us.
We would, therefore, advise you to address your claim to the Insurer, as, in our opinion, this is a case of
pilferage.
We expect you will have no difficulty in obtaining full indemnity from them, and trust the matter will be settled
to your satisfaction.
Yours sincerely
1. We shall be very glad if you will send us Chúng tôi lấy làm vui mừng nếu quý ngài gửi cho chúng tôi
replacements for the broken articles, as we hàng thay thế cho số hàng bị vỡ vì chúng tôi cần số hàng
need these to complete our sales to our này để hoàn tất việc bán hàng cho khách hàng.
customers.
2. We would like to have your attention to the Chúng tôi đề nghị quý ngài lưu ý tới những chuyến hàng
remaining shipments. còn lại.
3. We greatly regret the mistake in the Chúng tôi rất tiếc là do sai sót trong số liệu đã dẫn đến việc
number, which resulted in your receiving the quý ngài nhận sai số hàng.
wrong articles.
4. Please accept our many apologies for the Xin hãy cho chúng tôi xin lỗi về những phiền hà gây ra cho
trouble caused to you by the error. quý ngài do lỗi này gây nên.
5. We are writing to complain about the Chúng tôi viết bức thư này để khiếu nại quý ngài về chuyến
shipment of the tractors under the order hàng xe máy kéo theo đơn đặt hàng số HG12, mà chúng tôi
number HG12, which have not received it. chưa nhận được.
6. We, therefore, must ask you to do Do vậy, chúng tôi buộc phải yêu cầu quý ngài tiến hành mọi
everything possible to hasten the dispatch. biện pháp có thể để khẩn trương giao hàng ngay.
7. We are extremely sorry about this delay but Chúng tôi lấy làm tiếc về sự chậm trễ này nhưng quý ngài sẽ
you will realize that it was due to nhận thấy rằng đây là do những tình huống nằm ngoài khả
circumstances beyond our control. năng của chúng tôi
8. We regret that we have to complain about Chúng tôi lấy làm tiếc phải phàn nàn về cách đóng gói
the way in which the consignment has been chuyến hàng này.
packed.
9. The goods we received are very much Số hàng mà chúng tôi nhận được có chất lượng kém hơn
inferior in quality to your sample. nhiều so với mẫu của quý ngài.
10. We have today taken delivery of the Ngày hôm nay chúng tôi đã nhận đựợc chuyến hàng gửi
consignment sent against B/L No…, dated… theo vận đơn số…, đề ngày…
70
Part 3 Structure and phraseology of a complaint
1 Structure of a complaint
- Acknowledge receipt of the goods and give general statement of damage
- State the conditions of goods- Details of damage
- Enclose necessary documents as evidence
- Presume possible causes (if any)
- Suggest solutions
- Hope for smooth settlement
2 Phraseology
(1) Opening
- We are writing to complain about…
- We acknowledge receipt of full documents and
=> the shipment of ABC, shipped on board/shipped by __________________ SS Songhau, under/against the
above mentioned Order/Contract/Bill of Lading, __________________ from London, arriving at the port of
Saigon yesterday
=> However, this shipment was reported/__________________ in damage condition.
- We are writing to complain about Machine ABC we bought yesterday under your Invoice/Receipt No 123.
This machine is found in a damaged condition on arrival.
(2) State the conditions of goods- Details of damage
-When we have this case opened under the supervision of / __________________SGS it has been found that…
- Upon ________________of the damage, we have immediately invited a surveyor from Vinacontrol to
________________ the goods.
- A representative from SGS has been invited for inspection ________________
=> and the condition of the goods has been clearly stated as follows:
Wrong goods, poor quality
- It contained quite________________articles.
- The case________________out to contain the other goods not as specified in our order.
- The goods do not ________________with the sample.
- It is very much________________in quality to sample.
- The quality is________________below the standard we expected from the sample.
- The quality is not ________________to your usual standard.
Shortage of goods
- ________________100 drums ordered and invoiced the consignment ________________only 98 drums.
- The shipment is found to be short-shipped/ ________________
- Some items on the invoice have not been ________________
- There is a ________________between the packing list and your invoice.
Damage:
- The goods were ________________/heavily damaged
- There has been material/________________ ________________damage to the goods:
- The goods were crushed/________________ /________________ /________________ ________________/
________________ /________________.
Bad packing:
- The packing is :________________________________________________________________
- ___________________________________________________________________________
- The packing has not been ________________________________________________________
Mixed damaged condition
71
Out of 5 units received:
- One was ABC1 not ABC.
- One was broken.
- One was broken beyond repair
=> making up a shortage of 3 units. (Details of damage see S.R)
(3) Enclose necessary documents as evidence
- To ________________the shortage/damage/wrong delivery…we are enclosing the following documents.
- We are enclosing the following documents to the________________that damage has been found/
________________on unloading at the port.
Documents as evidence:
- S.R (Survey Report) - Packing List/Packing Sheet
- C.O.R (Cargo Outturn Report) - Bill of Lading
- Copy of Invoice - Copy of Order
(4) Presume possible causes (if any)
- We can only presume that…
- The surveyor maintains/holds that…
Correction:
=>_________________________________________________________________________________
=>_________________________________________________________________________________
(5) Suggest solution(s)/ settlement(s), General settlement
- As we are in ________________need of the goods to complete our sales to local customers,
- In view of the above-mentioned ________________,
=> we must/would ask you to:
- repair the defective goods/ send replacements for …
- allow us to buy the goods from Thailand at your expense
- send sb to pick up the goods broken beyond repair and pay for the storage from their arrival.
- reduce the price of the defective goods/ return the goods.
- complete the order / contract/ compensate.
5 typical examples
(1). Rejection, refund
We are afraid to have to put the goods at your ________________and to ask you to refund us as soon as
possible but not later than 31 Jan. 20--.
(2). Reduction of price
We are ________________ to accept the inferior/broken/ defective goods if you are wiling to reduce the price
by 30%.
(3) Repair of the goods
We would like to ask you to repair these goods at your expenses and ________________ at your earliest
convenience but not later than July 20--.
(4) Replacement
As we are in urgent need of the goods, we must ask you to deliver the replacements for the broken/ wrongly-
delivered /missing goods and forward the short-shipped as soon as possible but not later than…
(5) Purchase of the goods from other suppliers
We will buy the goods from Thailand/another supplier________________, and other costs arising from and in
connection with this will be ________________________________
(6) Hope for smooth settlement
- We look forward to receiving your early___________________________________________________.
72
Part 4 Structure and phraseology of a reply to a complaint
1. Structure of a reply to a complaint
(1) Acknowledge receipt of a claim/ complaint with thanks and regret.
(2) Get to investigate the complaint
- Accept the claim/ complaint
+ Explain the mistake/ error…
+ Solve the problem
- Reject the complaint
+ Explain the problem
+ Solve the problem
(3) Apologize/regret and/or promise
2. Phraseology
2.1 Acknowledging receipt of a claim/ complaint with thanks / regret.
- We thank you for your letter of 12 June in which you________________./ ________________ about:
+ the missing articles under Order No ...
+the damage to the shipment of the above-mentioned Contract.
+the wrong delivery of Items No 123.
- We very much regret to learn from your letter of 2 July that …
+ Case No 123 under Order No 123 does not ________________the goods you ordered.
+ 50 Items were ________________ ________________ / ________________
+ the goods were heavily ________________
2.2 Investigate the complaint

2.2.1 Accepting the complaint
- On ________________ ________________into the matter,
- On close________________________________;
=> we find/notice that:
(1) Explaining the mistake
Poor quality:
- This mistake is ________________ ________________ our own. The manufacturer agreed that:
+ a defect in materials (________________/________________) does exist in the shipment
+ a ________________ in inspection is responsible for such inferiority.
- The defect may be due to a ________________ in a machine and we are having a ________________ made
on all the machines.
- The reason for the ________________ in the units you complained about was due to a faulty manufacturing
process in production
Damaged goods
- The damage to the goods is due to a ________________ in our packing.
- This occurrence is due to staff shortage during this ________________ busy season.
Wrong goods/ short-shipped goods
- A mistake was ________________made in packing through a confusion of number/names/ address.
- The packer has ________________ the numbers/ figures which resulted in your receipt of the wrong/short-
landed items
- There ________________ to have been a confusion/ mix-up/ error/ in typing and unfortunately, this leads to
such wrong/short-shipped delivery.
(2) Solving the problem
73
(i) Replacement
- This mistake has been ________________and replacement materials are now being sent to you.
- Would you please return samples of the items you are ________________ with, and I will send them to our
factory for tests.
- It would be no ________________ for us to send the replacements within the next 2 weeks.
- The replacements of the faulty articles are on their ________________ to you and you should receive them
within the week.
(ii) Reduction of price /asking for help
- We are willing to reduce the price of the inferior/damaged goods by 5% off ________________ list price.
- We ________________ your offer to keep the goods wrongly delivered, and we are ready to allow 15 %
________________ the invoice price.
- If you care to ________________ the inferior/ damaged/ wrong goods at the best price ________________
for them we would highly appreciate it.
(iii) Repairs of the goods
- We would be obliged if you could help us by putting the goods ________________so that we can have their
damage inspected and ________________ as soon as possible.
(iv) Compensation
- We would offer you the sum of US $ 1000 in full ________________ of your claim.
- We will have our expert/agent come and________________ the damage so that they can arrange the
compensation.
2.2.2 Rejection
(1) Explaining the problem
- We have ________________ compared the articles you returned with our samples and can see no
________________.. between them.
- From the enclosed documents and the packing list you will see that the number of the cases and the tins
________________ with that invoiced by us.
- As you know, our goods are always carefully packed and the mistake is in this case, not on our
________________ .
- The damage is ________________ to a misuse/ wrong use of the goods.
- The machine has not been in ________________ maintenance and storage.
(2) Solving the problem
(i) Repairs but costs at Buyer’s account:
- We can repair the goods, but regret that you will have to pay for the additional fees, as ________________ of
the goods is not included under our guarantee.
- Our guarantee is against ________________ wear and tear, and the ________________ the goods have been
subjected to does not come under this. However, we will make any necessary repairs but afraid that we will
have to ________________ you the workmanship and materials involved/ ______________________
(ii) Indemnity of similar value:
- We are willing to offer an indemnity but not the ________________ you requested.
(iii) Suggest possible solutions:
- In our opinion, you should address your claim to the insurer/carrier as:
+ This is a case of ________________
+ The damage must have been due to rough ________________ to the goods in transit.
- In this case we are not willing to either ________________ the articles or offer a credit. The best solution
would be for you is to lodge your claim________________ the carrier/insurer.
2.3 Apologizing/regret and promising
74
(1) Apology
- We very much apologize for the ________________ it is causing you.
- Please accept our many apologies for the trouble you may have ________________ caused by this error.
- In closing, we would like to apologize for the inconvenience, and also ________________ out that this type of
fault rarely occurs in our product range.
(2) Regret
- Once again, we must say that we are very sorry for this most ________________event.
- We are very regretful for such inconvenience but you will well realize that it is totally out of
our________________
(3) Promise
- While we cannot give you an ________________ at present, we can promise you that we are looking into the
matter and will write to you again ________________ .
- We will take all the possible steps to ________________ that such a mistake is not made again.
- Please contact us again if any similar situation ________________ , and once more thank you for pointing
out the error.
- Finally, may we say that this was an ________________ mistake and is unlikely to occur again.
Part 5 Practices
Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words or phrases
1. Complaint of frequent late deliveries
Dear Mr. …
We ordered 6 filing (1)____________ from you on 2 July on the understanding that they would be (2)
____________ within one week. However, these were not received until this morning.
Unfortunately, there have been similar (3) ____________ on several previous occasions, and their (4)
____________ frequency in recent months compels us to say that business between us cannot continue in
conditions such as (5) ____________.
We have felt it necessary to make our (6) ____________ known since we cannot give reliable (7)
____________ dates to our customers unless we can count on (8) ____________. given by our suppliers.
We hope you will understand our (9) ____________ in this matter, and trust that from now on we can rely on
(10) ____________ delivery of our orders.
Yours sincerely
2. Reply
Dear Mr. ...
Your letter of 18 July (1) ____________ delays in delivery came as a surprise, as the absence of any (2)
____________ complaints led us to believe that goods supplied to your orders were (3) ____________ you
promptly.
It is our usual practice to (4) ____________ goods well in advance of the promised (5) ____________ dates,
and the filing cabinets to which you refer (6) ____________ here on 5 July. We are very concerned that our
efforts to give punctual delivery should be (7) ____________ by delays in transit. It is very possible that other
customers are also (8) ____________, and we are taking up this whole question with our carriers.
We thank you for drawing our attention to a situation of (9) ____________ we had been quite unaware until
you wrote to us. Please accept our apologies for the (10) ____________ you have been caused.
Yours sincerely
75
3. Complaint of non-delivery
Dear Mr. ...
Order No. VC 58391
We are writing to you with (1) ____________. to the above order and our letter of 22 May in which we asked
you when we could (2) ____________ delivery of the 60 dynamos (Artex model 55) you were to have supplied
on 3 June for an (3) ____________ order.
We have tried to contact you by phone, but could not get anyone in your factory (4) ____________ knew
anything about this matter.
It is essential that we deliver this (5) ____________ to our Greek customers on time as this was an initial (6)
____________ from them and would give us an opening in the Greek market.
Our deadline is 28 June, and the lorries have been completed (7)____________ for the dynamos that need to be
fitted.
Unless we receive the components within the next five days, the order will be (8) ____________ and placed
elsewhere. We should warn you that we are holding you to your delivery (9) ____________ and if any loss
results because of this late delivery we will be taking (10) ____________ action.
Yours sincerely
4. Reply
Dear Mr. …
Thank you for your letter of 20 June concerning your (1) ____________ (No. VC 58391) which should have
been supplied to you on 3 June.
First let me (2) ____________ for your order not being delivered on the due date and for the problems you have
(3)____________ in getting in touch with us about it. But as you may have read in your newspapers we have
experienced an industrial (4) ____________ which has involved both administrative staff and employees on
the shop floor, and as a (5) ____________, has held up all production over the past few weeks.
I can tell you that the dispute has been settled and we are back to normal production. There is a backlog of
orders to (6) ____________ up on, but we are using associates of ours to help us fulfil all outstanding
commitments: your order has been given priority, so we should be able to deliver the dynamos before the end
of this week.
May I point out with (7) ____________, that your contract with us did have a standard clause stating that
delivery dates would be met unless (8)____________ circumstances arose, and we think you will agree that a
dispute is an exceptional circumstance. However, we quite understand your problem and will allow you to
cancel your contract if it will help you to meet your own (9) ____________ with your Greek customers. But we
will not accept any responsibility for any action they may take against you.
Once again let me say how much I regret the inconvenience this delay has caused, and emphasize that it was
due to factors we could not have known about when we accepted your delivery dates.
Please phone or fax me letting me know if you wish us to (10) ____________ your order or whether you would
prefer to make other arrangements.
I look forward to hearing from you within the next day or so.
Yours sincerely
5. Reply
Dear Mr. …
Thank you for informing us about the (1) ____________ to our consignment (Inv. No. 18871).
From our previous (2) ____________ you will realize that this sort of problem is quite (3) ____________
Nevertheless, we are sorry about the (4)____________ it has caused you.
76
Please would you return the (5) ____________ consignment to us, postage and packing (6) ____________, and
we will ask the shipping company to come and inspect the damage so that they can arrange (7) ____________
It is unlikely that our insurance company needs to be (8) ____________ with this case.
If you wish us to send you another (9) ____________ as per your order No. 14478, please let us know. We
have the garments in (10) ____________ and it would be no trouble to send them within the next fortnight.
Yours sincerely
Practice 2. Match the phrases in column A with their equivalents in column B

A B
1. It's not our fault.... a. we are sending the consignment to you carriage forward
2. You should make it right... b. we are not responsible for the error
3. We want our money back ... c. we would like to complain about
4. You have to pay when the goods are d. we will have to take legal action
returned to you ...
5. We will sue you... e. you seem to have made an error
6. You made a mistake... f. the products are not satisfactory
7. We won't buy anything from you again.... g. we will not re-order
8. The goods are rubbish... h. you have not followed our instructions
9. We're complaining about ... i. please correct the error
10. Why don't you pay attention? j. we would like a refund
Practice 3. Rewrite the following sentences so that they have a similar meaning to the one above, but are more
suitable for formal business correspondence.
1. If we had known they were going out of business, we would not have given them credit.
=> Had we ____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. We wrote to you on 5 January: Our letter complained about poor workmanship.
=> In our letter _______________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. 'Please contact our accounts department,' the secretary said.
=> The secretary told me_______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. We want the consignment returned before we give you a refund.
=> Could____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. You have made an error on your September statement.
=> An error__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6. We will deal with the problem as soon as we have the details.
=> The problem________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. The credit is too large for us to allow.
=> The credit is so ____________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. They offered to exchange the goods and give us a discount.
77
=> Not only __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. Fill out the details on the credit application form and return it to us.
=> After you__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
1. We have received the documents and taken delivery of the goods under the order No.123, which arrived at
Saigon port on the SS White Queen yesterday.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. When we have this case opened, we found that it contained quite different articles.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. After careful examination, it has been found that against 100 drums ordered and invoiced the consignment
contains only 98 drums.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. On checking the goods received we find that some items on your invoice have not been included.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. I am enclosing the survey report issued by Vinacontrol to the effect that the damage was noticed when they
were discharged at the port.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6. In the mean time, we are holding the above- mentioned case at your disposal, please let us know what you
wish us to do with it.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. We hope that this will not occur in the future and that our next orders will be dispatched strictly according to
our wishes.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. We were sorry to learn from your letter of 10 January that some of the compact discs supplied to the above
order were damaged when they reached you.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. Despite the care we take in packing goods sent by carrier, there have recently been several reports of
damage.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
10. Please examine the matter and arrange the shipment of missing tins as soon as possible as we can accept
them only if they arrive before the end of September.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
78
Practice 5 Vietnamese-English Translation
1. Để tỏ thiện chí, chúng tôi xin bồi thường 1000 đô la để giải quyết dứt điểm khiếu nại của quý ngài.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
2. Bộ phận đóng gói không đồng ý rằng loại vải đó kém chất lượng. Họ chắc chắn rằng các thùng hàng đã bị
bốc dỡ cẩu thả.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
3. Một lần nữa, chúng tôi thành thực xin lỗi về những phiền hà đã gây ra cho quý ngài và sẽ thực hiện mọi biện
pháp để đảm bảo rằng sơ xuất kiểu này sẽ không tái diễn.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
4. Bức thư này là để thông báo với các ngài rằng chúng tôi không nhận được tin gì của các ngài về chuyến hàng
theo đơn đặt hàng nói trên, lẽ ra chuyến hàng này phải đến chỗ chúng tôi cách đây một tuần rồi.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
5. Khi chúng tôi đặt đơn hàng này với các ngài, chúng tôi nhấn mạnh rằng việc giao hàng ngay là rất quan trọng
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
6. Điều cực kỳ cần thiết là hàng phải được giao đúng hạn; nếu không chúng tôi không thể thực hiện được việc
bán hàng của mình.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
7. Chúng tôi lấy làm tiếc rằng nếu chúng tôi không nhận được tin của quí ngài trong thư về, chúng tôi sẽ buộc
phải hủy bỏ đơn hàng này.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
8. Chúng tôi tin rằng quý ngài sẽ không để đến mức chúng tôi phải thưa kiện.
__________________________________________________________________________________
9. Bên nhà máy đã thông báo cho chúng tôi rằng do nhu cầu trong nước tăng ngoài mức dự tính, họ đã không
thể thực hiện được các đơn hàng và chậm giao đối với một số chuyến hàng.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
10. Chúng tôi sẽ làm tất cả những gì có thể được để ngăn chặn tình trạng này tái diễn và sẽ gửi các đơn hàng
sau này của quý ngài theo đúng yêu cầu của quý ngài.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
79
1. Công ty anh/ chị đặt mua 200 máy bơm của Nhật theo đơn đặt hàng số JF 357890. Ngày …….., anh chị ra
cảng nhận hàng thì phát hiện thấy có tổn thất đối với chuyến hàng này. Anh/chị đã mời Vinacontrol Saigon đến
giám định lô hàng, tình trạng hàng hóa như sau:
- Số lượng thực tế: 180 chiếc/ - 10 chiếc bị hư hỏng nặng
Hãy viết một thư khiếu nại đòi bồi thường theo hướng sau:
- Yêu cầu giao ngay 20 chiếc thiếu + 10 chiếc bị hư hỏng
- Hàng phải nhận được trước ngày…, nếu không anh/chị sẽ buộc phải mua ở Thái Lan và nhà cung cấp phải
chịu mọi chi phí phát sinh từ việc đó.
- Đối với số hàng bị vỡ, đề nghị họ cho hướng giải quyết hoặc giảm giá 50%, hoặc anh/chị có thể bán hộ với
giá cao nhất có thể được.
Bắt đầu thư bằng “Dear Sirs”.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
80

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Unit 1 BUSINESS LETTER LAYOUT AND STRUCTURE............................................................................... 2

2. TOCONTAP SAIGON 3. Your ref: LE/Inq.123

Informal ………………………………………………………… ……………………………

Practice 2 Rearrange the following good-news letters in a correct order.

(2) Reply to an order

Practice 4 Rearrange the following persuasive letters in a correct order.

C Indeed, everyone at Murgano’s is eager to make your fax purchase as /user-friendly/uncomplicated as

(2) Sales letter offering Cookwares

Part 2 Correct usage of business English sentences

5 Influence of mother tongue

Dear Mr. Sexton,

Practice 4 Complete the following advertisement with an appropriate word or phrases.

ADVENTURE HOLIDAYS FOR MANAGERS

Practice 5 Vietnamese-English translation

2. Reply to a request for catalogues and samples

Dear Mr. Gerard

3. Enquiry from a retailer to a foreign manufacturer

Dear Sir/ Madam

Dear Mr. Crane

5. Reply to a request for a catalogue and pricelist

Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an enquiry

2.1. How you obtained your potential supplier’s name

Practice 5. English - Vietnamese Translation

- Payment Terms: By DA, one month from the date of invoice

2. Quotations for printing paper

These prices include delivery at your works.

We look forward to receiving your official order

4. Quotation for sweaters

Encl.: 01 Catalouge and Pricelist

Part 2. Helpful expressions

2.2 Enclose sales literatures/documents

3. Quotation for delivery vans

Dear Mr. Russell

Practice 3. English - Vietnamese Translation

Practice 4. Vietnamese - English Translation

Lưu ý: Bắt đầu thư từ “Dear Mr…. ”

2. Offer for garments

4. Offer for raincoats

Part 2. Helpful expressions

Part 3 Structure and phraseology of an offer

d) Sale as seen/ Sale as is; (Inspected and approved)

- in accordance with your/buyer’s instructions.

3. Offer for fashion goods

2. Order form for sweaters

3. Placing an order for Crockery

Part 2. Helpful expressions

Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words

Yours (10) _________

3. Choose the best verb or phrase to complete each sentence

Practice 2. Underline the correct word in the brackets

Dear (1) (Sirs, Mr.…, John)

We look forward to (8) (further, later, latter) orders from you.

Practice 5. English-Vietnamese Translation

3. Agreeing to more time

Enc. Bill B/E 7731

6. Reply to first request

8. Reply to second request

Enc. invoice copies

Part 2 Structure and phraseology

(3) Apologize if payment has been made.

2.2. Second request